St. Marteen / St Barts or St. Thomas / Virgin Gorda
 

I need some help on deciding which place to go for our honeymoon next year.

Option 1 - 3 day in St. Maarten @ Westin and 5 day in St. Barth's @ Le Sereno or Isle de France.

Option 2 - 3 days in St Thomas @ Ritz and 5 days in Virgin Gorda @ Little Dix Bay.

Which one should we go with?

It depends what you're looking for in your honeymoon. These islands are very different from each other. I've been to all of these except for St. Barth’s. Can you tell me more? The main difference I see is that your Option 1 will have a very "European" flare. Option 2 is more "American".

If you want a "flake out, do nothing" honeymoon, then I would opt for the St. Thomas, Virgin Gorda option.

If you like action, night life, great shopping, lots to do, and fantastic food, then St. Martin, St. Barth.

I think you have some nice combos going on and you really can't go wrong with either one.

I personally find St. Martin a bit boring though the beaches are o.k. There is no snorkeling either. Anguilla has much finer beaches and classier hotels and is a short ferry ride from St. Martin. But besides relaxing on lovely beaches and nice hotels there is not much to do. St. Barts is lovely and it has several beaches but not as nice as Anguills but has snorkeling and some good fishing if you are in to that.
The best thig about St. Bart's is it's charm so 3 days on Anguilla and 5 on St. Bart's is good. As for V.I. I would suggest maybe 6 days at Little Dix-Premium Room beachfront- and 1 full day is sufficient on St. Thomas. At Little Dix you have "some" snorkeling. The Baths are good and Norman and Cooper Island are still very good(you will have to charter a private power boat-35ft. and captain for 1/2 day ($300=4 hrs. in this economy with a bit of negotiations) but really worth it for good to very good norkeling and pass on going to Anegada for snorkeling no longer good there.The food is very good. The beaches are nice but not nearly as nice as Anguilla but they will take you to a private beach for 1, 2, 3, hours alone and pick you up. I suggest 1 1/2 hrs. works best for us.
But, if you want to limit the number of children around you and your honeymoon is around school breaks for US or U.K. or major holidays then the V.I.'s may not be the best choice. Sorry for the length but having visited all your options I thought I would share our experiences for we started with Little Dix and St.Barts when we were 27-28 yrs. old and at 63-65 we have re-visited several times all of them and would return to all but St. Martin (2 visits was enough there).

I have been to all serveral times each, and pretty much 100% agree with StanKase.

I go to St. Martin as a means for Anguilla. So if you pick St. Martin, I'd concentrate on Anguilla. St. Martin is fun, has great shopping, French flair. St. Barth is expensive, chic. Good celebrity sitings. I personally don't have to return to St. Barth, it's expensive for what you get, and I prefer to return to other islands more. (Anguilla being one of them-the beaches are sublime.)

As for St. Thomas/Virgin Gorda: The Ritz is nice, but better than that is Caneel Bay in St. John. St. John overall in my opinion is a far superior island than St. Thomas. Virgin Gorda is stunning. And lucky you: Little dix Bay and Caneel Bay are sister properties, you can go on line and combine your trip between the 2. Sounds like a perfect honeymoon to me. 8-)

I have been to all of these islands. Of the four St. Barth's and Virgin Gorda are my favorites, but unfortunately, they don't make a combo. If I had to choose on the combo, I would go with St. M/ St. B.
Better still, go with St. Barth's and Anguilla and forget St. M. The traffic and touristy congestion was a real bother. We split time a couple of years age among St. M, St. B and Anguilla. Of the 20 plus islands I have visited St. Maarten is close to the bottom. The food there is awesome though. I also disliked the old totally nude bodies on the beach. (Orient Beach is beautiful, saggy old nude bodies not!!!!!!) Another good combination would be St. John and Virgin Gorda or Tortola and Virgin Gorda. These are my favorite islands!

Just thought of another good combo if logistics work and you do not loose more than 3 hours transferring. That would be 3 days at Caneel Bay in Cottage #7 in Rooms C, D, E, F, (only on request-other rooms in cottage not well located) or in Hawks Nest section on upper floor in and end-unit. Then 3-4 nights at Peter Island Resort in a beachfront room vs. waterview room. This is a very intimate place but small so the combination might be interesting.

I agree with that idea. Both beautiful settings.

I'll second the Caneel Bay/Peter Island option. Caneel is one of the most incredibly romantic places on earth. You can nearly get lost in each other on their 170 acres and 7 tree-shaded white sand beaches, all with wade-in snorkeling. Caneel is in the National Park, so no development to be seen anywhere. Peter Island is very private and puts you where you can also explore other places in the BVI.

Thanks for all the recommendations...that's a big help. Looks like I should look into Anguilla. Any recommendation on great hotel there? I'll also take a look at St. John's / Peter's island.