We are a "mature" couple planning a Caribbean getaway in late Spring. Our last Caribbean trip was to the Bucuti in Aruba, which we just loved. This time, I am looking at either the L'Esplanade or the Grand Case Beach Club. Which has the better beach? How crowded is the beach? ARe these resorts "on the beach" or if not, how far a walk? Do you need to reserve a beach chair? Do either resorts include breakfast? What are the rooms like - size, view, noise?? Details please! Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to all!

Personally, Grand Case is my favorite beach/area on SXM and both are located there. I can't comment on L'Esplanade, but I've been to Grand Case Beach Club for the day and it's a lovely place right on the beach. Have you visited these web sites?

http://www.grandcasebeachclub.com/
http://www.grandcase.com/
http://www.gobeach.com/esplanad.htm

Grand Case is a quaint village with some of the finest restauarants in the Caribbean, as well as a lovely, calm and uncrowded beach.

L'Esplanade is not on the beach. It sits on the hill overlooking the bay, about a 5 minute walk to the beach. I've not stayed at Grand Case Beach Club, but I have stayed at L'Esplanade twice. My impression of GCBC is that L'Esplanade is a nicer hotel. The place really is as nice as the website makes it look. When we were there, they had an agreement with one of the restaurants on the beach in Grand Case for free chairs.

GCBC has a restaurant attached, so you can get breakfast there. L'Esplanade rooms comes with a rather well-equipped kitchen, so you can make your own, although we always preferred to just walk into town for breakfast.

If being on the beach is important, try Le Petit Hotel. I think it is run by the same people as L'Esplanade but is directly on the beach at the other end of Grand Case.

If you do a search on the hotel names, you will find more information.

We were just at the Grand Case Beach Club at the beginning of December.
It actually has 2 beachs. It is right on Grand Case Beach and just to the north side of the resort is Petite Plage. The restaurant overlooks Petite Plage. The resort supplies loungers on both beaches. Neither beach is crowded. Reserving beach chairs is only necessary if you want the chairs directly beneath the big tree on the Grand Case Beach side - we really liked that spot so we just made sure we were there early (8AM-9AM). A continental breakfast is included. Our room was in the older section (but literally steps from the beach). They are currently in the process of renovating the older rooms. Our room had not been renovated yet but it was fine (the bathroom needs some upgrading but everything worked). We had a full kitchenette (Full stove and full fridge - no microwave though). We used the kitchenette to make lunches. The bedroom area was large. The balcony had a great view over Grand Case Bay. Noise - overall very quiet (except renovation noises in our building during the day - even before they commenced work we were offered a different room in another building to avoid the noise but we loved our room's view so much we did not want to move. The renovation noises were only during the day when we were not in the room anyway.)
Overall - we were very pleased with this resort - it is a nice size and has a friendly atmosphere and is right on the beach but be aware that some buildings are older and show it (if that bothers you). Feel free to ask anymore questions.

If I remember Grand Case correctly, it was very diver-friendly. The "pool" for example was very small (no one was using it)and the managers explained they put it in to "say they have one" but it wasn't used much as it was a dive/beach resort. There were alot of places around to eat and walk to. Have fun !

Thanks to all of you!

Yes the pool is small - we used it twice and were the only ones there - kind of nice actually