I plan to fly into St. Martin and take the ferry to St. Barths and Anguilla. Are St. Barths and Anguilla worth an overnight or day trip only?

My best friend and I are going. We decided to check out all three islands.

Please advise and thanks in advance.

That's kind of an interesting question. I would totally skip St. Martin and spend ALL my time on St. Barth's and Anguilla!
St. Barth's and Anguilla are each very unique and offer a lot more than St. Martin. But a day trip to either won't really give you the time to soak in the flavor of why.

The ferry is a quick 20 minutes to Anguilla & runs every 1/2 hour; the ferry to St. Barts is a nightmare -- over an hour & the roughest trip I've ever had (on a clear, blue sky day). It's a 10 minute flight & I highly recommend flying. That said, I agree with the other poster -- St. Barts & Anguilla are very special; the casinos, cruise ships, KFC's & Pizza Huts on St. Martin don't do it for me but different strokes for different folks.

If you are already spending most of your time on SXM, by all means Anguilla and St. Barth's warrant a day trip. Sure, spending more time on each island is wonderful, too, but you can still enjoy a lot of what each has to offer with a day trip, as well.

I agree with flying to St. Barth's, versus the ferry. The ferry to Anguilla is a quick ride, however, so ferrying there is fine.

What about a day trip to Saba by air, as well?

What I'm thinking of doing is when we get to St. Martin we grab a cab to Grand Case, then fly to St. Barts from there. That way we can fly round trip back to Grand Case and take the ferry over to Anguilla. By doing that, we only have to deal with the SXM airport on arrival and departure from SXM, not again when returning from St. Barts. I think I remember someone saying too that if you fly from the French side you don't pay the departure tax.

Too bad we can't fly directly from St. Barts to Anguilla but it looks like they bring all flights back into SXM or Grand Case, then you either take another plane or ferry to Anguilla.

Anyone know what the taxi cost would be from Grand Case to Marigot ferry dock?

On the other hand, it might be just too much messing around and let's just get to St. Barts and deal with St. Martin later.

Having been to all 3 islands, I would have to say that if you don't visit Anguilla, you will be missing out on something wonderful. Although St. Barths is nice, nothing compares to the tranquility you will find in Anguilla. This island has some of the best beaches in the whole caribbean. Flying into St. Maarten can save you money since flights into Anguilla are a bit steep and the ferry crossing is pretty quick. Once you get to Blowing Point, you will need to grab a cab and either take a tour of the island, or go to the airport and rent a car for the day. One day is just not enough to be on Anguilla. The restaurants are wonderful. I'm looking forward to returning this Feb. for a 12 nights stay. Ahhhhh. Can't wait.

Karen, the taxi fare from Grand Case to Marigot won't be much. Maybe $10 or less. However, I'm not sure if there is a taxi stand at the airport in Grand Case, so you might have to get airport personnel to call one for you.