My boyfriend and I have to be in St john for a wedding for a day in late march 06. We know that St john will be too laid back for us so we are looking to spend the week preceding at a different island and have narrowed our search to st. Thomas or St martin. I have been to st thomas but it was a few years ago with mom, so not quite the same experience. I found st thomas dirty as well... Any recommendations on which to choose- beaches, nightlife, ease of getting around, upscale accomodations, pools etc are important. No kids involved so grown-up only diversions are appreciated.

You will find poverty in most all of the Caribbean islands when you leave the resort areas. But that should not stop you from visiting the fine resorts in the Caribbean. I stayed on St. John and took a boat to St. Thomas to stay at The Ritz Carlton. I did not find the island attractive but the resort was nice and the food was good where we had dinner several nights.

I have been to St. Martin also. Flights into St. Maarten are convenient on U. S. Air. I would visit SM over ST. My reason for one is you can take a ferry over to Anguilla in no time and visit the many fine resorts, beaches and restaurants there. SM has a French and Dutch side. The shopping at St. Phillipsburg on the Dutch side is nice for a change. Good luck.

I rented a car on SM for several days and had no problem getting around. My choice of hotel would be La Samanna which is fantastic. I believe I would locate on Anguilla though and stay at Malliouhana or Cap Juluca and visit SM for the day.

Thanks- St thomas or St Martin were appealling as we don't want to spend our whole time on vacation hopping from plane to plane to plane to ferry to taxi etc to just get to the destination. How does one get to anguilla- fly or boat from St. martin? We live in Chicago..

I live in Mississippi close to Memphis, TN. U. S. Air has a flight from Memphis to Charlotte, NC and from there to SM arriving mid afternoon. There's a flight from Chicago arriving SM about the same time.

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Wed, Oct 19 US Airways 432
Depart: 7:15am
Arrive: 10:06am Chicago, IL (ORD)

You can take a public ferry from SM to Anguilla that leaves each half hour or each hour but stops around 7 PM I think. You can also arrange with some hotels for private boat transfer. I'm going to Anguilla next May flying USA to SM and taking the private transfer to Cap Juluca. Go to www.capjuluca.com and read about their different ways to get over to AXA from SXM. You can fly in a small plane but they say the boat's quicker.

Now this is if you are staying in AXA. If you are going to stay at SXM then just fly USA to SXM and stay put there. Go over to AXA for a visit one day to eat lunch and sight see going by the public ferry. I would rather stay on AXA and visit SXM a day/two because I've been to SXM and never to AXA. AXA has much better hotels than SXM IMO. There are some high rise hotels on the Dutch side of SXM where the casinos are located but I know nothing about them. Cap Juluca is one of the top resorts in the Caribbean. Good luck.
Charlotte, NC (CLT)

1 stop Economy 1hr 51min Boeing 737 View seats

Change planes. Time between flights: 0hr 54min

US Airways 877
Depart: 11:00am
Arrive: 2:48pm Charlotte, NC (CLT)
St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (SXM)

Economy 3hr 48min Boeing 757 View seats
Total duration: 6hr 33min



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Wed, Oct 26 US Airways 714
Depart: 3:50pm
Arrive: 7:53pm St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (SXM)
Charlotte, NC (CLT)

1 stop Economy 4hr 3min Boeing 757 View seats

Change planes. Time between flights: 1hr 22min

US Airways 145
Depart: 9:15pm
Arrive: 10:15pm Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Chicago, IL (ORD)

Economy 2hr 0min Boeing 737 View seats
Total duration: 7hr 25min

Hello luckynumber7!The advantage you will have in choosing St.Thomas over St. Martin is you wont need a passport for St. Thomas.That may not be a problem though, St. Thomas is also a little bit closer.If you do choose St. Thomas, make sure you go shop at Mountain Top and try their banana daquiri, it is the best there is!! Aldo try to take the ferry from Crown Bay Marina downtown to Water Island and at Water Island swim at Honeymoon beach.BOLONGO BAYresort is a good placeto stay while you are there. Also, make sure you go to the Karaoke party at the Limetree resort on Friday night. You will laugh until you are sick! If you are in St. Thomas on Sunday there is a great party at Hull Bay on the Northside at the beach bar. You will love that.It is a Grill out, with drinks, nusic and locals go there a lot. I love that party.Water Island also has a big party on Sundays you should check out.There is a lot to do in St. Thomas! Peterborg point you should see also.

Im sorry luckynumber7. I forgot to mention that downtownthere is a Hard rock cafe that is fun and close to the Hard Rock cafe is the GREENHOUSE. The Greebhouse is a great bar usually with good live music and it is lots of fun.

If you like some activity (beach bars, music, etc.) Orient Beach on St. Martin may be a good choice - some excellent hotels and lots of watersports, restaurants, bars, music, etc. on a beautiful beach.

Hello luckynumber7! I want to let you know that there is a ferry from St. Martin you can take to Anguilla very easily. |If you go to Anguilla you should stay at the MADEARIMAN BEACH CLUB. It is right on Shoal Bay East and it will save you a PILE of money in Anguilla, beautiful resort. Go to www.Madeariman.com to check it out.You will lose your mind over Shoal Bay East. I think that is the best beach in Anguilla!!

I just got back from visiting both St. Maarten and St. Thomas! *whispers* "don't tell anyone, but it was a cruise."
I loved St. Thomas the most. There are some areas that are "unsightly," but most of what I saw was rebuilding due to their unlucky history with hurricanes.