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Our first stop during our Southern Caribbean cruise was St. Maarten. Excited to visit this island where two halves co-exist (the French and Dutch sides), I immediately started studying what sights I would like to see. Allan’s only request was that we go to Maho Beach, where you see the jetplanes landing and feel the thrusters.
I booked an island tour through Viator. At the port terminal in Phillipsburg, if you’re taking a tour not organized by your ship, you’ll be directed to a white tent in the corner of the parking lot. We paid $44 each for a 4 1/2 hour tour of the island. We met our guide and took off in our 15 passenger van.
Our driver, Wellington, was very knowledgeable and engaging. His personal stories added to our ability to relate with the information he gave us. I liked his explanation of how each country had taken over either the entire island or portions of it, leading to the peaceful cohabitation by both France and the Netherlands. The Dutch side gained its independence in 2010, but it is still part of the Dutch kingdom like Aruba, which we visited last year.
Pro Tip on the Best Things to Do in St Marteen
The St. Maarten stop on our cruise was on a Sunday. This meant that most shops were closed and so were some of the restaurants. We just didn’t get to see as lively an island as we would have if we had stopped here during the week.
The Best Things to Do in St Marteen’s French Side
The first main stop in the French side was in Marigot. This quaint French village usually offers a taste of France in the Caribbean. Walk among the open-air craft and clothing market. Our Sunday stop proved to be a little disappointing, but I could see how a visit on a busy weekday would be thrilling. I still ended up buying a dress that I can’t wear anywhere but on a beach!
Since we weren’t interested in visiting the little restaurants, we hiked up the mountain to visit Fort Louis. The French wanted to protect their side of the island from other invaders and this fort looked out over the bay protecting Marigot.
The second stop was at Rotary Lookout Point. Another group was walking out to a rock since the tide was low. A wooden platform allowed you to see the nature preserve and contained signs explaining the flora and fauna found here.
Orient Bay Beach ranks so high on the best beaches in the world that it was one of my “must-sees.” But Orient Bay suffered a lot of destruction during Hurricane Irma. I had been forewarned that Orient Bay would be off-limits during our visit. While disappointed that we didn’t get to enjoy a beautiful beach on the French side, I have seen on more recent reviews for the tour that guests are being taken to Grand Case beach instead. We didn’t get that option, unfortunately. I would have loved exploring another beach!
Pro Tip on the Best Things to Do in St Marteen
While the Euro is commonly accepted here, everyone will also take U.S. Dollars. No need to change your money if you’re coming from the U.S.!
The Best Things to Do in St Marteen’s Dutch Side
We stopped on the side of the road to feed iguanas and take pictures.
The crowning achievement for this tour and the cherry on top was the stop at Maho Beach. This is a really crowded beach and there is a steep drop-off as soon as you enter the water – I really don’t think it is a great spot for either children or non-swimmers.
The sand is white and soft, the water a magnificent shade of blue. But let’s be honest, people don’t come to Maho for the beach (although it is breathtaking in its own right). Everyone wants to feel the power of the engines overhead! Warning signs were posted about the danger and areas where you were warned not to stand. A tourist died in 2017 when she fell backwards and hit her head, so this is no joke.
Unfortunately for us, we missed the landing of Jet Blue’s first flight into Phillipsburg by just a few minutes. I really felt that we could have cut out some of the time we spent at other stops to make sure we made it here on time for the big flights. To add insult to injury, as we were walking back to our van at the end, a jet landed – so that made two big flights that we missed by mere moments!
Pro Tip on the Best Things to Do in St Marteen
Find out ahead of time when jet planes will be taking off. The thrust from those planes can’t be beat! But don’t forget to respect the caution signs!
One of the restaurants on Maho Beach, Sunset Beach Bar, is probably the best known location. It provided internet and was near the parking area. They had a board listing flight times (also listed on their website). But we actually found that a bucket of Heineken from the bar restaurant at the other end of the beach was a much better deal!
St Marteen’s Hurricane Irma
Out of all of the islands that we visited, St. Maarten was hit the hardest by Hurricane Irma. This island still has a long way to go before it is fully functional. Driving around, we saw many blue tarps that still top roofs. Many buildings had red Xs on them, marking them as unsafe for habitation. The strangest sight were the cars piled up on top of each other with red Xs. There is just nowhere to dump all the debris.
The priority for reconstruction has been the tourist areas. Without tourist money coming to the island, islanders will be hard pressed to fund repairs to their own homes. Wealthy landowners and large hotel companies have focused on their own recoveries, which has driven the price of goods up. Our driver hoped that the price of items such as sheet rock would come down soon so that he could repair his own home.
And there is nothing like hearing the story of what it was like as Hurricane Irma hit St. Maarten that from someone who lived through it. We appreciated Wellington’s story of his family’s night and what it felt like. We saw the devastation in context with an islander’s experience of the storm.
Take Away on the Best Things to Do in St Marteen:
If you’re coming to St. Maarten, I’m going to suggest staying away from the tours. The island is easy to navigate by simply paying taking a bus or hiring a taxi driver to take you to your desired location. The bus costs $2 per person each way. For $20 each way, you can hire one of the many drivers willing to take you to Maho Beach. I would also recommend studying the schedule of flights for the day of your visit. While the landings are impressive, the entire fun feeling of the jet blasts come from the takeoffs. Make sure that you schedule your visit to Maho Beach to coincide with one of the big jet liners arriving or departing.
What were your best things to do in St Maarten? Let me know in a comment below!
Read about our stops in St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbados and San Juan. Curious about our itinerary and budget? Read all the details here.
Happy travels!
Annick, The Common Traveler
Raised as a third culture kid living in South America and Europe, Annick caught the travel bug early. Â As an empty-nester, Annick enjoys sharing her tips for traveling for those with champagne taste and beer budgets.
Thanks for all these great tips for St. Maarten. I knew that this was the island where the planes land close to the beach, but I didn’t know what beach it was (or even thought about checking the flight schedule to know when to go there). It’s too bad that St. Maarten still hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Irma, but hopefully tourism and supporting local businesses will help the country out.
I’m looking forward to spending more time there in the future.
Maho Beach will not be missed out. Sunday must have been less lively but then I am glad you made the best of St. Maarten. I really loved both its side, the French and Dutch. I am not into tours and I love exploring every place at my own pace. You did suggest that St. Maarten can be done by taxi. I would love to visit it some day.
Sounds like a great fusion of cultures. The beach itself looks amazing and those iguanas look a little creepy but I guess, after a while they cease to be so. The dutch side does look busy. Wonder what the French side would be like. Pity abt that hurricane.
St. Maarten seems to offer some incredible sights and experiences. The spirit of the Caribbean comes to the fore in the Island. Would love to explore the French part of the island. seems so fascinating. The fort seems so romantic and has the makings of a good photo locale. As you have mentioned the beach seems to be a fitting finale to a satisfying trip to St. Maarten.
Wow the beach is truly gorgeous! I wish to explore this area as well and experience swimming in a Frech territory sea. Where are you heading next?
It’s sad to hear about the destruction during Hurricane Irma. I hope it will be better and travelers can visit Orient Bay one day in the future. I’ve always wanted to visit the Caribbean so really jealous of your cruise trip! $44 each for a 4 1/2 hour tour sounds good to me 🙂
I have seen so many pictures of the jet blasts at the Maho beach that it kind of scares me. I am sure it would be exciting to stand below a flight just a few feet above. French and Dutch making peace with themselves is nice to hear. Would love to visit St. Marten soon
I always dream of Caribbean islands vacation and your first picture of crystal clear turquoise blue waters has won me over for this St- Marteen island. Good you pointed out that shops are closed on Sundays, will keep this in mind. Also I would love to see those French and Dutch influence over this island. Thanks for all the tips and information about this hidden gem.
This brings back many nice memories from my time in the Southern carribean, even though St. Maarten I Haven’t visited yet. What fascinates me the most is the cohabitation by both France and the Netherlands. This must be really fascinating to see all the cultural differences on just one small island. Pity to see and hear about the destructions from the hurricanes. Especially when you see how hard it is and how long it takes for the locals to reconstruct everything.
St Maarten sounds amazing and I love that two cultures, the French and the Dutch can co-exist so peacefully. It does look amazing and the viator tour you did does sound like the perfect way to explore. Seeing live iguanas looks amazing!
St Maarten is not a destination I had heard much about, so lovely to read your post sharing some reasons to visit. It would be nice to contrast the French and Dutch cultural influences on the island.
I was curious about what Maho Beach looked like following Irma. Good to know about the drop off in the water! I’d love to visit St. Maarten one day. I fell in love with the diversity of the Caribbean and can’t wait to island-hop again!
OH IM SO JEALOUS!
I’m an airplane geek – and I’ve always seen of those famous pictures of planes flying past people on the beach. To be that close to it though – looks scary!
Besides that, I definitely want to visit this paradise soon! Looks incredible!
Sad to see the devastation from the hurricane. I used to holiday on the French side and partyon the Dutch side but it’s been many years now since I was there. Loved the photo of the iguana feeding 🙂
Closed shops on a Sunday, not being able to coincide your visit with the jet landings/take off at Maho Beach and not being able to see the French beach side. All these could be reasons for wanting to come back to St.Maarten. I’m glad that you were still able to enjoy the place somehow, and was generous to provide recommendations for other travelers. Your visit had been a humbling one,too, seeing how those devastated by Irma are struggling to recover.
A beautiful place indeed. The friendly Iguanas are really cute. A island with two different culture is really a great thing to observe. I really liked the color of the water here. Its so soothing.
That’s so sad to read about the effects of the hurricane, I hope it’s getting better as we speak. Being European, I never knew we could use Euros there, though it makes sense! St Maarten looks like a lovely and interesting day trip for sure!
I feel like 44 dollars for the tour isn’t a bad price. But then I do agree with you, it’s special to see it yourself with your own itinerary. Would’ve loved to have fed those iguanas with you!