Up to the Sky

Travel adventures. The places I have been and things others should do.

Things you need to know about St. Maarten!

Up to the Sky

First, things first, here are things you need to know about St. Maarten:

  • There are two different sides of the island: St. Martin- the French side and St. Maarten- the Dutch side
  • St. Martin (French): pretty, less tourist, windier beachers
  • St. Maarten (Dutch): the people are nicer, better for tourist to stay, more night life, calmer beaches

6 Day Itinerary:

  • Day one: We arrived into St. Maarten, picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel. We stayed at Simpson Bay Resort, which is on the Dutch side of the island. We got in late so we got some food at the grocery store right beside our hotel and went to the beach. The picture above is the beach that was walking distance from our hotel room.
  • Day two: We were determined to try multiple beaches. So we went to Maho beach, Mullet beach and Baie Rouge beach. (Beaches described below)
    • For Dinner we ate at Lee’s Roadside Bar and Grill. The food was decent but the restaurant had live music.
    • That night we went to this rooftop bar called Mimosa that was very cool and trendy. The drinks were great!
    • Moonbar was next, a cool rooftop club that the crowd seemed to be 25 and up.
  • Day three: We hit up Phillipsburg. If you are planning on doing any shopping, this is the place to go but do not do it on a Sunday! At least when we went on a Sunday, shops were closed. Phillipsburg was my least favorite location we explored. During the week days there is cruise ships that doc in the harbor. There is a beach there; cost of 3 chairs and an umbrella was about $20.
    • Then we drove to the French side and explored Orient beach.
    • For dinner: Bikini Beach Restaurant– the food was excellent, recommend going here for dinner one night.This is located right on Orient beach.
      • Instead of staying at Phillipsburg long, I recommended checking on Orient beach for the day. There are little shops and restaurants around the area as well, but they are a little expensive.
  • Day four: We took a ferry to St. Barth’s!
    • The ferry was $100. 10/10 recommend. The ride to the island was bumpy but on the way back, it was smooth sailing.
    • We went to the beach and had lunch on the island.
    • Buccaneer Beach Bar: great place for dinner, right on the water. You can even pick your own lobster right out of the ocean for dinner!
  • Day Five: Snorkeling and island hoping!
    • We did an excursion that took us around all of St. Maarten. The trip was $125. Which included snorkeling, 2 different islands, drinks, snacks and lunch!
    • The snorkeling was decent they took us out to the Little Rock island where we saw many colorful fish and coral.
    • Next was Tintamarre, which is famous for sea turtles. I never saw any but others did on our boat ride.
    • Pinel Island (French side) was the last stop. It is a little island which has restaurants and shops. It’s beautiful I wish I would have had more time to stay.
    • This excursion is a must! Went through a company called Aqua Mania.
  • Day six: We had to leave the wonderful paradise.

Beaches:

  • Maho beach: Famous for planes landing right above the beach. It is a must do but I wouldn’t stay there all day. It’s a cool place to watch the planes, take some pictures, then leave and go to Mullet Beach. It is very crowded and windy due to the planes. There’s an outdoor beach bar you can sit and enjoy a drink while you are there.
  • Mullet beach: Known as one of the best beaches on the island. The water was crystal clear with turquoise blue water. There was a bar there as well. We paid $30 for 3 chairs and an umbrella
  • Baie Rouge beach: Not the biggest beach on the island but it is much more secluded. There is no hotels or restaurants, just a gorgeous beach.
  • Orient beach: on the French side and very pretty, but windy. This is the main area for water sports.
  • Pinel island: In order to make it to this beach you will need a boat. Crystal clear water, big beach, surrounded by mountains.

Where we stayed:

Simpson Bay Resort:

I highly recommend staying here. The resort its self was very clean with multiple different restaurants.

The room that we stayed in was a suite with a master bedroom, kitchen, living room with two pull out beds and a balcony. The room its self could probably hold up 5 people comfortably.

They have multiple different hotel buildings, so it was difficult to find the one we were staying in. The pictures when booking the hotel made it seem like we were going to be closer to the beach then we were but it is walking distance.

It is NOT an all inclusive so you do have to go explore the restaurants on the island

They do have happy hour around 3p-5p with buy one get one free drinks.

A total of 3 people that split the bill for this trip, Including myself. It was about $1,500 per person which included hotel room, flights, and rental car.

I do recommend getting a rental car! It allows you to explore the island and go to each side as you please. It was very safe to drive around on the island.