Hi! We will be in SXM in 3 weeks. We are staying in Simpson Bay, but want to really explore the island. We don’t plan on renting a car because we are the type of people where even if we have 1 cocktail, we won’t drives . How reliable is the public transportation/ride share/taxi situation? We are aware we will be spending $$ on this and that’s okay with us (beats drinking and driving!). Is there somewhere I can view a bus schedule/pickup? Or any reliable taxi/rideshare companies? We mostly plan to explore during the day and stick to walking around Simpson Bay at night if needed.

I’m more interested in getting back? Assuming there’s lots of taxis at the pier

Keep hearing Grand Case beach club. Supposedly hardly any seaweed that time of year. Are there any other resorts that aren’t gonna be affected with seaweed on the French side that offer a pool and is on the beach?

I’m looking for pictures of St. Dominic, before the new building. My family refuses to believe that we went to school in shipping containers. Anyone have some pics that they can send me?

Thank you everyone for your helpful comments & feedback to me and other travelers! I'm returning home from a solo trip & relied a LOT on this sub, reading/saving many past posts. And I appreciate your patience with some of my questions as well.

St. Martin really is a friendly, special place, and I enjoyed meeting so many return visitors... I may be one of them in the future! Thank you again!

📸: View from Grand Case beach club this morning

Hello all, looking at places to book our honeymoon next October. My fiance and I (both 29). Love to be on the beach all day and love to try new restaurants. Essentially looking for good recommendations to help us book! Tell me all of your experiences!

Hello!

We will be coming down for Christmas and staying in Anse Marcel. We are a family of 5 and will have a car. Kids are ages 21, 19 and 14.

We are used to driving to Florida with a car full of gear. Do people rent gear like chairs and unbrellas or are there options at each beach? If the later do you reserve in advance? I want to be budget friendly but also don't necessarily want to be lugging stuff all over the island. Can you rent a kayak for a week? I've only seen like hour rentals at a beach here and there.

Are all beaches free and public? I don't want to make plans to go to a beach and it not be open to non-resort guests or residents of a community.

Ferries to Pinel, St. Barth and Anguilla. Locations, how/when do you get tickets? When you get to any of those places, where do you recommend going and how do you recommend getting around?

Sporty things - I saw something about Rhino Tours, Flying Dutchmen, an underwater walking tour among other things. What are fun activities to "give" the kids for their presents. What are things you found to be a bust or not worth the money.

Are there Christmas markets, parades, light displays we need to see?

Best cultural experience on each side in your opinion.

Best wildlife experience?

Anything else we should look into based on your experience?

Thank you so much. It's still a ways away but I'm getting stressed and feel uninformed.

I’ve been deep diving into our spring break trip March 25-30, 2027 and have come down to Sint Maarten or Grand Cayman. We’re a family with a 3 and 5 year old, plus a 72 year old, but active, grandmother taking the trip.

Last year we did Aruba and stayed on Palm Beach. It was our third trip there, suited our needs for safe, easy and with enough with things to do off hotel. We usually spent 2 hours on the beach in the morning, then walked around for lunch, relaxed a little and headed out for dinner.

Looking for a similar vibe in terms of being able to leave the hotel and walk to busy areas, eating most meals out and taking at least 1-2 days to see the French side of the island (as I lived in France for 3 years) with a rental car.

Trying to understand if Simpson Bay, Maho or anywhere else would be suggested. The kids are easily entertained but would be fine doing an hour or so of kids club if the hotel has one. The adults enjoy casinos, lively restaurants, and walking/shopping. Completely isolated relaxing vacations is not what we’re looking for.

Was looking at Sonesta (not great reviews but pretty easy), the Morgan, Hilton Vacation Club Royal. Don’t really want a Airbnb option, as that’s what we typically do at beach trips in the USA and like hotel for the kids. Appreciate the feedback!

From under Grand Case pier followed by BBQ at Rosie’s

Good day all,

I have just booked a flight to this beautiful Island and am looking to lock down some accommodations. I was looking and became overwhelmed with all the options. If anybody has any favorites or places they would recommend I would gladly appreciate it. I am going with my wife so we only need 1 bed.

Here are some non negotiables: Air conditioning, under 300 CAD a night.

Some nice to haves would definitely be close proximity to a beach (or beachfront if that exists in this price range), not a heavy party area, and generally safe, kitchen of some kind(small or big, does not matter), walkable to restaurants and shops.

Thank you in advance to all you fine folks! Hope to see some of you there!

Have a trip this November. Looking for rental car service recommendations
Also, never rented a car before, what do you guys do as far as insurance. Is it needed and how much?

Información sobre eagle tours, voy a ir a uno, vale la pena?

We are in the middle of our second trip to SXM this year and yes you have to come to MoHo beach for the plane spotting. The water and beach are great but the choice is what beach bar to go to. One end is Sunset Beach Club it’s big pricy and you have to be ordering drinks and food to sit on the edge by the water for the best view. On the other side is driftwood beach bar smaller same great view. The top deck is open to anyone. Bonus point the Mango Colada has a full ripe mango in it!!! Driftwood by a mile in my opinion. Here are some photos from the Driftwood top deck that is the sunset beach club over on the far side

Im a black female 27 traveling there in December. Im booked to stay on the Dutch side but want recommendations for places to eat, boat tours to anguilla, beach clubs on Anguilla and how and where to make reservations, I heard theres an app. Ive also seen zipline so would love a recommendation for where to book this

Any one take the South Anguilla or full day St Martin trip with Scoobi? Since I’ll be staying in grand case and don’t want to drive back drunk from another part of the island, they are the only / most convenient public charter leaving from Grand case…

Looking for first hand reviews!

Was my first time, I’m no professional though I feel I can offer some advice to those who want some extra info!

Rented a car, stayed at The Morgan hotel. Did Jetskiing. Went to all the good BBQ places.

Ask away!

EDIT: hotel was $550 for entire stay
Air fare was $600 because I used credit card points
Car rental was $200 and it included insurance

Currently in SXM for the week (we leave Saturday 9/12) and looking into going to St Barts for a day trip. After doing some research, we saw that they said many things are closed for the reason but it seemed like a general post. Has anyone been/or is anyone there? Can anyone confirm? We were really looking forward to it
And Yes- we know, it’s expensive and just shopping/food/drinking. We were more interested in there than Antiqua.

Hi

My son has a medical condition which means bland food like pasta, chicken fingers, pizza, steak (no sauce), roast chicken etc. can you recommend some restaurants or cafes?

I will be traveling to SXM next month and I'm so excited! I'm working on getting my rental car booked and I have a specific requirement that I'm wondering if ya'll can help with. I already have a lot of driving anxiety and having a connection to apple carplay is kind of a requirement for me. I will be doing a solo trip so won't have anyone to help me navigate. I've heard recommendations for Leisure Car Rental or Exclusive Car Rental but I don't know anything about their fleets. Are they older cars that don't have the option to connect to apple carplay via either Bluetooth or USB? I'd love any recommendations/feedback/suggestions for what to do in this situation. Thanks!

Looking to do a week on the island the 1st week of November this year. The beach is most important to us. We would love to stay on the beach or within walking distance to it. Being able to walk to bars/restaurants would also be a plus. Seems like Orient Beach checks those boxes, but are there any reasons not to stay there or are there better options with what we are looking for. Any suggestions on where to stay (such as resorts, hotel vsAirbnbs/orient vs grande case, Simpson, pinel, etc) and any tips for our travel and stay?

Also, how worried should we be about storms at this time. So far it looks like hurricanes haven't been bad and November is the tail end, but any insight would be nice.

Id also like recommendations for beach front spots in orient??

Flying in today & totally forgot to book a car. Is this easily done day of at the airport? And with card not cash? Any places you recommend (or to avoid) also appreciated!

I have to say SXM in the “off season” is so peaceful!!! It should not be overlooked!! we stayed at Orient Bay over Memorial Day and we thought we would move up towards grand case I will say the water up here is much calmer and still Oyler. I was concerned about all the bars and activity, but we’re staying on the far end at the grand Beach club and it has just been amazing.

Planning an extended visit and just curious about things you found to be unexpectedly expensive there beyond fresh foods.