Today I am sharing my travel guide for St. Maarten! I visited St. Maarten in January for a week and had one of the best trips of my life. If you are looking for a tropical destination in the Caribbean to visit, I highly suggest St. Maarten for so many reasons. I am excited to share where to stay, what to do, and where to eat in my St. Maarten travel guide.
I visited St. Maarten a Saturday to Saturday during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We chose this week for a few reasons: escaping to a tropical island from cold, snowy Pittsburgh is a treat, it gave us something to look forward to after the holidays, and since we had MLK Jr. day off from work, this trip only required 4 vacation days instead of 5. The weather in St. Maarten during this time of year is a steady 82 degrees a day. While we were there we had a few days with periods of rain which I think isn’t very common, but it was never enough to ruin our trip by any means. We did experience an earthquake while there, which I had no idea is actually fairly common due to the fault lines located within the Caribbean. The earthquake happened at 7:30 in the morning and I woke up to the bed shaking fairly aggressively. It was startling at the time, but once it was clear there weren’t any lasting effects from it I thought it was kind of cool to experience. Earthquakes don’t occur in Pittsburgh so this was a new experience for me. Having said that, I would still prefer to not experience another one. Despite that, I would definitely visit the island during this week again, and am hoping to do so next year.
Where To Stay
When searching for a place to stay, I noticed there aren’t many hotel options on the island but instead a lot of condos. We searched on Airbnb which yielded many different options. After some research and talking to a friend who actually lived on the island for a period of time, we determined staying on the Dutch side of the island was best. The island is split in half between a Dutch territory and French territory. The Dutch side is the southern half of the island and the French side is the northern half. The Dutch side is more developed and built up after Hurricane Irma and has some of the best beaches the island has to offer.
There is a wide array of areas to stay within the Dutch side of the island, whether it’s Phillipsburg, Simpson Bay, Maho, or Cupecoy. We decided to stay in Cupecoy in the Sapphire Beach Club. This is a 9 story building with condos throughout. We booked a penthouse unit on the top floor that overlooked the ocean which had the most incredible view. I loved staying in Cupecoy because not only is it a nice and safe area to stay in but also incredibly convenient. From our Airbnb in Cupecoy, we could easily walk to Cupecoy Beach in minutes which boasts some of the nicest sunset views on the island. We were able to walk to plenty of restaurants from our Airbnb as well as a market for groceries. Mullet Bay Beach, one of the nicest beaches on the island, is a 4 minute drive from Cupecoy and Maho Beach is a 6 minute drive.
Things To Do
While I am sure there are plenty of different things to do in St. Maarten, we didn’t experience much nightlife and had a relaxing trip overall. We rented a car so we were able to drive to different beaches on the island. St. Maarten has a total of 37 beaches so you have beach options no matter where you stay. Mullet Bay Beach is one of the nicest beaches on the island. The water is bright turquoise and the sand is white and there is plenty of room to spread out. A large reason we stayed in Cupecoy was to be so close to Mullet Bay Beach, which was by far our favorite beach we visited. We also visited Baie Rouge, Simpson Bay, and Happy Bay. We found that both Baie Rouge and Happy Bay had way too much seaweed washed up on shore (there were some crazy waves on a few of the days we were there), and Simpson Bay, while beautiful, was a little too crowded and closed in for our preferences. We ended up always going back to Mullet Bay because it never disappointed, and was so close to where we were staying.
One of the main reasons we have always wanted to visit St. Maarten is Maho Beach. Maho Beach is directly in front of the airport and is famous for watching airplanes land. There are bars at Maho Beach that list the flight times for arrivals and departures and you can hang out at the bars or sit on the beach and watch airplanes land. I recommend going to Sunset Bar & Grill which has a bar and plenty of tables. Here they served my favorite drink of the trip, a Guavaberry Colada. The drink is a frozen Pina Colada but instead of being made with white rum, it is made with guavaberry rum. Guavaberry rum is native to St. Maarten and has a woody but sweet taste to it. I enjoyed the liquor so much I even bought a bottle to take home with me. My tip is to avoid both Sunset Bar and Maho Beach on days that cruise ships are making a stop in St. Maarten. On these days, there are hundreds of people crowding the beach and the bar and it’s an unpleasant experience. On a regular day, the experience is much more pleasant. The airport’s runway is directly behind the beach so when the planes land, they are only about 100 feet above you. You have free reign to stand under the planes which is really a cool experience, and you can get some great videos and photos.
If you like to be active in the outdoors, St. Maarten has a few hiking trails you can do. We hiked near Guana Bay to Devil’s Cupper, a natural tide pool. There are two different ways to hike to the tide pool, a shorter trail and a longer one. We took the longer trail, the Wander Route Coastal Trail which is a little over a mile. This trail isn’t shown on AllTrails so you will need to use Google Maps to navigate. The trail isn’t too difficult, it has some elevation changes along with a fairly rocky trail. It does have a few cliff drop offs so if you are afraid of heights, these parts may be unpleasant for you. There is no shade on the trail so be sure to take plenty of sunscreen and water. We did the hike around noon so it was already pretty hot. If we were to do this hike again, I would go much earlier in the morning when it was cooler. The hike boasts some great ocean and island views, and you even will likely see some iguanas along the way.
Where To Eat
I mentioned above that the area we stayed in had multiple restaurants within walking distance nearby and we were able to try a few of them. For something quick, there is La Chingona Taqueria SXM which offers authentic Mexican cuisine. This spot is a walk-up window for take out only so it’s a good option if you want to take something back to where you are staying. For a pizza option, there is In & Out. In & Out is also a walk up window that offers take out, but it also has a few open-air tables to sit and dine at.
Within this same area, there is also Fat Tony’s, which is an American BBQ restaurant. Fat Tony’s was our personal favorite of the trip, so much that we went there and got take out from there a total of 4 times. Fat Tony’s is by far the most lively spot in Cupecoy and has a crowd there every night. It is another open-air restaurant that serves a wide array of American food, BBQ, and island food. They have live music there most nights, including a duo on Tuesday nights that plays Caribbean versions of popular songs on the steel drum, which was our favorite. The food at Fat Tony’s is really good, and the staff is super friendly as well.
If you are looking for a quick spot in Cupecoy for breakfast or a coffee, give Jules a try. Jules is right across the street from Fat Tony’s and is open daily at 6:00 AM. Jules offers breakfast along with a wide variety of French pastries. This spot gets busy but is totally worth it. I had the chocolate almond pastry which was delicious as well as a fresh fruit cup. They also serve coffee, both hot and iced, so it was nice to be able to have a spot to grab a cup before heading to the beach. Like many spots on the island, Jules is cash only so be prepared for that.
Overall our trip to St. Maarten was amazing. The island is beautiful with pristine beaches and is a relaxing but an affordable option in the Caribbean. I know there are so many great islands to visit, but I think once you find one that you love and know the lay of the land of, it’s easy to want to return. We do hope to visit St. Maarten again next year and also would love to stay in Anguilla for a few days since it is only a quick 30 minute boat ride away. If you already were planning to visit St. Maarten, I hope you found this travel guide useful, and if you are looking for your next vacation spot, I hope my St. Maarten travel guide inspired you. Until next time!
