Every visitor will see one of two spectacular St Maarten beaches on arrival… If you arrive by plane, you will fly less than 30 feet directly over Maho beach, site of the world famous Sunset Beach Bar voted #3 best beach bar in the world – for obvious reasons when you have a ringside seat to jumbo jets landing just yards away in dramatic fashion.
If you dock by cruise ship in St Maarten you will see the luminescent aquamarine colors of Great Bay and wtness the golden sands of the 2 mile arc which is Great Bay Beach. This is the gateway to Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of St Maarten and sister capital to Marigot, of the French side, also known as ‘St Martin’.
With 37 beaches in 37 sq miles, St Maarten has all you could need from dusk to dawn, from extravagant to quaint or exciting to romantic.
Beginning at sunrise, on the eastern side of the island (‘St Martin’) a healthy stroll the length of Orient beach will give you a good start to the day and will take around 1 hour one end to the other twice. Renowned for it’s nudity at the far east end of the beach, it is calm and refreshing at dawn and bristling with activity and watersports later in the day. St Martin Orient Beach is often regarded as one of the best beaches in St Martin – St Maarten.
During the day, your choices are vast – Le Galion on French St Martin, not far from Orient Bay, with little waves and shallow waters is great for small children and babies whilst Guana Bay beach on Dutch St Maarten is great for the athletic wave catchers or wet n’ wild seekers. Mullet Bay beach is a favorite to locals and tourists alike and has a mixture of shallow and wavy for those wanting variety.
There are secluded beaches known only to the most regular visitor or resident – these are very quiet and perfect for a private family outing for the day. One of them is Happy Bay at the western end of Grand Case on French St Martin and is not sign-posted so study a map, ask a local to find it or find a wealthy friend to take you there by boat, anchor in the bay and swim ashore with your belongings above your head!
These are just a sample of some of the 37 spectacular beaches that you can find in this Caribbean Island Paradise – no wonder St Maarten – St Martin continues to gain in popularity and is rapidly being dubbed the ‘St Tropez’ of the Caribbean.
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