St Martin and Maarten Discovery Guide
Why Visit St Martin and Maarten the Smart Way
This is the smallest inhabited island in the world divided between two nations — about 87 square kilometres shared since 1648 between French Saint-Martin in the north and Dutch Sint Maarten in the south, with a border you cross without stopping.
The two halves feel genuinely different. The French side is quieter, with Marigot’s market under Fort Louis, the beach village of Grand Case that calls itself the gourmet capital of the Caribbean, and the nudist stretch at Orient Bay.
The Dutch side is busier and more commercial — Philipsburg’s duty-free boardwalk, casinos, cruise ships, and the nightlife.
The island also has one of the great aviation curiosities: aircraft landing at Princess Juliana pass a few dozen metres above the sunbathers on Maho Beach, which is either a spectacle or a hazard depending on how close you stand.
How to Experience St Martin and Maarten
The two capitals
Marigot on the French side for the waterfront market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, the climb to Fort Louis for the view over the bay and across to Anguilla, and the marina. Philipsburg on the Dutch side for the Front Street shops and the boardwalk on Great Bay.
Eating
Grand Case is the island’s reason to be here for many visitors: a single beach street of serious French-Caribbean restaurants alongside the lolos, open-air barbecue shacks serving ribs and snapper for a fraction of the price.
Beaches
There are close to forty. Orient Bay is the big one, long and lively with a naturist section at its southern end; Happy Bay and Friar’s Bay are quieter walks; Mullet Bay is the best on the Dutch side; and Maho sits under the flight path.
On the water
Day sails to Anguilla, St Barts and the uninhabited Tintamarre and Pinel islands, all within an hour. Diving on wrecks and reef, and the lagoon for kitesurfing.
Walking
Pic Paradis, the highest point at 424 metres, with trails through the remaining dry forest and views over both halves at once.
Where to Find Authentic Cultural and Historical Character
An island of around 75,000 people split between two European jurisdictions, with a population drawn from across the Caribbean and beyond.
One island, two nations
Divided since the Treaty of Concordia in 1648 and, remarkably, never fought over since in any serious way. The border is open and unmarked apart from a monument — no checks, no formalities — and people live on one side and work on the other daily. The French north is an overseas collectivity of France and part of the EU; the Dutch south is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with its own government.
Two systems, side by side
Different currencies in practice, different languages of administration, different laws on tax, gambling and drinking age, different phone networks. Visitors notice this mainly in roaming charges and speed limits.
A migrant island
The population includes people from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Dominica, India, China and the Netherlands, and English is the common tongue across all of it.
Irma
The 2017 hurricane is the dividing line in recent memory, and rebuilding has been uneven and politically contentious on both sides.
Carnival and music
Calypso, soca and zouk, with separate carnivals on each half.
Regions
Responsible Travel Tips
The island is small, densely developed and heavily dependent on cruise and airline traffic, and it is still recovering from Hurricane Irma, which devastated it in September 2017 and destroyed a large share of the buildings. Rebuilding continues unevenly.
Spend beyond the cruise terminal. The duty-free strip in Philipsburg captures most of the day-visitor money. Grand Case, the Marigot market, Quartier d’Orleans and the smaller beach restaurants keep it on the island.
Water is desalinated and electricity is expensive and imported; both are genuine constraints on a small island.
The reefs and the lagoon have suffered from development, runoff and storm damage. Use reef-safe sunscreen, never touch coral, and avoid operators who feed marine life.
Maho Beach deserves a warning rather than encouragement: standing behind a departing jet has caused serious injuries and at least one death. Watch the landings, stay off the fence.
Best Destinations By Month
December to April is the dry season and the peak: days around 28 to 30°C, low humidity, trade winds, and very little rain. It is also when the cruise ships and the northern winter escape arrive, so prices are at their highest and Philipsburg is at its busiest.
May and June, and November, are good value shoulder months with decent weather.
July to October is hot, humid and the heart of hurricane season, which peaks in September — the month Irma struck in 2017. Many restaurants and some hotels close entirely in September and October. Prices are lowest for a reason.
Carnival is celebrated separately on each side: the Dutch one in April after Easter, the French one before Lent in February or March.
The Heineken Regatta in early March fills the island.
Travel Cost Levels in St Martin and Maarten
What a day costs, by how you travel
Relative cost across the country
Lowest — Quartier d’Orleans, Cole Bay and the inland residential areas
Average — Marigot, Philipsburg, Simpson Bay
Highest — Grand Case, Orient Bay, Terres Basses and the Maho resorts
The island is expensive: almost everything is imported, restaurant prices are high on both sides, and the duty-free reputation applies to jewellery, alcohol and electronics rather than to daily costs.