St. Martin Back Up Help Request

P

Pettway

New Member
Good Afternoon,

I am a longtime lurker, and the forum members have been a tremendous help with great information for our trips for years. We need some help.

My wife and I have come to St. Barth 13 times since 2011 with and without our children. The children are now 10, 12, & 14. By way of background, our style is usually two beaches a day with towels and a baguette more than spending a day at a hotel on loungers. The kids love St. Barth Yacht Club sailing school!

We had to cancel our usual February trip, but spring break starts Saturday, March 20th. We already have cheap flights to St. Martin. Assuming we do not receive good news today about SBH reopening, should we go to St. Martin or push our trip back to June? If we go, where should we stay? Grand Case? Terres Basses? Orient? What should we do? I know this is not the St. Martin forum, but we were hoping the members here would best understand what we were looking for in a vacation.

Merci
 
In my opinion and experience, if you enjoy and frequently spend time on SBH, there is no place in St. Martin that won't be a letdown. It's just not the same. I would wait until June and return to SBH. No offense to anybody from St. Martin on this forum....
 
I’m not so negative on St Martin. We have stayed many times but haven’t been back since Irma so some of what I write is probably out of date. It’s not like SBH, but there are parts that will feel familiar. We have rented places in Terre Basse, Oyster Pond and Grand Case. Terre Basse is the quietest. Best beach in the area is Baie Rouge. No amenities anymore as I understand the two beach bars there were washed away and not replaced. Too bad. They were really fun and had great island food. Closest thing that feels like Saline or Gouveneur to me. Grand Case is the dining center. Beach in town is long and pretty. Lots of restaurants line the main road. Many of them are very good and frankly on par with most of what you have on SBH. That’s where you will also find the lolos. Fantastic cheap meals cooked over open fires. Ribs, chicken, fish, christophenes. Our kids always loved them. Oyster Pond is quieter than Grand Case. Not a great beach. But one of the best restaurants on the island which flies way under the radar is there, Quai Ouest - a play on Key West. If it was on SBH, all you would hear would be raves. The beach on Orient is way too busy for my tastes but your children are of the age that they would enjoy it.

When we rented in Terre Basse, we could walk to the beach but had to drive everywhere. Same with Oyster Pond. In Grand Case there are days we never used the car as everything was in walking distance. I haven’t stayed in Orient but the village has a lot in the area. As you may be able to tell from what I have written about, we have spent most of our time on the French side. I think I have been in Phillipsburg once. The best thing about that town right now would be there are no cruise ships.
 
Recent posts here say Orient is gone from Irma Hurricane. Grand Case is still alive and welcome. Grand Case Beach Club would be good for a large family. L’Esplanade is good too.
 
B5EF0916-1B89-4ECA-8AC9-3AEC47A62E3B.jpeg3D0A584D-1C84-4845-8707-830E31E6A7F9.jpegWe spend time on both islands, as bkeats said St Martin is not SBH. Orient Village is very nice with lots of restaurant and lots of beach bars /restaurant. Grand Case is also quaint small town with great restaurants easy to walk around the town there is also the cheap lolo’s . There are several hip beach bars now in Grand Case. If you go with an open mind you will have a great vacation. You’ll get all the French items in the grocery store and great wine selection. A day trip to pinel island is also fun
 
Last edited:
It used to be, stay on Orient and go to Grand Case at night for dinner.
Now it seems to be, stay in Grand Case all day and night, and go to Orient for a few fun lunches and beach days.
I just heard that Sargassum has attacked GC
in the last 25 years, SM has become an island that you don’t want to spend the day driving around.
 
Club o is gone all the building were destroyed they still rent lounge chairs and have a small beach bar. Orient village and the other restaurant and bars are open for business most rebuild after Irma . We were there for Christmas 2020.
 
For dinner in Grand Case I think back and recommend Bistro Caraibe,Pressoir, Auberge Gourmande and Spiga.

I take it as a very good sign that according to the list Andy has provided, all 4 are still operating.
 
This is wonderful information! Thank you for all of the help! I think we will probably try St. Martin next week with adjusted expectations. Hopefully, we can come back to St. Barth in June for a stay.

Does anyone know of a place for sailing lessons? Does anyone have a deep sea fishing charter that they would recommend?
 
I would look into a villa in Terres Basses. We have stayed in several, and they were all wonderful. Feel free to PM us if you like.
 
Our last family week-long stay was in 1998 and we were told not to drive around the island after dark.

le meridien.jpg
 
Our place for many years. Stayed mostly in the Marina by the Capitanerie. Then we came to St Barts
and resettled here after splitting a couple of two island trips.

Also split some Anguilla St Barths trips and again St Barths was preferred.

This is by far our favorite place to stay...Ahh, St Barths.
 
Our only experience with St. Martin. We visited years ago with a friend Kenny, who grew up on St.Martin. We parked and went down to a small inlet that had a rope swing. We were having a great time until we heard glass breaking. I ran up the hill and saw the rear window of our rental car smashed. Luckily our valuables and passports were in Denise's pocketbook which she had taken with her. However we lost some cash and Kenny broke into tears lamenting what his island was becoming. Looking at places to stay in case we cannot reach St. Barts. all the properties have policies that the are not responsible for stolen items. not a good sign. Also stayed in Anguilla one year for three days and the beaches were beautiful. As one of the people that took care of our villa on St. Barts told us; Anguilla is flat. Even after all the times we have visited St. Barts, it is still wonderful to come up a hill and see a vista like none other.
 
amyb said:
Our place for many years. Stayed mostly in the Marina by the Capitanerie. Then we came to St Barts
and resettled here after splitting a couple of two island trips.

Also split some Anguilla St Barths trips and again St Barths was preferred.

This is by far our favorite place to stay...Ahh, St Barths.
Click to expand...

But they MAY not be able to get to St. Barts, due to the EU restrictions on travel. That is why they started their post. We are in the same boat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Stay At Any One Of These Villas...
Get A FREE Rental Car For The Duration Of Your Stay.


Villa Les Embruns
Flamands, St Barts
2 Bdrm/2Bath, Pool
View Villa
Value Villas on St Barts
Villa Diamond
St Jean, St. Barts
2 Bdrm, 2 Bath Pool
View Villa
Villas With Free Car
Villa C'est Ma Vue
St Jean, St Barts
3 Bdrm/ 3 Ba/ Pool
View Villa
Top