Category: Beaches

St Martin|Sint Maarten Beaches

St. Martin / St. Maarten Beaches

With 37 beaches to choose from on the island of St. Martin, picking the right one can often be overwhelming. The following are some of the top choices when it comes to catching some rays and enjoying the wonderful Caribbean ocean.

Baie Rouge

This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful beaches on St. Martin. Baie Rouge is one of the more popular beaches with restaurants that have excellent food for eating in your swimsuit. The beach is always alive but still has a relaxing atmosphere. Our luxury La Perla Estate is located directly on Baie Rouge Beach and features incredible privacy, making it the perfect romantic getaway. There is a small rock arch which can be seen from Villa Esprit De La Mer, where comfortable swimmers will go through to enjoy a small secluded beach at the base of the cliffs. If you’re looking for a relaxing beach with food and a swimmable ocean water, this is the beach for you.

Orient Bay

This is the largest and most popular beach on the island and is located in the north-eastern part of St. Martin. Orient Bay beach offers a full range of tourist amenities, including beach restaurants, shops, and water sports. If you’re looking for a beach that truly gives you that vacation spot feels where the entire family can find an activity whether kite surfing, jet skis, windsurfing or just having a bucket of beers to sip on, then Orient Bay is your best choice. And for those really wanting to take their vacation to the next level, there is a section of the beach where getting tan lines is not an issue. The naturalist area is located on the south part of the bay, offering restaurants, bars, and activities.

Maho

There is no possible way to make a list of beaches on St. Martin/Sint Maarten without mentioning Maho Beach. This beach couldn’t get any closer to the airport runway without being directly on it. While packed with people from all over, Maho Beach brings quite the crowd of tourist all there to not only see the underside of a plane, which appears to graze the hands of people reaching up but to also feel the power of the jets during take off. While we don’t recommend going here with your big beach hat and a good book looking to relax, we do recommend going for the entertainment. You won’t see anything like this anywhere else in the world.

Happy Bay

Happy Bay is home to the quintessential tropical beach. It is one of the island’s most beautiful beaches and has managed to preserve its authentic and untouched charm. To reach it will require a 10 minute hike, but we promise you, it’s worth it. Lined with coconut trees, Happy Bay’s white sands are ideal for charming your loved one with a picnic or a romantic day out.

Anse Marcel

Got young children who aren’t quite ready for the big waves of the Ocean? Then Anse Marcel is the perfect beach for you. The bay is protected on both sides which allows for an extremely calm water. It’s a sheltered and well-developed beach in the north of the island.

Plum Bay

Secluded Plum Bay, or Baie aux Prunes in French, is just beside Long Bay and well known to surfers. The beach is very little visited during weekdays, although beautiful and without a doubt one of the most peaceful and romantic beaches on the island.

Baie Longue

Located in the heart of the Low Lands on the western coast of the island, Baie Longue, or Long Bay, is the first beach on the French side of the island, when traveling north from the Dutch side.

One of the longest and quietest beaches on the island. It’s accessible by a parking lot in the gated community of Terres Basses. With there being a lack of restaurants and activities on the beach, it’s best for getting some peace and quiet. This beach is ideal for people who enjoy walking or sometimes you just want to read a book with only the sounds of the waves.

Shhhh…Keep These Three St. Martin Beaches a Secret

St. Martin is lively, fun, and beautiful. Gourmet Restaurants, little shops, and trendy island bars rest along turquoise water beaches. Perfect for travelers of leisure, servers even deliver ice-cold beverages and five-star meals right to your beach chair. It’s hard not to love these beachside amenities, yet some of us seek out seclusion, adventure–the secret spots. If that’s you, we know three secluded beaches you will love. But shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Petite Cayes (or Wilderness)

After a 30 minute, nature-rich, hike around the edges of the northern tip of the island is Petite Cayes, or as locals call it “Wilderness.” A secluded cove awaits with deep turquoise waters, fine sand, very few people, and beachside forest perfect for shaded naps and lunches.

Two trails lead you to the hidden cove of Wilderness, one that begins in Anse Marcel, and the other from the Transfer Station road. The latter is the more popular trail; it is less strenuous and shorter. This trail begins by walking on bright white and purple colored dried coral, and then through a steep rock maze that leads up to hillside dotted with cacti. Within the first five minutes of the hike, you will be sweating, but rewarded with vast views of the Caribbean Sea, the island of Tintamarre, and Orient Bay. The final 10 minutes of the hike is flat, but over dried coral and rock, so walk carefully. The beach is out of sight until the very end. When you reach a rock wall, step up, look to the left, and then you will see it—a beautiful hidden cove.

Ideally, hike before 9 am before the sun is intense as there is no shade on the trail. Pack lots of water, snacks, and sunblock. It is easy to roll an ankle on the dried coral, so make sure to wear shoes.

Happy Bay

Lined with coconut trees, and white sand is the paradise of St. Martin—Happy Bay. Two trails access Happy Bay, one from an unassuming left-hand turn before Grand Case that leads to a small parking area, or from Friar’s Bay. Both trails take about 10 minutes to walk. The trail from Friar’s Bay is steeper but more scenic. The trail from the parking area at Happy Bay is relatively flat and frequented by local cows.

Perfect for kids or for anyone who likes to wade in the water, most of the bay is a soft sand bottom, and the water in the bay is shallow and calm. The rocks that outline the bay have incredible snorkeling. Swim straight from the beach and in two minutes you will see colorful Caribbean fish. Pack your lunch and water, and get there early to secure a spot under one of the coveted, big shady trees.

Tintamarre — “Baie Blanche”

Take a boat trip 4km away from the northeast coast of St. Martin, and enter onto an uninhabited island with 80 acres low-lying green trees in the middle of the ocean. Enjoy the western side of the island, and its secluded beach of Baie Blanche. Blissfully swim in the shallow turquoise waters with sea turtles and colorful tropical fish. If you are there in March and in April, you might just be lucky enough to swim with dolphins. Rumor has it; mommy dolphins like to give birth in the shallow waters off the island.

Now a nature preserve, the island was once home to a cotton plantation, and then in the 1930’s, and 40’s it had the only airstrip in the region. A few fatal crashes and hurricanes destroyed the airplanes in use and the island never used the runway again. Remnants of this history are found on the island, so bring shoes to take a walk and explore.

Getting to Tintamarre, you will need to arrange either a private boat charter, join a day sailing charter or jump on a ferry. There is no ferry schedule, but you can organize one in advance at Cul-de-Sac, where the Pinel Island ferry docks. Better yet, have our SXM SIR Concierge make arrangements for you!

If you have any questions on how to get to either of these beaches, do not hesitate to write us, at concierge@sxmsir.com or call us US 213 805 0840.