Best of St Martin

St Martin is a unique and highly popular Caribbean destination with it’s blend of European and Caribbean influences. A favorite destination among travelers, the island offers pristine beaches and turquoise waters with one of the best dining experiences in the world. The 37 square mile is big enough to offer everything you will need from large supermarkets to tons of activities while still feeling small, charming and easy to explore.

The island offers one of the best luxury values when it comes to high end villa rentals while the spa and chef services we can arrange have impeccable raves and reviews.

Our St Martin guide provides our best suggestions of what to do on St Martin and where to eat. Whether you wish to decompress and seek a relaxing vacation or an adrenaline filled vacation, the island of St Martin offers it all

Must Do Experiences

A true vacation experience involves immersion into the local culture and viewing breathtaking landscapes. Here is our advice on what to do when on St Martin.

Charter a boat

A standard recommendation of St Martin Blue is to explore an island by sea if you have the opportunity. Private charters deliver lifelong memories. Visiting pristine and secluded beaches and coves or nearby deserted islands give a glimpse into the raw beauty of nature.

St Martin is uniquely positioned to be within 12 miles of Anguilla and 20 miles of St Barts allowing guests to explore those islands.

We recommend the Anguilla charter, a full day private charter with captain. The charter will take you to the best beaches and snorkeling spots on Anguilla with a lunch stop. An incredible day that your family and friends will never forget.

The around the island St Martin charter is highly recommended as well. For half day charters, we recommend visiting the western side of the island or booking a sunset charter.

Schedule a massage at the villa

How do you get to immediate decompression mode? Book a spa service at your villa. Combine the beautiful views of your villa with a decadent massage. Indulge in a Swedish, deep tissue or aromatherapy massage.  

Quad Tours

Consider exploring St Martin with a quad tour. For travelers that wish to orient themselves to the geography and history of the island, the quad tour is the perfect way to do so. We recommend booking the experience early since the information gleaned from this experience is very helpful to set an agenda for the rest of your stay.

St Martin Beach Hopping

St Martin features stunning picture perfect beaches with it’s turquoise waters juxtaposed to white sands and sandstone cliffs. Here are the beaches we recommend visiting

• Mullet Bay
• Orient Bay (renowned for it’s St Tropez feel with chic beach bars and watersports)
• Baie Longue
• Baie Rouge
• Happy Bay (requires hiking)
• Pinel Island (short boat ferry required)

Plan a visit to Maho beach between noon and 3PM to watch arriving planes.

Where to Dine

St Martin is our one of our favorite dining destinations. The French influence on the island creates one of the best dining experiences guests come across. In the Caribbean, St Martin is only rivalled by St Barts in terms of cuisine but offers a much wider selection of options.

For breakfast, find your favorite bakery and visit it as much as you would like. Bakeries offer fresh breads, pastries, and sandwiches. It’s a great spot for quick and casual meals. We highly recommend Chez Fernand on the Marigot waterfront or the L’Express bakeries that can be found across the island.  Torsades de chocolate is a staff favorite go to pastry.

In Villa Dining

In our opinion, there is no finer setting then dining at your luxury St Martin villa. Combine an exquisite view with the intimacy of those close to you along with a professional trained chef creates a life long memory for all guests.

St Martin Blue offers private chef and catering options at your villa. We have partnered with a professional French chef company to provide a host of options for our villas guest. Guests can arrange a private St Martin chef to fully customize their menus and dining experience or for one off occasions select options from the Prix Fixe menu for celebratory brunch or an exquisite dinner.

Lunch Options

St Martin features a host of exceptional lunch spots. Chic beachfront restaurants are highly recommended. Visit Kalatua on Mullet Bay or Coco Beach on Orient for an exceptional lunch and beach experience.

Dinner Options

Grand Case is renowned throughout the Caribbean for it’s impressive restaurants.  Along the Boulevard de Grand Case that runs long the waterfront is a string of incredible restaurants. Ocean 82 and L’Auberge Gourmande are highly recommended but you can’t go wrong with many of the restaurants in that area.

Orient Beach has become a dining hotspot. The local square has been renovated and now offers some of the best restaurants on the island in one courtyard. Each restaurant features a different cuisine so the options are vast and mouthwatering. L’Atelier is one of our favorites.

On the southwest side of the island, we recommend Altro in Porto Cupecoy and Le Cigale in Nettle Bay.

Find our full list of recommended St Martin restaurants.

St Martin Restaurant Guide

Getting around on St Martin

St Martin Blue highly recommends renting a car for several reasons. Renting a car allows you to full explore and experience the island. St Martin is a relatively small and easy to get around island with one road that circumnavigates the island.

Secondly, rental cars are affordable and offer a very good value versus other transportation means.

St Martin Blue offers a large selection of rental car models. St Martin rental cars booked via St Martin Blue include newer models to our guests and free deliver to the villa for an expedited arrival.

An airport transfer from the villa is included with your St Martin villa rental. A driver with signage will await you at the exit from he airport building. The driver will take you to the villa for your welcome orientation.

If you do not wish to rent a car, St Martin Blue will provide you with contact information for drivers.
 

Expert Tips

Lastly, here are our expert tips to optimize your vacation experience on St Martin.

Pre-stocking

Arrange pre-stocking at your villa for the first few days. Arriving to a villa stocked with your favorite food and beverages allows you to immediately relax and jump into the pool. Air travel can be tedious these days and the last thing you will want to do is to go food shopping. St Martin Blue has partnered with Les Halles to provide in villa provisioning

If you wish to arrange provisioning, please visit Les Halles. Create your account and enter the following privilege code ISLEBLUE-PROV and select the options you wish to have delivered.

Ensuring Proper Travel & Entry Documents

Check your passport expiration date and if you need a visa to enter the country. US, Canada and Schengen area residents do not need a visa. Please verify that you meet the island’s COVID entry protocols.

Travel Insurance

We have all witnessed the wreckage that COVID brought about in the way we live our lives. We highly recommend securing trip insurance to protect against the unexpected. Guests are welcome to use any travel insurance company. St Martin Blue has selectively and exclusively partnered with Travelex to provide our guests top rated trip insurance coverage. To learn more please visit our travel insurance options.

Step out of your comfort zone

Travel bestows an understanding and appreciation of other cultures. Engage the local community, stop at a road side food stall (aka lolos) or dare to order something novel from the menu. St Martin is a robust and thriving multi-cultural destination that imparts European and Caribbean influences. It is known as the friendly island.

Arrange meals at the villa

You have booked an extraordinary property and surrounded by loved ones. Is there a better dining setting? We don’t think so.  We encourage guests to enjoy professionally prepared meals at your villa that will be remembered forever.  Our prixe fixe menu option offers dining and brunch options for those one off dining experiences.

Our St Martin gourmet meal delivery option is a very convenient option. The food is delivered to the villa with simple reheating instructions. The beef wellington and paella are highly recommended.

Observe a Caribbean sunset

Dedicate time to fully witness a Caribbean sunset. Prime sunset locations are Maho Beach, Mullet Bay beach, Baie Longue Beach or a sunset cruise.