As mentioned in another thread, we're considering changing our accommodations due to the issues on the French side. We're currently scheduled to stay in Orient Village in two weeks. Are there any recommended locations that are comparable to Orient in terms of being walking distance from a nice beach and several restaurants?

I did find a place in Arbor Estates near Simpson Bay. The reviews seem positive and mention the restaurants and beach nearby, but I'm totally unfamiliar with the Dutch side and don't know what to expect. There may be better options. Here's what I've found so far: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/38352099.

I am not personally familiar with that building, and had no idea where Arbor Estates is, until I looked at the link, but it is not particularly near Simpson Bay. It is in Jordan Village area, which is in Cupecoy. There are a ton of great restaurants there. Most are what I would put in the category of "really good food, not gourmet, but not at gourmet prices" either. Unfortunately, if French food is your preference, there are not going to be a ton of great French restaurants close by. The best French restaurant on the Dutch side is probably Le Moulin Fou, which is in Maho. Maho is about a five-minute drive from Jordan Village, but you definitely would have to drive at night, because you go through Mullet Bay, which is dark at night. You have Sublime in Maho also, that I would put in the French food category, and very good food.

As far as walking from that particular building to Jordan Village at night, I have no idea how doable that is, as I don't know that area that well. If you're reasonably fit, you could certainly walk to Cupecoy or Mullet during the day. If you patronize Orient because of the Club O beach, Cupecoy has a long history of nude beach use, although the sand there comes and goes. There is one vendor there on Cupecoy, most of the time, but most people probably bring their own stuff there. Mullet is a huge, long stretch of beach, with tons of chairs to rent and two beach restaurants. Rosies would remind you of Pedro's, sort, of, but without any topless or naked people. Da Watering Hole is there too, not my personal favorite, but they have standard burgers, etc. there. NO fine restaurants on the beach at either Cupecoy or Mullet though.

Overall, as to whether that location is similar to Orient?? Yeah, there are lots of restaurants there in Jordan Village, but not beach restaurants. And Cupecoy in general has a lot of high rise buildings, so that certainly does not remind one of the French side.

I think Orient Village is kinda unique but here are a few places near/on Simpson Bay.

BSV...on the water. Quiet....great view. Walking distance to a few places to eat and if you are a decent walker (and it's not dark) a few more at Sunset Beaccccch area

SB Resort or Villas....decent small beach. Lot's a places to eat within walking distance

La Vista...nice place...great view...minimal beach...a little further to walk but not a biggie

Flamingo....between SBR and La Vista....nice pool. Beach the same as SBR. Recently remodeled

Royal Palm, Royal Islander, and others. Other than BSV the others most likely would be private rentals but direct renting is possible

I'll stop there

I am not sure of your budget but Tamarind Hill is on the Dutch side and offers beautiful views of St. Barts and Nevis, Statia and St. Kitts. The villas are in a 24 hours private security community and although far from Simpson Bay offers peace of mind.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13289080?source_impression_id=p3_1638471667_Dbkv4WFXJa4VVxpR

I think you are not getting a lot of suggestions about places to stay on the Dutch side that are similar to Orient, because Orient really is much different than the Dutch side, most anywhere. I would always recommend Beachside Villas, because of the view and the fact that you have everything you could need right there to be comfortable, but I do wonder whether they would have any availability on such short notice. However, other than El Zafiro next door, there is nothing that you can walk to safely at night. You can walk to Karakter and to Mary's Boon during the DAY, if you are fairly fit, but it is a hot walk with no shade, probably about 1/4 mile. An even further walk would be Sunset Beach Bar and then Maho, but again, NOT at night.

For someplace where you can walk to a bunch of different places, even at night, I have always found Royal Palm to be the best for that. However, I do not recommend swimming at the beach there, because of all the sailboats out in the bay.

Best wishes in your decision!

Thank you all for the replies. We don't necessarily need the same character or cuisine as Orient. The main thing is to have a beach and restaurants within walking distance. We're also traveling with our 5-year-old son, so walking tends to be a little easier than loading up in the car. It's also nice to be able to have a few beers at the beach or dinner and not have to drive.

I'll check out some of the places mentioned. We still have nine days to decide, but I would like to have a backup plan in place sooner than later.

We were in SXM in the first part of November, stayed at Esmeralda on Orient Beach. I would not change to the Dutch side. We encountered problems with traffic getting to the French side from the airport but other than that there were no issues. We love the restaurants and the vibe of the area and find no reason to go to the Dutch side once we arrive (other than for jewelry shopping). We went to Grand Case 3 times for dinner and the rest of the evenings we went to Astrolabe at Esmeralda (wonderful!) or to restaurants in the Village. If you love the French side, stay there! You might encounter some traffic getting to and from the airport, but why change?

I would add that the first part of November is quite different than the present situation....it's definitely NOT about traffic

I'll give you my perspective for what it's worth since since my wife and I prefer to stay on the French side. I know there are many nice restaurants, from what I've read here, on the Dutch side and everyone has their own preferences on the beaches as well as what they like to do or not do on their visits. We rented a AirBnb in Orient Village this trip and arrived on Friday November 26th. Having usually travelled on Saturday's I didn't know what to expect but was happy to see we were the only plane on the ground upon our arrival. The wait to get through immigration appeared to be longer since the line stretched out onto the ramp above the entrance to the immigration booths but then we realized they had reconfigured the room since our last visit. Once we entered the room there wasn't any line and we immediately preceded to booth where we were processed quickly. Taken by bus to Priceless Rent a Car and we were on our way in about 30 minutes after touch down.

Traffic was bad going through Marigot and the main road was blocked well before the last roundabout is forcing everyone to detour to our right. The detour wasn't marked at all and we realized we were at the mercy of the cars in front of us to find our way around the roadblock. Eventually we came back out onto the main road at the roundabout as you exit Marigot to the north headed to Grand Case and Orient Bay. This excursion took us about 45 minutes to travel 1 mile. There were Gendarmerie's at the initial roadblock with metal barriers which made us think it was just construction. When we got back to the main road we saw they were setting up tents or taking them down, not sure but didn't care at that point. A broken down bus creating a one lane road another mile up added to the confusion but eventually we arrived in Orient Bay. All in all it was a 90 minute ride from the airport. We learned later there had been two separate demonstrations which had helped create the chaos with the traffic.

We've been watching the news and talking to locals but the unrest in Sandy Ground/Marigot has had zero impact on our stay. We've frequented Orange Fever, Bikini Beach and KaKao Beach bars here on Orient as well as Friars Bay Beach Club and Nu Love Beach bar in Philipsburg. On the way back from Philipsburg we stopped in Marigot at the La Casa del Habanos store which is adjacent to Sandy Ground without any issues. The construction in Grand Case is still an issue but didn't keep us from enjoying La Villa and Spiga this trip.

Kathleen said it best about the vibe here. Where else can you walk to the numerous beach bars, enjoy gourmet lunches and enjoy the incredible view that is Orient Bay. Add in the fact you have several amazing restaurant choices in Orient Village for dinners and I don't think there's any other choice.

Today's our last full day and we'll be heading home tomorrow. I'll follow-up with some restaurant reviews when I get home. The weather has been great and Orient Bay has been very busy. There's a lot of people here now and I'm glad to see most of the restaurants open again. I wouldn't hesitate to book again on the French side.

I agree with Ben. I would not change my plans. Stay in Orient Village and ENJOY! IMO nothing comparable on the Dutch side.

We were there in November and experienced the beginning of protests AND crazy roadwork.

Pack your patience, flexibility, and sense of adventure. You will be fine.

We always love Simpson Bay resort Villas!!

dvesc,

I can feel your pain because these itinerary changes create a lot of stress no matter what you decide to do with regard to where to stay.

Personally speaking, and admitting up front I’m not a huge fan of most of the French side to begin with, I don’t think there are many areas in the Dutch side of SXM with quite the same vibe as the Orient Beach village area but that said, and if it was me, I couldn’t deal with the added stress of worrying about what might happen or could go wrong.

I’m a real ‘what iffer’ type person and the possibilities of things that might go wrong would make too much stress for the enjoyment of my trip given the current events and the frequency of issues of late on the French side. Riots, demonstrations and most of all, Molotov cocktails are not things I even remotely want to worry about ever but particularly NOT on vacation.

Nice Dutchside areas are almost any given stretch of Simpson Bay Beach, our personal favorite being Beachside Villas, but so many other smaller properties in that area that might fit your bill. El Zafiro is a pleasant place to stay as is Mary’s Boon.

We also really like the Jordan Village/Cupecoy area which, while mostly not beachside rentals, is very convenient for dining ops without fighting a lot of traffic and certainly an easy drive to the serviced end of Mullet Beach. There are many rentals in that general area such as The Cliffs, Porto Cupecoy, Arbor Estates as you already mentioned, Cupecoy Beach Club and the Rainbow just for starters.

Good luck with your choices, whichever way you decide to go.

It's a personal decision but we arrived home today after 3 weeks in Orient Village. There were no issues that impacted our travel or activities. Although there were a few protests, notice was provided early in the morning and all but one was in Sandy Ground which is easily avoidable. Most people travel to Orient via the causeway and not through Sandy Ground. Of course you can also drive up the opposite side of the island which takes about 15 minutes longer. That road wasn't blocked in the 3 weeks we were there either.

If you plan to spend most of your time on the French side there are no issues in the Orient Beach/Hope Estates/Grand Case areas. On only one day the roundabout in Marigot was blocked for two hours early on a Sunday morning. As mentioned there were other travel routes.

Good luck with your planning!

We too were on the Island at the beginning of the road blocks and protests. I was a little concerned about making it back to the airport for departure, but we made it without incident. After 20 trips staying in the Orient area, I wouldn't even consider staying on the Dutch side. Has anyone posted a report of missing their flight due to road blocks?

I don't know that anyone missed their flight this year, but some people definitely DID have big problems last year, or they took a boat from Anse Marcel to get there.

Don't let what you read gas you up! We went to Orient a couple of times with NO hassle!! We love staying on Orient beach at Bruno's Paradise O bungalows. The vibe is so chic`!!!

Have you considered Porto Cupecoy? Many restaurants and residences around a marina; grocery store right there; beach across the street.

Was at Orient today and drove from Oyster Pond. No issues at all. Some construction by the school in French Quarters that had a detour. The vibe in the village was great. Kids and parents all around. Don’t change your reservations.

Thank you for all of the recommendations. After seeing the news some progress had been made with the protests, and also not hearing about any recent disruptions, we decided to keep our reservation in Orient. We will arrive this afternoon and hope for the best. I’ll check the forum once we get the car, so please post if news of any additional closures or protests happen. Thank you again for the help.

Best wishes! Let us know how things go.

Arrived on Monday and have been here near Grand Case since. Everything is fine. Enjoy your stay!

I'm glad you stuck to your guns about staying in Orient area!! The vibe is amazing, the beach is beautiful and the places to go are lovely, the food is some of the best on the island! Have a great time!! Check out Kontiki beach, great food, great beach service and my wife's favorite thing at the bar is the swings!!! LOL!!!

I would add that the first part of November is quite different than the present situation....it's definitely NOT about traffic

We arrived on Wednesday and haven’t had any issues or noticed anything out of the ordinary. So far, we’ve just gone to Happy Bay or stayed at Orient, but we may explore more this weekend.

I have not heard anything going on recently.