My wife an I are heading to Grand Case next week. We have picked a different island every February, and this year we chose St. Martin. It's a little out of my comfort zone, as we usually stay at a resort, but I'm quite excited.

We are staying at the Bleu Emeraude and will be there for 6 days. Any "must sees" and "must dos" and especially "must eats" would be appreciated. Thanks for all the knowledge shared on the board. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Piazza Piscal in Grand Case has great food and great service.

Try a Lolo. usually good island food at good prices. A must do at least once.

You need to be more specific. Grand Case has restaurants ranging all the way from the Lolo's to the high end, such as Spiga, L'Pressoir, Auberge Gourmand etc.

There are beautiful restaurants on the water, where you pay a little more. Or lovely small places like Piazza Pascal where Pascal cooks for you and Donna, if she isn't waiting on you, will certainly stop by and chat as will Pascal, if he's not too busy.

So help us out a little and let us know your likes.

I do have a few reservations; Le Cottage, Le Villa, Tastevin. I would love to have some breakfasts and lunches on the water, and and mix it up.

Our dinner reservations are at 8 pm. Is it OK to walk to them via the beach? It looks like a short walk, but I read on some threads not to walk the beach at night. Not sure if that applies to Grand Case

We stayed at Grand Case last year for the first time. It was our third trip to the island and by far at the most enjoyable. We'll be back in 16 days. A couple thoughts…
- It is hard to find a bad meal in Grand Case. Memorable meals for us include L'Effet Mer (French Gourmet) and Il Nettuno (Fine Italian), Calmos Cafe (casual dining often with reggae band).
- We felt safe walking at night but didn't happen to walk the beach. The streets seemed more interesting.
- Great French wine available at the local grocery/convenience store
- Love Hotel is a cool bar for happy hour. Neat local French bohemian scene.
- Go to Orient beach early in your stay to find out if that is your scene. If it is you'll be sorry to discover it late in your trip.
- We used to enjoy the resort experience but for this trip you'll definitely want to rent a car. Last trip was the first time for us and we'll do that from now on. The island is easy/fun to navigate.

My personal suggestions would be Ocean 82--on the water, beautiful view--wonderful food and ambiance, Bistrot Cariabes--land side, wonderful food, charming brothers who run it, and Calmos Cafe--casual food, feet in the sand, lovely view of Anguilla and the sunset. I believe Ocean 82 is open for lunch, if you wanted an upscale lunch. Of your choices, we went to Lavilla in December 2014 for the first time and were not impressed. We ended up there because we didn't have a reservation and most everyplace else we wanted to eat, there was no room. Not sure I would return there again soon, as too many other places blow me away. As someone else suggested, do go to Orient at least once. My suggestion would either be Palm Beach or Kakao. Enjoy!

You could walk the beach - if you want to enjoy the beach for some reason going to or from. I would not find the beach any more unsafe than any place off main areas of Grand Case. Of the three you mention, the farthest is only about a quarter mile along the street.

The beach is often dark in places, and uneven. Even though the road is not particularly wide and often no sidewalks, after night I still think it would be safer to walk the street. I don't have any idea, but the fellow who has the golf cart, or whatever it is, that provides rides for $5 or $10 or whatever it is, from GCBC to restaurant row--I wonder, does he go to other areas within GC to pickup and deliver? Anyone know?

We like Leo's food at Villa Real.Great fish,lamb and nice steak.Reasonable and have great staff.

Where is that? Not familiar with it.

Stayed at Blue Emarude last year, loved it. We like to have a big lunch at Orient, Ethnic is our favorite and then chill at night. The hotel is great for this as you will have a walk out patio. Ask for something on the second floor. I agree with all the restaurants mentioned here. We are big Calamo's fans. Laid back, good food, nice service and the sunset view is great. Just walk down and read the menus. We never walked the beach at night and probably never will.

Villa Real
From the public lot, cross the little bridge before you get to the lolo's, on the other side of the street, maybe the 1st one after the bridge
We looked at the menu late afternoon, interesting, not expensive, seemed to have locals enjoying a drink and some food
J&B

Actually, it's called Villa Royale and is one of our go to places now. I'd characterize it as refined creole cuisine, a big step up from the Lolos. Best goat curry that I've found (Ti Coin Creole makes the best goat stew).

Our vote is Bistrot Cariabes. Has been our one MUST DO meal every trip. Never been disappointed.

If this is your 1st trip you should rent a car and see the island. Small, can't get lost but lots of traffic at times. And it has many sections each different from another with different views, different restaurants, ambiance.

Grand Case is a lazy fishing village by day with some shopping then a gourmet heaven at night, Very caribbean, while Maho area has shopping, night-life and is less "island-like" . So is Simpson Bay near the airport. Lots of restaurants similar to those in the states.

Anse Marcel is out of the way and quiet. Orient has a strip of oceanfront divided into several beaches, the end one is a nude beach. This strip has lots of beach bars and vendors. Nearby Orient Village has several good restaurants.

Phillipsburg, on the Dutch Side is lively during the day--boardwalk, restaurants, shops and people from the cruise ships, but dead at night.

Each area has it's own unique beach. By the airport you can sun & watch planes fly overhead. In Cupacoy area at times the beach can't be found; Maho on days has undertow; Grand Case is a somewhat quiet beach; Orient area is probably the busiest. There are hard to find coves that have rocky paths that open to beauty: Happy Bay, Friar's Bay. Anse Marcel is small, quiet but has food vends. P'Burg has lots of people. Little Bay is beautiful, quiet but has Divi Hotel & Belair which you must cross thru to the beach so parking is a problem.

No matter what you like, you'll find an area that suits you, a beach that you love. And once you've visited you'll want to return. So explore the island and find that place that meets your needs and come back.

Just look here at past posts to glean all the info you'll need.

Rosemary

If you want a really nice lunch while on Orient Beach I recommend Kakao Beach. The dining area is set back from the beach in a bunch of shady palms. Their food is excellent French style cooking not beach bar food.

Toddayo

I sent you a private message. Look for the flashing envelope next to your name.

I agree on Kakao, but I assume that they still have the individual dining tables, scattered about under individual shade huts? I really enjoy that, with not being so jammed together.

Villa Royale is right across from Zen It. It is in the space with glass front sliders that used to be occupied by Spicy.

Food is interesting, good and reasonably priced.

Kakao is a good first stop on Orient.

Have lunch and check out the small beach restaurants nearby. Try one on a different day, they will most likely be gone the next time you com. (In the interest of "progress". )

Then take a long walk in the other direction all the way down to Palm Beach and check out the larger beach bars on the way.

Jan and I also stayed in Grand Case our first few trips, but spent much of our beach time on Orient.

Bistro Caribes, Pizza Pascal never disappoint!

Thank you for all of the great suggestions. I need to extend my stay another week just to scratch the surface.

we used to do one week also but one year we did two and havent looked back. You really unwind much more and there is a ton to do and see on St. Maarten so its hard to get bored.

After visiting a variety of Carribbean islands over the years, we now exclusively visit SXM.

Our must dos every trip:

Dinner @ L'Auberge Gourmande in Grand Case.

Beach day at Orient Beach and rent Kayaks at Club o Watersports

Watch the jumbo jets while having a drink at Sunset Bar and Grill

beach day at Cupecoy, lunch/rum punch from the local guy (dany)

Day trip to either SABA, Anguilla, St. Eustatius, St. Barts

Butteryfly farm

Happy hour at The PERCH bar

I love this stuff, trying to figure out how to save these gems for our visit.

You can just have a word file and copy and paste stuff into it.

We also like Bistro Caraibes very much. We rent the place where we stay at Mont Vernon from Amaury, who owns the Bistro with his brother. We had a great meal there during our last trip, and already have a reservation for our return in March.

We really like Spiga, Piazza Pascal, Bistro Caribes, and Ocean 82, in that order. The people that own Bistro Caribes also own Ocean 82 and they are right across the street from each other. We always put Spiga and Piazza Pascal as a must visit each trip to SXM. We sent you a PM on our other favorites, enjoy your trip. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Agreed, Thibault and Amaury are good folks, as well as running great restaurants, at Bistrot Cariabes, and in combination with others, at Ocean 82, plus running studios and other rental units.

I will second that. We were in SXM for 5 weeks and went to Piazza Pascal 5 times. Obviously love the food and the owners Donna and Pascal are wonderful, friendly people. Suggest a reservation. Roz

There is a coupon for Kakao on this web page.

It was one degree this morning, and the windchill's are in the negative numbers all week long. I cam counting the hours down 'til this weekend

It was minus 2 in Pittsburgh PA when I woke up this morning. <sigh>
Oh and it was 6F when we landed saturday evening, returning from SXM where the temp were in the low-mid 80s all week. This was a shocker!
Enjoy your trip!

We just LOVE Spiga. Going soon! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

It's finally here, weather permitting. We are leaving for SXM tomorrow morning. Many thanks to the people posting on this thread and the entire site. You have been most helpful and have helped to shape (and in some cases) reshape our itinerary. I look forward to the trip and have picked up on your love for the island.

Enjoy! I hope you enjoy your stay.