As the title of this post would suggest, this trip report is from two best friends in our early 30's, travelling to St. Maarten from Vancouver, Canada. It marks our second trip to the island in the last two years, and it will definitely not be our last.

As everyone from the Oregon, Washington, British Columbia area will tell you, it is not easy or cheap to travel to SXM from our location. We took a Cathay Pacific flight to JFK (spend a few days in NYC for fun) and then took an American Airline flight down to SXM. By the way, AA is one of the worst airlines we have ever had the displeasure of boarding. Cathay might have been the best airline we have ever flown. All told, it cost approx. $1000 to fly to SXM.

We stayed at the Sonesta Maho. It is probably a 2.5 to 3 star hotel. Definitely nothing special, but clean, comfortable, fully equiped gym and well located for two young single people who want a balance between daytime activities and a few extra drinks in the evening. Do NOT opt for the all inclusive option, there are far too many great places to eat on the island, therefore why confine yourself to a hotel menu???

I would highly suggest renting a car for your stay. We were in St. Maarten for 9 days and loved having a car to visit other parts of the island or simply driving to a great restaurant for dinner. Here are some of our suggestions for food, nightlife, etc...

Food (recommended):
La Rosa (Italian in Mullet)
Mario's Bistro (a little pricey but worth it; near Marigot)
Pasta Pizza (inexpensive in Maho)
DiLivio (on Front street)
Grand Marche (grocery store for alcohol, snacks, fruits, etc; stock up early in your stay, this will save tons of money).

Food (NOT recommended)
Paris Bistro (pricey and poor quality food; in Maho)
The Boathouse (overrated; in Simpson Bay)
Lee's (overrated; in Simpson Bay)

Beaches:
Obviously, one cannot go wrong with Orient Beach, but we loved walking from the hotel down to Mullet Bay. The beach has plenty of people, chairs to rent, beautiful scenery (aka great looking women) and Rosie's for a cheap yet very good chicken or rib lunch. We did a little snorkling nearby, but there is better snorkling on Pinel Island.

Nightlife (pick up a free K-Pasa pamphlet upon arrival):
Wednesday night: Bamboo Bernie's (Ladies drink for free)

Friday and Saturday nights: Bliss (this was easily our favorite club/bar on the island. Swank location and setting, good looking people, great music, etc)

Sunday evening: GO TO the Sunset Beach Bar!!! Great atmosphere as people are awaiting the 747's to take off. Everyone is personable, we met many fun people on our two nights at the Sunset. You can also get a $5 breakfast here. Great deal for a complete breakfast. We went several times.

We also checked out Lady C, the Q Club, Mambos, and a few other spots, but they were relatively dead.

We gambled several times at the Casino Royale. Small casino by North American standards, but large for the island. Spadaro was at our table gambling with us which did not make us feel completely comfortable but we managed to survive. :-)

MISC:
- After reading several posts on this site, we were a little concerned regarding the crime and safety issues on the island. However, we have only positive things to say. We never felt unsafe but we did not do anything stupid. We never left anything in our car; we locked all valuables in the hotel safe; we never left our beach bag unguarded; and we never flashed our money around. We had several thousand dollars each on us one night at the casino, and asked a couple of guards to walk us back to the Sonesta for precautionary reasons.

We would like to send out a blanket thank you to the regulars on this forum for consistently providing us with great suggestions regarding St. Maarten. We would have never found Mario's Bistro if it were not for this site, and would have probably not gone to Pinel Island either.

We hope everyone has a great stay in St. Maarten. We are jealous of those who have the opportunity to frequently travel to the island.

Best Regards,
J. and B.