Has anyone stayed here recently. ? Friends booked trip and looking for recommendations. In area. They don't plan to rent a car, but I advised it is a remote location so travel would be by Cab ($$$) or resort transport. Thanks in advance

Sorry for typo

With that location, they are going to be spending a lot on cabs, for sure.

The Anse Marcel Beach Café/Restaurant, at the other end of the beach from the Riu, is excellent. They can walk the beach to get there. The Jam Rock Café back out on the "main road" is good; local Caribbean food. Ti Bouchon is highly rated although I've never been there when it was open (I go in June). There's also a pizza place on the main road that folks say is good, although I've never eaten there either.

Recommendations for food? I thought the Riu was a/i?

yes it is AI

Agree, Anse Marcel Beach Café/Restaurant has great food as we ate there 2 days during our visit, but; when the conversion rate on the island was 1.1, they charged 1.15 without giving us a good reason, so we used our cc instead of cash, as they did not give us 1:1. I won't get into the service vs tip controversy on TTOL.

"Service not included on bill". Yeah, that's irritating.

The RUI is AI, so when you say recommendations - I'll answer as if you are looking for non food reco's
I find the hill in and out a little scary and would not want to drive back in at night, but just me
Day time driving in and out is fine
If only for a week? and wanting to decompress I think you could stay at the RUI the whole week, but a bit of a loss of a chance to explore. Not sure of age group but:
I think there is a round island boat trip that leaves from AM - name?, think it also picks up people in Grand Case.
I would go to Orient for a day
maybe think about a round island tour - try Wilfred Brooks, a TTOL sponsor
Maybe the Marigot market on a Wed - could be part of an island tour
If only a wk [and I don't know that] and just browsing vs shopping for something specific I would give P'burg a pass especially on a busy cruise day, but that is just me

Others I'm sure will have lots of suggestions - there is a thread on Tijon, maybe they could make their own scents as a memento

J&B

Thanks for responses so far....love the area But desolate from rest of island worth exploring without a car IMHO. Please keep rssponses coming <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

The catamaran that leaves from Anse Marcel is the Funseaker. We took a trip in April- great time!

We enjoyed the Scoobidoo. Great day trip

If you have only 1 week then relax wind down and plan your trip back to stay elsewhere because the island has so many great restaurants and things to do.

Our 1st trip to SXM was AI and we quickly discovered better places and ended up only breakfast at our hotel, But then we were at Great Bay Hotel not as isolated as Anse Marcel. Now each visit we stay in a different part of the island but rent a car.

While Anse is beautiful & quiet, save it for when your old and too tired to drive the island at night.

Funseaker with Sebastien is great! Other nice and reasonably priced excursion boats out of Anse Marcel are Scoobitoo and ScoobiCat; and Solana/Winner Touch.

There is no conversion rate for the island. Each business can do whatever exchange rate they wish so you should always ask what the rate is first and if it's for cash only or also for credit.

If the business' exchange rate is worse than the market rate, and some are, I'd use a no foreign fee credit card and have them charge in euros.

So what are you saying that is different from what I said earlier?