Many places in the world to travel but with all its faults and every island has them, where else would you go in the Caribbean to have such diversity.. i.e French and Dutch, food, casinos and beaches? And without traveling 8 plus hours to get there? Aruba? Not for me.
I love London and parts of the UK but need at least 3-4 weeks and a lot of dosh! I go from Miami so it’s just 2 and a half hours or so, about as much as I can take these days traveling. St. Thomas has gone way downhill, just jewelry stores left and the food not as diverse. St. John, lovely for just a few days. British Virgin Islands, great if you are a boater. Barbados, Antigua, St. Lucia to the Grenadines, done them all and each one has charm and certainly less traffic and mess than SXM at present.
However, many here have built up such great friendships and loyalty over the years with vendors and restaurant owners that it’s difficult to try anything else...,depends what you like to do also. If you are a four seasons person that stays on the beach all day and likes to be served hand and foot by the pool, yes there are other places to enjoy..but from what I’ve seen on this board, most like to explore new and old, love shopping for food and love dining out as well on the Dutch and French sides.
Not sure where else you can do this. From gourmet French meals to hamburgers and fries. Turks and Caicos, great beaches and some good restaurants, but expensive. Anguilla, stunning beaches and actually quite a choice of restaurants and will split our time between the two but with all its problems, SXM is still like a second home for us.