Off the beaten beach path for us

Hate to admit it, but weve had chairs on Mullet, Orient, , Nettle (dreams).

We may want to branch out,if it is easy.

What other beaches have easy parking, chair umbrella rentals, drinks, food?

Cupecoy?
Friars?
Rouuge?
longe?
Plum?
Others?

We do enjoy AN where allowable.

Friars is a must. Great food and everything else on your list. Just bring water shoes as it can be rocky on the water edge

And be aware they don't take CC and their exchange is 1.25.

I don't think Longe or Plum have any concessions or chair rentals. Rouge used to, but I think they made Gus leave.

$1.25 is way out of line considering it's $1.13

Mbrott. You are worried about the price of chairs and now 12 cents on the dollar at one place that is worth the vig. Maybe you should reevaluate.

Cupecoy has chairs, umbrellas for rent. I think it is $5 a piece. A nice bar and depending on time of year, great food!

Mary's Boon on Simpson Bay Beach free chairs and umbrellas for customers. Fun place, beach service and good food.

Great options to the high end chair prices on some of the French side beach concessions.

We enjoyed Friars (FBBC) several days in November and December. The chairs are reduced to $10 for two chairs and an umbrella if you're having lunch there. The food is excellent, as is the service. They are genuinely happy to have us there, which means a lot to me. As others have said, they accept only cash, and the exchange is a bit high. Still a much better value than Bikini on Orient, in my opinion. I understand that there may be other options on Orient now; there were not when we were there.

We also enjoyed Mary's Boon and El Zafiro, but of the three, Friars Bay Beach Club was our favorite.

Pelican,

Friars Bay Beach Cafe has long been about my favorite beach for a higher end lunch and a swim. Yes, they did recently start charging for chairs (with cushions that they always charged minimally for....) and no - they don’t accept credit cards and their exchange is a tad on the high side. But all that said, in all the years we’ve been going there I’ve never been disappointed. Well, there was that Easter Sunday many years ago when we arrived early ahead of the island’s local crowd and got boxed in by all those who came behind us but we did eventually find a way to get out again! And yes, the road into Friars Bay Beach Cafe has deteriorated greatly but it’s still a personal favorite. The only caution I might give after our most recent visit is that sand/water shoes would really be an asset if you have even remotely tender tootsies.

Love place and always have. And there’s a good reason why so many island locals go out of their way to go there for lunch before heading back to their afternoons at work.

Take note that all the above recommendations except Cupecoy don't allow AN.

Thanks all. Very good info.

Will try Friars, bring some cash and water shoes. I see two roads into friars, im assuming the one on the left is the one to take looking down at a map and the ocean at top of map. Any worries about security there.

As for Cupecoy, where does one park? We’ve driven down the road past Saphire and all, but where is the public beach access?

Wasn’t there a beach, maybe Happy, where there was a gate with a lock and you either climbed overnthe chain or something. If you know what I’m thinking of what is it? Haha. Is thta a safe place to park.

Less than 2 weeks. Cant wait.

CupeCoy Beach Access is past Saphire and the Blue Mall, just as the road turns to go to the roundabout, it is on the left

There is,maybe used to be, a path from friars parking lot over to Happy Bay.

It was reported in another thread that the path over the hill to Happy Bay is fine. We park in the lot for Friar's and walk across the beach to the path....plenty of cars there and plenty of room to find a space

Of course if you are truly interested in "off-the-beaten-path" you should rent chairs (and an umbrella) for the length of your stay (PackLite or Kenny's) and carry them in your trunk. For us, a baguette sandwich and a few beers and 'any' beach is home for the day.

There is a sign on your left (coming from Maho) for parking now at Cupecoy.

Thanks will keep an eye out

Coming from Marigot, the best road into Friars is the first one, on the left just past the Christmas House. That road actually takes you to Kali's, but you can drive behind Kali's to a parking lot that's in between Kali's and FBBC. We used the other road, which takes you to the FBBC parking lot, a couple of times; and it is a much longer drive, and the road is much worse. However, if you're planning to walk over the hill to Happy Bay, that would be the closer parking lot.

How far a walk is it to FBBC from the parking lot between Kali's and FBBC? In June, we came in on the road that ends at FBBC parking lot and the walk to the restaurant was very short. At that time, I didn't think that road was too horrible, but I guess it's gotten worse since then, as it rained a lot after June..

I'd say it's about twice as far as from the FBBC parking lot. Coming from the Dutch side it really saves you a lot of time; the road was really awful earlier this month.

OK thanks.

Is FBBC actually Icl T’es Ailleur? Looking at google maps I see Kali’s and this T’es ailleur place.

Yes, it is.

Thank you for confirming