"St Maarten" a Sint Maarten Travel Page by HotSpotJ

I was here on a very short excursion, and I'd love to go back. The best thing about this island is one side is Dutch and the other French, so you get to experience two distinct cultures without leaving the island.

The Dutch side is very hilly and has more shops catering to the trinket-searching travelers where bottled water is more expensive than Heineken. It has alot of cheap souvenir shops and a great selection of jewelry and liquors at affordable prices. There are also many watersport activities, for a small fee you can participate in sail races, one of the sails is the actual Stars and Stripes boat that raced off the coast of Australia.

The French side of St Maarten accomodates the traveler who expects a more pampered island experience. The hotels are a notch higher in class and service, and Orient Beach is fantastic, though do remember it is a swimwear optional beach. The restaurants on this side of the island, in general, are also of better quality, not to take anything away from the Dutch.