St. Maarten Travel Information
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The Dutch side is Sint Maarten and the French side is Saint Martin, but the island is so small it's easy to see both.
The French side covers two thirds of the landmass, and the Dutch side, which includes both the airport and cruise port, cover the rest. But it matters little to visitors. The island is so small and the two sides have lived together in harmony for so many centuries that they are highly integrated with each other.Visitors stay at St. Maarten for a quiet stopover vacation. Although it is the ninth most popular island for vacationers in the Caribbean, more than three times as many people visit the island by cruise than by stopovers.
Like the nearby St. Kitts, that makes St. Maarten busy around the cruise port in Philipsburg and relatively quiet on the 35 beaches and around the resorts and hotels. Similarly, St. Maarten is much more a things to do island rather than a things to see island, meaning it is stronger on recreational activities than on historical and cultural attractions.
Use the following St. Maarten travel information to help plan your trip.
St. Maarten belongs in the same category of attractions as other small Caribbean destinations such as St. Kitts. It is low on unique attractions, although visitors are more likely to go because of cruises and for quiet stopover vacations.
Two of the most popular attractions on the island are the capitals -- the cruise port of Phillipsburg on the Dutch side and Marigot on the French side.
Unique attractions include Bay of Grand Case, which has the best restaurants on the island; sailing to nearby St. Barths and Anguilla; and the panoramic views of Fort St. Louis, built in 1765 to protect the capital of Marigot from the English.
Tourism / When to Go
Passports are required of all U.S. and Canadian stopover visitors. Cruise visitors simply need to have their ship IDs available when leaving the ship and returning.
St. Maarten lies within the hurricane belt. The most popular months are April followed by March; the least popular are September and then October.
Island weather has average temperatures in the 80s degree Fahrenheit all year long; low humidity, gentle trade winds, brief, intense rain showers; July-November is the hurricane season. The average annual temperature varies by only 7 degrees. Annual rainfall of 45 inches gives the island moderate vegetation in the same category as St. Kitts and others. In other words, don't necessarily go there for lush tropical rainforests.
Currency / Tipping / Taxes
Official currency is the Euro on the French side and Netherlands Antilles florin (guilder) on the Dutch side. But U.S. currency and major credit cards are widely accepted on both sides of the island. Hotels usually add a 15 percent service charge on the Dutch side and 10-15 percent on the French side. Taxes typically are 5 percent on the Dutch side and a variable rate averaging 5 percent on the French side.
Culture / Geography
The official languages are French and Dutch on the respective two sides, although English and Spanish are commonly spoken. The economy is entirely dominated by tourism, which employs 85 percent of the workforce. The island, which is only one-third the size of Washington D.C., is the smallest landmass in the world that is shared by two nations.
Sources / More information
