Local Expert - Traffic/advise

[l2f]

My wife and I will be at SMX the week of Thanksgiving. This will be our first visit to SMX. There will be 4 ships in port the day we will be visiting. I saw a thread here sometime ago about traffic being really bad in one area due to construction. I can't seem to find that thread.

 

With 4 ships being in port we are a little nervous about booking with a tour company and wanted to plan a day using a taxi driver/on our own thus giving we the option if there are just too many people around we could cut short whatever and make our way back to the ship.

 

So what part of the island should be avoided?

[gtaylor]

My major concern is traffic between Maho / Mullet Bay Beach, the area near the airport, and the Cruise Facility. Traffic there in the afternoon can literally back up for two hours. We were there earlier this month, and a trip back to Philipsburg leaving before 1:30 took over an hour. I believe that it only gets worse later in the day.

 

As I've posted here our driver knew a shortcut that helped, but island officials have since closed that shortcut.

 

Trips to Dawn Beach, Orient, le Galion, Pinel, Grand Case, and even Marigot shouldn't be a major problem. Just taking a taxi should be fine.

 

I expect this traffic problem to extend into next year, but officials keep trying different alternative plans to help out the flow, so who knows?

 

gary

[l2f]

Thanks Gary. Not exactly sure what we plan to do but may post those ideas to be sure we steer clear of any potential problems.