How far apart, grand case from orient beach??

[waterbugohio]

Still trying to decide on a land based vacation spot. Want to do the French side of st Maarten. Just not sure if we want to stay at grand case beach resort or at alamanda resort at orient beach

 

We are not planning on renting a car and we would like to visit both of these areas. So we need to also price out a taxi ride back and forth between the two areas. How far apart are they?

 

Do we want the larger resort with possibly more to do at Grand Case? Or the smaller resort with more to do at Orient Beach??

 

Any and all suggestions welcome

[gtaylor]

Grand Case Beach Club and Alamanda are about 3.5 miles apart by road, 2.5 miles as the crow flys.

 

Check the map that I sent you.

 

I priced out your transportation options in a post here weeks ago.

 

I would still recommend renting a car.

 

gary

[Karysa]

Grand Case Beach Club and Alamanda are about 3.5 miles apart by road, 2.5 miles as the crow flys.

 

Check the map that I sent you.

 

I priced out your transportation options in a post here weeks ago.

 

I would still recommend renting a car.

 

gary

 

 

We always rent a car as well. It cost us $200 plus $50 for gas for our recent 9 night island vacation. We split our stay between Simpson Bay and Anse Marcel. We like to go to different beaches and enjoy lunches and dinners in Maho, Philipsburg and Grand Case so we feel that a car is a must.

 

We met a man at the airport on our way home who had also stayed on the island for 9 nights. We were surprised to hear that he stayed at Club O and never ventured off of Orient Beach for his entire vacation. He like ourselves, said that he had a wonderful trip.

 

We actually never got to Orient on this vacation and he never left it! Different strokes for different folks!:)

[The Big Booper]

We used to stay on the island for a week at a time in the 90's and early 2000's.

 

We always rented a car and ate at different restaurants every night in different towns. Plus went to different beaches and shopping areas in the daytime.

 

So for our style we felt a car was necessary.

[waterbugohio]

Thanks for all the replies

 

The package we are looking at includes round trip transfers from the Airport to the hotel. We are thinking of doing a tour or day trip one or two days. And also spending most days on the beach. So that leaves us for just once or twice that we would leave the hotel. This is why we didn't feel we needed a rental car.

 

Just trying to get some options.

[Karysa]

Thanks for all the replies

 

The package we are looking at includes round trip transfers from the Airport to the hotel. We are thinking of doing a tour or day trip one or two days. And also spending most days on the beach. So that leaves us for just once or twice that we would leave the hotel. This is why we didn't feel we needed a rental car.

 

Just trying to get some options.

 

What time of year are you looking at? Many Grand Case restaurants close down in September and Orient can have Seagrass issues mostly noted in the summer/ early fall. Orient is a popular beach for cruisers and the winter/ early spring is the busiest times for ships visiting the island. I think that it is a gorgeous beach when the seagrass is not rolling in. One thing that I like about GCBC is that you pay for the view that you are looking for. View is important to us. Others can tell you if the hotel on Orient offers this as well.

 

There are days where it is raining one side of the island and by having a car we have been able to enjoy a beach day or shopping or even lunch somewhere we may not have gone to by simply getting in the car and driving a short distance.

[waterbugohio]

What time of year are you looking at? Many Grand Case restaurants close down in September and Orient can have Seagrass issues mostly noted in the summer/ early fall. Orient is a popular beach for cruisers and the winter/ early spring is the busiest times for ships visiting the island. I think that it is a gorgeous beach when the seagrass is not rolling in. One thing that I like about GCBC is that you pay for the view that you are looking for. View is important to us. Others can tell you if the hotel on Orient offers this as well.

 

There are days where it is raining one side of the island and by having a car we have been able to enjoy a beach day or shopping or even lunch somewhere we may not have gone to by simply getting in the car and driving a short distance.

 

Karysa, we are looking at the first week of November. Any idea if the Seagrass will still be bad. I did realize that places closed down in September.

 

I think we are going to play the car rental thing by ear. I have read that there are rental agencies and maybe we will just do a one day rental if we decide to go running around a day

 

Now to just decide between the two resorts. What kind of nightlife is around GCBC? I have heard from a friend that the nightlife along orient is really neat. They just walked from one place to the next at night. We are really leaning towards the Alamanda

[Karysa]

Karysa, we are looking at the first week of November. Any idea if the Seagrass will still be bad. I did realize that places closed down in September.

 

I think we are going to play the car rental thing by ear. I have read that there are rental agencies and maybe we will just do a one day rental if we decide to go running around a day

 

Now to just decide between the two resorts. What kind of nightlife is around GCBC? I have heard from a friend that the nightlife along orient is really neat. They just walked from one place to the next at night. We are really leaning towards the Alamanda

 

 

I didn't make it to Orient this past trip but heard that the Seagrass was similar to what we saw the last several years during our summer vacations. This was never a problem in the spring when we have visited and I think that is related to the summer storms. I have never read about it being an issue that late in to the fall. I really don't know much about Orient Village but others can help you out on that. A late evening for me is a great meal at one of the Grand Case Restaurants at 8 so I can't help you with that either but there is at least one bar/lounge in Grand Case that advertised live musicians on the weekends.

 

If you are beach people who enjoy sand gravity then I would say stay at Orient. To me that is the beach and area for beach people, especially those without a car at their disposal. Grand Case is really out on its own and Orient is more central and getting to other beaches and Philipsburg and even Marigot is really inexpensive and easy to do from Orient. You might find Grand Case Beach Club boring but there is always something going on at Orient.

 

Hope that helps.