Renting Car Vs Taxi for my Itinerary

[Ctravelwriter]

For someone looking for a place of Caribbean beauty Maho would not have been my suggestion to you especially given the sheer number of cruisers and holiday vacationers that would have been on the island. Le Galion, Anse Marcel or Grand Case would have made for a much nicer day for you I think. We like renting a car and heading to Grand Case when on a cruise stop. It's a lovely old fishing village that now has many restaurants and small boutiques and cafes. Beaches not inundated with cruisers are much easier accessed when you have a car as well. To me St. Maarten is a great place for a vacation because its easy and relatively safe even at night getting around, and all of the great dining choices as well. I too would have hated to be at Maho and of course that awful drive back on my cruise stop day as well.

 

Oh, we did go round the whole island before Maho! Sorry if I wasn't clear. And I've been there before and explored it all. Grand Case is fairly nice ... but still, I haven't seen anywhere on the whole island that isn't overdeveloped and overcrowded (and I always go way off the beaten track), or even very picturesque, compared with the rest of the Caribbean. I've been lucky enough to visit a HUGE amount of the Caribbean, and it's definitely right at the bottom of the list, sorry... :-( And the whole of the Caribbean is safe and easy with incredible food, and far more beautiful, although there are a few bits of Jamaica and Trinidad that I'd exercise a bit more awareness in. I guess, for us, St. M was fairly pointless to visit or for a holiday, as it looks 'just like anywhere else', has those awful traffic problems, is vastly overdeveloped and seems to have lost most of its identity. I'm afraid I'm with the famous writer who described the island as "a graceless monument to vulgarian greed". We couldn't get out of there fast enough! Still, each to their own!

[Karysa]

Oh, we did go round the whole island before Maho! Sorry if I wasn't clear. And I've been there before and explored it all. Grand Case is fairly nice ... but still, I haven't seen anywhere on the whole island that isn't overdeveloped and overcrowded (and I always go way off the beaten track), or even very picturesque, compared with the rest of the Caribbean. I've been lucky enough to visit a HUGE amount of the Caribbean, and it's definitely right at the bottom of the list, sorry... :-( And the whole of the Caribbean is safe and easy with incredible food, and far more beautiful, although there are a few bits of Jamaica and Trinidad that I'd exercise a bit more awareness in. I guess, for us, St. M was fairly pointless to visit or for a holiday, as it looks 'just like anywhere else', has those awful traffic problems, is vastly overdeveloped and seems to have lost most of its identity. I'm afraid I'm with the famous writer who described the island as "a graceless monument to vulgarian greed". We couldn't get out of there fast enough! Still, each to their own!

 

 

Many folks like the idea of self catering vacations and compared to St. Lucia, Antigua, Jamaica and the such this island seems to really be ideal for this sort of vacation. Being able to visit St. Bart's, Anguilla, Saba and St. Eustatious on day trips is also appealing to many travellers. Its definitely not the island for you though and thankfully there are many other choices but St. Maarten usually does makes the top three list when cc members ask other members what there 3 faviorite ports in the Caribbean are. Happy cruising:)

[neptuno]

Just wondering what you found for a car rate? We want to go from the port to Marigot, to Maho to phillipsburg. I'm concerned with parking and road closures, we have a gps and there will be 4 of us, so do we rent a car or do a taxi?

 

We rented from Arthur's just outside the gate on 12/24/13. Did not get the car we were promised, but had a great day anyway. We reserved an economy 4door for $63 and received a beat up old 2dr Jeep (gas guzzler), OK anyway, owner comped us on some gas. But for $75, the brand new 4 door Hyundai we rented from Sun Than over Thanksgiving (inside the gate) was a better deal. Hint, if doing an around the island, go clockwise, returning from the east coast.Better than returning from Maho, as the traffic is congested returning to port from the south coast.

[BecciBoo]

We had an unpleasant experience renting a vehicle (if you could call it that:rolleyes:) in St. Maartin the first time we were there, after 5 trips we will never rent again.

 

And I don't know why anyone would say Mullet Bay Beach could be rough. All 5 times we've been there it was like a bathtub. It is on the Leeward side of the island after all. Orient on the windward side is pretty rough and we've only been once.

 

Only Taxis for us now. And we will continue to go to Mullet Bay for a relaxing day. Perfect for kids.

[jlcd66]

Does Muttlet Bay have changing facilities or only a port o potty? Looking for a nice beach where we can easily change from clothes to bathing suits.

[Karysa]

Does Muttlet Bay have changing facilities or only a port o potty? Looking for a nice beach where we can easily change from clothes to bathing suits.

 

Mullet just has a port o potty. If you are doing Mullet/Maho in combination you can change in the BR at the Sunset Bar and a grill at Maho.

 

Petite Plage is another beach that comes to mind that has a decent size restroom for changing. It's in Grand Case. The public walkway is just past the Grand Case Beach Club entrance.

[BecciBoo]

We've never been to Grand Case, is that beach as nice as Mullet?? Maybe we'll go there, I hear it's the foodie town;)

[Karysa]

We've never been to Grand Case, is that beach as nice as Mullet?? Maybe we'll go there, I hear it's the foodie town;)

 

No it's not as nice to Mullet but Mullet is always on my top 3 beaches on the island. There are two beaches and many restaurants and some beach bars and boutiques, a bakery and even a make your own perfume place so there is plenty to do.

Edited April 6, 2014 by Karysa

[BecciBoo]

I found that pic of the taxi schedule: