Not beach people-what to do in St.Maarten

[bjohio]

We are older folks, done with the beach lounging- will be docked in Phillipsburg on a Monday. Besides the shopping, any suggestions of interesting walks, sites in the area? How about going to the French side-how long a trip, bus or taxi costs there-what to see there?

[MTdreaming]

I have been before, not looking for a beach.. so ideas would be welcome. I know about Bernard's tours...but they sound like they do a lot of "beachy" trips..

[CruisinCrow]

We're having the same issue! Everything seems to either be about the beach or shopping. We're not shopping and we'll be doing beach-y stuff at other ports. Are there any interesting sights to see or activities? This is the one port I'm stuck on.

[bjohio]

I have been before, not looking for a beach.. so ideas would be welcome. I know about Bernard's tours...but they sound like they do a lot of "beachy" trips..

We are settling in on the Bernard Tour 1 where there is no beach time and an hour spent in Marigot plus other sites around the island. Having not been there before this seems like the best way to go. If we did not have a departure time the same day I would opt for the local bus, but don't want to change it with traffic, etc.

[pianoplayerla]

We just returned from a cruise that included St. Maarten. Chose Bernard's (but did not make prior reservations) because of all the reviews here. They got us on a tour and gave us a little discount because we had used them 4 years ago on a visit to the island. I would recommend making advance reservations if you want Tour 1; it was full the day we were in port. Super nice people, nice a/c bus, had free water, sodas, beer available throughout the day.

 

Will definitely use Bernard's if the occasion arises in the future.

[Dectwins06]

Bernards was a great trip. They stop at a couple of places that you can take pictures. The one place we stopped we got a great picture with our ship Getaway in the background. I'm going back in March and a must is Sarafinas-great pastries and very cute French bakery! Maho beach is a beach, but not really a great swimming beach-more of a look at the people and their things getting blown in the water! They have a great bar there too!

[packyb]

when we were in St Maartan the last time the 8 of us just climbed aboard a taxi van and he took us to the French side and dropped us off for a bit and we bought some pastries and had a beer in an outside restaurant and went through the outside vendors. The taxi came back about an hour later and took us to Maho beach and watched a couple planes land right over the street, very cool. Had a nice tour but don't rememeber what we paid but it wasn't much. After that we found a little place on the boardwalk and had a couple beers before heading back to the ship.

[bjohio]

We just returned from a cruise that included St. Maarten. Chose Bernard's (but did not make prior reservations) because of all the reviews here. They got us on a tour and gave us a little discount because we had used them 4 years ago on a visit to the island. I would recommend making advance reservations if you want Tour 1; it was full the day we were in port. Super nice people, nice a/c bus, had free water, sodas, beer available throughout the day.

 

Will definitely use Bernard's if the occasion arises in the future.

 

We have made reservations for Tour 1 and are looking forward to it.