St Maarten- First time at this port

[sydneymate]

Thank you so much for all your advice and expertise. Seems like I will stick to LeGallion Beach and then walk around Phillipsburg downtown. Can anyone please advice how much will it cost us to get to LeGallion Beach from the port per person and from there to Phillipsburg and from there back to the port. Thanks once again.

[Karysa]

Thank you so much for all your advice and expertise. Seems like I will stick to LeGallion Beach and then walk around Phillipsburg downtown. Can anyone please advice how much will it cost us to get to LeGallion Beach from the port per person and from there to Phillipsburg and from there back to the port. Thanks once again.

 

See if you can get in with others going to Le Galion or the butterfly farm or the horse riding stable all very near each other or even with folks going to Orient. If that's the case I would count on about $7 to and from LeGalion pp each way and you should be able to get a taxi to take you back from town for about $3 or $4 pp depending just how far down from the ships end of town you are. Have a wonderful cruise:)

[mafw]

Another beach which is lovely and only about 10 minutes from town or a walk from the end of town up the hill, about 2-3 miles....Beautiful beach, quiet not crowded and you can see the ship from the beach......DIVI DIVI

 

We own timeshare there and have wAlked to town many many times.

Also the Grenhouse is at the end of front street and the ferry stops there. Food is good, scenic views of harbor. Enjoy!

[Karysa]

Another beach which is lovely and only about 10 minutes from town or a walk from the end of town up the hill, about 2-3 miles....Beautiful beach, quiet not crowded and you can see the ship from the beach......DIVI DIVI

 

We own timeshare there and have wAlked to town many many times.

Also the Grenhouse is at the end of front street and the ferry stops there. Food is good, scenic views of harbor. Enjoy!

 

2-3 miles is a good walk especially up that hill and that only gets you to the far end of town when walking from Divi resort? Definitely too far for most to walk from the port. It only costs $5 pp via taxi from the port to Little Bay so it's cheap and cheerful and cheaper than the cost of the water that you would need to buy. :)

[sydneymate]

If I have to hire a private tour person who can take me to the beach for an hour and hit a few tourist spots say for a total of 3-4 hrs how much am I looking at? :confused:

[SeasideMemories]

We did the Sightseeing, Sand and Plane Spotting tour with Twin Island Excursions a couple of years ago and it was a great tour! Gave a good overview of the island with stops in Marigot, Orient Beach and Maho. It wasn't a private tour with just us but there was only one other couple with us that day. They have lots of different tours based on what you want to see and they seem to run about $45pp (less for kids) and are about 5-6 hours long. Bernard's is another option and always seems to get good reviews too!

 

One thing to keep in mind if you decide to go it on your own is that traffic coming back from the Maho area in the afternoon can be crazy so be sure to leave yourself lots of time to get back to the ship!

 

Edited to add: Just re-read your original request and this may not fit your budget but was definitely a good value for the $$.

Edited April 14, 2016 by SeasideMemories