Caribbean / St. Martin
To Go or Not to Go

Our Top Reasons to Skip St. Martin/Sint Maarten

#1 The traffic & car exhaust.
#2 The 'Carnival Cruise' visitors (beer bottle in hand) wandering Orient Beach.
#3 The dilapidated concrete buildings & "dead" timeshares scattered about.
#4 The tacky casinos & everything that goes with them.
#5 The abundance of locks, bolts & safety warnings in hotel rooms.
#7 The Colonel is here (KFC's 5 locations).
#8 The duty-free shopping.

Our Top Reasons to Go to St. Martin/Sint Maarten

#1 The French food in Grand Case. Fine dining to the inexpensive "Lolo" barbecue shacks.
#2 The old French Creole buildings, some barely standing but fabulous.
#3 The Saturday market in Marigot with its spices, crafts & interesting vendors.
#4 The "views" on the clothes-optional beaches (assuming they're fit & young that day)!
#5 The small, laid-back Friar's Bay.
#6 The ease of hopping a ferry for the short ride to Anguilla for lunch.
#7 The French food (did we say that before???)

The above is blatant, brutally frank & completely opinionated. Take it with a "grain of sel" (French for salt). Or take our word for it. Our suggestion? Come to St. Martin on your way to another island. Stay for just a couple of nights. That's enough time to experience the best of the island.