Sint Maarten Travel Forum

Our family of 6 (including 4 young adults) are looking at going to St. Maarten. My husband and I visited for one day while we were on a cruise and fell in love with the Island. We would like to stay for 2 weeks and would like to be on (or close to a beautiful beach of course). Our children also want to be close to restaurants, shopping, nightlife etc. What would be the best area to please everyone? Also do you recommend the French or Dutch side of the Island to stay?

Thanks for the advice everyone,
Carol.

When i went to this island, it was my bachlorette party. We were 8 girls all in our late 20's. I can tell you this, the nightlife is on the Dutch side but all the girls fell in love w/ the beach on the French side. We rented 2 cars which were relativly cheap (something like $20 a day) and went back and forth everyday. This was amazing because we got to see the whole island; which is very beautiful! The resturants were also more chic on the french side and the resturants on the dutch side were a little more casual. We stayed on the Dutch side which made it more convienent for going out at night, but i do recommend you go to the French side during the day or evening. p.s. the French side has some great french products that you would not normally find in the states.