Best Beach Bars: St. Martin & Sint Maarten
Best Beach Bars in St. Martin and Sint Maarten
One island, two countries, and a border you can cross without anyone asking to see a passport. The Dutch side is Sint Maarten. The French side is Saint Martin. Depending on which map you are holding you will also see it written St. Maarten and St. Martin, and nobody on the island is remotely fussy about which one you use.
What matters is the ratio. This is a small island with something like thirty-seven beaches on it, and a bar on most of them. The Dutch side runs louder, built around Simpson Bay, Kim Sha and the airport approach at Maho. The French side runs slower, built around Grand Case, Orient Bay and a boat ride out to Pinel. Do both. The drive between them takes about twenty minutes and there is no checkpoint to stop at.
The Dutch Side: Simpson Bay, Kim Sha and Maho
Sunset Bar at Maho Beach sits directly under the approach into Princess Juliana, which is the single most photographed piece of sand in the Caribbean and needs no further explanation. Karakter puts bean bags in the shallows on Simpson Bay. Buccaneer Beach Bar leans into the pirate thing on Kim Sha, and has one of the better stretches of sand on this side to back it up.
Orient Bay, the French Side’s Long White Beach
Orient Bay is the beach the French side is known for, and it is lined end to end with clubs that run loungers, service and a proper kitchen. Kontiki and Kakao are the established two. Bikini Beach Bar has been an institution on this sand for years. Aloha Beach Bar is the family-run one, opened by two Saint Martin natives, and it is Guest Verified.
Grand Case and the Boat Out to Pinel
Grand Case calls itself the gourmet capital of the Caribbean and mostly gets away with it. Captain Frenchy sits on the sand there looking like a scruffy beach shack right up until the food arrives. Off the northeast corner, a five-minute ferry from Cul-de-Sac lands you at Karibuni on Pinel Island, which is chilled rose, grilled fish, and no road access whatsoever.
Planning Your St. Martin and Sint Maarten Bar Crawl
France and the Netherlands divided this island between them in 1648 and have never seriously argued about it since. There are no border formalities and no checkpoint, just a roadside monument and a change in what the road signs look like.
Bring US dollars, they spend fine on both sides, though the French side prices in euro and you will usually do better paying in euro where you can. Flights land at Princess Juliana on the Dutch side, which is the airport at the end of Maho Beach, so Sunset Bar is a short walk from baggage claim. There are worse ways to start a week. The whole island is small enough to cover on the beach bar map in one look.
The Philipsburg Boardwalk
Great Bay runs the length of Philipsburg, and the boardwalk along it is the densest stretch of beach bars anywhere on the island. Roughly seven hundred metres of sand with a bar every few steps. The cruise pier is a short water taxi away, which explains both the volume and the fact that most of the strip closes at five when the last passengers jog back to the ships.
The loud end
Big Bastaard’s · Blue Bitch Bar · Marley’s · Dirty Sanchez Crew Bar
Craft, kitchens and later hours
Lazy Lizard · Dutch Blonde · Ocean Lounge at Holland House · Kalua · Castaway · Layback
Small, cheap and on the sand
Cornie’s · Lizzy’s · Nu Love · Sint Rose
Twenty-two bars on one island is still not all of them. Grand Case alone has a row of lolos that could fill this page. If you drink somewhere on St. Martin or Sint Maarten that belongs here, tell us about it. If you own or run one, get it listed.