Sint Maarten

Philipsburg — the capital of Sint Maarten (the Dutch half of the island of Saint Martin — a single 87km² island divided between the Netherlands (Sint Maarten — a Dutch constituent country since 2010) and France (Saint-Martin — a French overseas collectivity) with no border controls between the two sides, making it the smallest land mass in the world shared between two sovereign nations) with the Front Street shopping strip and the Great Bay Beach.

The island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten is the smallest in the world divided between two nations — 87km² shared between France (53km², the northern Saint-Martin) and the Netherlands (34km², the southern Sint Maarten). The border (a stone monument on the road between Marigot and Philipsburg, established by the 1648 Treaty of Concordia) has no passport control; residents and visitors cross freely. The legend of the border’s placement involves a Frenchman and a Dutchman walking in opposite directions while a Frenchman drank wine and a Dutchman drank jenever (gin) — the wine-walker covered more ground.

Maho Beach (the most famous airport beach in the world — a narrow strip of sand at the end of the runway of Princess Juliana International Airport, where aircraft land so low they pass 20m overhead, the jet blast from departing planes sends spectators flying across the sand, and the experience is simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating — the KLM 747 and Air France A330 arrivals are the signature spectacle).

Maho Beach’s jet blast (the exhaust from Boeing 747 and Airbus A330 engines at full reverse thrust during landing roll) reaches wind speeds of 185km/h at the beach fence — force 12 hurricane equivalent. Warning signs at the beach are explicit about the danger: multiple visitors have been injured or killed by holding the fence during departures. The beach attracts thousands of aviation enthusiasts (planespotters) from around the world who consider it the best aircraft viewing location on earth.

Across the (unmarked) border: Marigot — the capital of the French side — with the Fort Louis (a small fort on the hill above Marigot with the finest view of the lagoon) and the Marigot Market (the finest market in the Dutch/French Caribbean — Wednesday and Saturday mornings, with fresh produce, spices and local crafts). Saint-Martin has one of the highest restaurant-to-resident ratios in the Caribbean and the finest French-Creole cuisine in the Lesser Antilles.

Saint-Martin (the French side) has earned a reputation as the gastronomic capital of the Caribbean — the combination of French culinary culture (Michelin-trained chefs, proper wine lists, classic sauces) with Caribbean ingredients (fresh lobster, mahi-mahi, conch, plantain, local herbs) produces a cuisine that stands out in a region where food is rarely the primary draw. The density of quality restaurants per capita on Saint-Martin is among the highest in the world for a community of its size.

Orient Bay (Baie Orientale — the finest beach on Saint-Martin, on the Atlantic side of the French territory — a 2km arc of golden sand with water sports, beach bars, the Club Orient naturist section and the most animated beach scene in the French Antilles, the Caribbean equivalent of a Saint-Tropez beach, with restaurants and loungers directly on the sand) and Ilet Pinel (a small uninhabited island 5 minutes by water taxi, with the best snorkelling near the French capital).

Orient Bay’s combination of Atlantic surf, French beach culture and the naturist tradition of Club Orient (the oldest nudist beach resort in the Caribbean, established 1971) creates the most distinctively French beach atmosphere in the Caribbean. The beach featured in the opening sequences of the 1995 film GoldenEye (James Bond).

The Simpson Bay Lagoon (the largest lagoon in the Caribbean — 45km², straddling the Dutch-French border, the main anchorage for charter yachts in the northern Caribbean, with 2,000+ yachts at any time — the Lagoon is the social centre of the island, with the bars and restaurants of Simpson Bay on the Dutch side and the gourmet restaurants of Marigot on the French side facing each other across the water) and the island’s famous sunset Happy Hour circuit.

Simpson Bay Lagoon (45km² — the largest saltwater lagoon in the Caribbean, connected to the sea by two bridges) is the primary reason Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin is the charter yachting capital of the northern Caribbean. The anchorage provides protection from the Trade Wind swell while remaining close to the finest sailing waters of the British and Dutch Leeward Islands; the lagoon can accommodate 2,000+ yachts simultaneously.

25 min ferry from Marigot. Anguilla (a British Overseas Territory — a flat coral island with 33 beaches consistently ranked among the finest in the world: Shoal Bay East (the finest beach in the Caribbean by many rankings), Meads Bay and Barnes Bay — the least developed and least crowded high-quality beaches in the northeastern Caribbean, with ultra-luxury villas and the most exclusive address in the northern Leeward Islands).

Shoal Bay East (Anguilla’s finest and most celebrated beach — a 2km crescent of powdery white sand and clear turquoise water, backed by low beach bars and palm trees, with no high-rise development visible in any direction) has been consistently ranked the best beach in the Caribbean by Condé Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure and the BBC. The beach’s quality is largely the result of Anguilla’s strict building codes that prohibit any structure taller than a palm tree near the waterfront.

45 min ferry or 10 min plane. Saint-Barthélemy (St Barts — a French overseas collectivity, 25km², population 10,000, the most expensive island in the Caribbean and one of the most expensive destinations in the world — a rocky, hilly island with a Swedish colonial heritage (Sweden owned it 1784–1878, hence the capital Gustavia), French culture, excellent beaches and the highest concentration of luxury fashion boutiques outside Paris and Monaco). Fly from Sint Maarten (SXM).

Saint-Barthélemy was a Swedish colony from 1784 to 1878 (when Sweden sold it back to France for 320,000 francs) — the only Caribbean island ever owned by Sweden. Gustavia (the capital, named after King Gustav III of Sweden) still has Swedish street names and the Swedish flag on its coat of arms. The island’s tax-free status (maintained from the Swedish period through to the present) combined with its small, intimate scale attracted the ultra-wealthy in the 1970s and 1980s, and it has remained the most exclusive address in the Caribbean since.