Private Island Day in St. Maarten

The shape of a good day

The island is 37 square miles and you can drive around it in two hours. That means an island day is not about covering ground — it is about choosing four or five places and giving them enough time.

Here are three shapes that work. All of them are suggestions, not itineraries.

The two-country day

Marigot for the market and the harbour, up to Grand Case for lunch on the strip, over to Orient Bay for the afternoon, back through the Dutch side at dusk. Roughly six hours, most of it out of the car.

This is the one to pick if it is your only full day.

The quiet day

Cupecoy and Mullet Bay in the morning while they are still empty, a long lunch somewhere with no view of a cruise ship, and Baie Rouge or Friar's Bay in the afternoon.

Better on a heavy port day, when Philipsburg and Maho are at their worst.

The high road

Up through the middle of the island for the views over Simpson Bay lagoon, along the ridge, down to the French side. Shorter, about four hours, and the best option if someone in the group does not want a whole day of it.

What we will tell you honestly

Orient Bay is worth it, but it is 45 minutes each way from the Dutch side, so it wants to be the destination rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else.

Maho is about the aircraft. If the landing schedule is thin that afternoon, we will suggest somewhere else and you will have a better day for it.

Philipsburg on a four-ship day is not a pleasant place to walk around. We will route around it rather than through it.

The Simpson Bay bridge will cost you twenty minutes if you hit it wrong, and we plan the day around the published openings rather than discovering them.

From a ship

The same day works on a port call, cut to fit your all-aboard. We plan backwards from the time you have to be on the gangway and build the day inside it, with margin.

Back on board in time is guaranteed. See from the ship.

What it costs

Priced by the block — four, six or eight hours — per vehicle rather than per person, with fuel, parking and waiting included. A group of six pays the same as a couple.

Entrance fees, loungers and lunch are yours. We will tell you what things cost before you commit to them.