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Hows the Driving in St. Martin?


wilmingtech
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Hey All -

 

We recently booked our first cruise ever (Freedom OTS in February) and for one of the 2 stops we are going to rent a car and explore the island. We randomly chose St. Martin to do this and were wondering, who has experience renting a car and driving around the island? (or has lived there)

 

Some background for you, we are a family of 6, (4 Kids, 7-14) and we are well traveled world travelers. We love to get off the beaten path and explore and our favorite thing is to meet the locals and learn from and share with them our life experiences. Its great to get to meet new people and share stories. We are renting a car as we feel it will be cheaper and easier to get into off-the-track places with the 6 of us and we wont have to tote everything with us to and from the places we want to hike and visit.

 

My concerns are (from experience):

1. Are the roads in good shape?

2. is there adequate parking in most areas, is it free parking?

3. Should we be concerned with the vehicle getting broken into (ie, just leave it unlocked to save the window or door damage)

4. Where and when should we drive (ie: what are the Islands traffic patterns? better to head east in the morning and west in the afternoon or vice versa?)

5. Lastly any places we should altogether avoid?

 

Thanks for your feedback we are totally looking forward to this little island adventure.

 

-Sean

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hey All -

 

We recently booked our first cruise ever (Freedom OTS in February) and for one of the 2 stops we are going to rent a car and explore the island. We randomly chose St. Martin to do this and were wondering, who has experience renting a car and driving around the island? (or has lived there)

 

Some background for you, we are a family of 6, (4 Kids, 7-14) and we are well traveled world travelers. We love to get off the beaten path and explore and our favorite thing is to meet the locals and learn from and share with them our life experiences. Its great to get to meet new people and share stories. We are renting a car as we feel it will be cheaper and easier to get into off-the-track places with the 6 of us and we wont have to tote everything with us to and from the places we want to hike and visit.

 

My concerns are (from experience):

1. Are the roads in good shape?

2. is there adequate parking in most areas, is it free parking?

3. Should we be concerned with the vehicle getting broken into (ie, just leave it unlocked to save the window or door damage)

4. Where and when should we drive (ie: what are the Islands traffic patterns? better to head east in the morning and west in the afternoon or vice versa?)

5. Lastly any places we should altogether avoid?

 

Thanks for your feedback we are totally looking forward to this little island adventure.

 

-Sean

 

You have asked some really good questions and I will do my best to answer them for you. For the most part the roads are in very good shape on St. Maarten. We have spoken to locals at restaurants, beach bars and beaches especially Le Gallion and Bay Prune. Parking is generally free although there are pay lots available in Philipsburg. We don't leave anything in our car and lock the doors and have never had an issue. If you simply want to circle the island then I would end on the east side of the island in the afternoon as traffic is not an issue. We don't drive up to Peak Paradise anymore as there has been break-ins and robberies in the past. That is the only area on the island that we avoid in the day time.

Edited by Karysa
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  • 4 weeks later...

We rented a van and a small car for 16 of us. We drove to Mullet Bay and then to Maho Beach. No trouble parking, it was free. Roads were great. Road to Mullet Bay was not as clearly marked as we needed but we found it! I would go with a plan. We looked at google earth and received great directions from people on this board so we were able to navigate with ease. Would definitely rent cars again.

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Seeing this thread reminded me, so I just booked an Avis rental for our two weeks in January (we are there every year). The roads are fairly narrow but generally in pretty good shape - you do have to watch out for the occasional bad pot hole.

 

With the exception of the middle of Phillipsburg and around the sqare in Marigot, parking is pretty easy. In Phillipsburg there is a long free parking area next to the salt pond two blocks back of the shopping street.

 

We never lock the car - the trunk is lockable so the spare tire and tools are likely to be safe - and we never leave ANYTHING in the car. I would rather let someone have easy access than have him break a window to get in to check the glove compartment.

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Seeing this thread reminded me, so I just booked an Avis rental for our two weeks in January (we are there every year). The roads are fairly narrow but generally in pretty good shape - you do have to watch out for the occasional bad pot hole.

 

With the exception of the middle of Phillipsburg and around the sqare in Marigot, parking is pretty easy. In Phillipsburg there is a long free parking area next to the salt pond two blocks back of the shopping street.

 

We never lock the car - the trunk is lockable so the spare tire and tools are likely to be safe - and we never leave ANYTHING in the car. I would rather let someone have easy access than have him break a window to get in to check the glove compartment.

 

The walk from the lot by the Salt Pond is about 10 minutes to Front Street and Front Street is long so plan on walking another 5 to 10 minutes to get where you want to be.

 

One time we just turned our rental in early at Hertz and they drove us to the start of Front Street and we went shopping and walked back. I like the walk along the boardwalk to the ship much better than the walk to the salt pond lot from Front Street so this worked out well for us.

 

Congestion especially coming back from the Maho area in the afternoon is another thing to keep I mind while renting a car while on a cruise stop.

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[quote=Karysa;44998889

 

Congestion especially coming back from the Maho area in the afternoon is another thing to keep I mind while renting a car while on a cruise stop.

 

Right - the traffic can be unbelievable- it's a good idea to get over to the east side of the island by early afternoon - maybe making a stop at Dawn Beach just before hitting Phillipsburg for shopping - or just getting back to a cruise ship.

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