St. Maarten Family Vacation

A peek into our 2025 family trip to St. Maarten

Here are some of the places we visited during our stay on the island. I am a St. Maarten born native who now lives in Florida. Some things have definitely changed and it was fun to re-explore the new and old of the island.

St. Maarten – Beachside Airbnb

Our Airbnb definitely set the tone for the trip. We choose an Airbnb that was across the street from a more remote, private beach on the island. St. Maarten is known for bad traffic, so I knew our Airbnb had to be located closer to a beach to avoid driving in traffic. I highly recommend this Airbnb as well as this location. It’s central to a lot of the best beaches on the island. And sits on the border of the French and Dutch side of the island. The airbnb specifically had really great service from the hosts as well.

Pinel Island – French Saint Martin

Loved visiting Pinel Island again. As teenagers we used to camp here overnight, some of my best memories come from this island. Even though it has changed a lot since those days, it still is a great place to come back to.

You arrive there by ferry boat ($12 pp) and can bring your own chairs or rent one of the loungers from the two restaurants on the island (definitely get the lounger). We learned the hard way that they actually take reservations for these loungers so we had to rent some further back. Learn from our mistakes! The food from Karibuni Restaurant was out of this world.

Mullet Bay – Kalatua Restaurant

Kalatua is a restaurant on the beach of Mullet Bay on St. Maarten. First, you have to park by Starz Casino nearby and they have a golf cart service that picks you up and brings you right to the restaurant.

We opted to rent one of the beach beds and spend the entire day on the beach. The beach bed was $300 and included a bottle of rosé, 2 bottles of water, 2 beach umbrellas and towels for every person. Another thing I LOVED was the bathroom on site as well as the SHOWERS. Being able to wash off the salt before leaving the beach is a top tier luxury in my book.

We had such a great day being able to enjoy the bed, the beach and the water. The food was amazing as well. My only qualm is that I wish the food service had started earlier and not 11:30 pm. So, if you have children with you, bring some snacks for the morning hours.

Plum Bay

Plum Bay, Long Bay and Baie Rouge are some of my favorite secluded beaches on the island. They are pretty far from the main road and never busy. One thing to note, the beach it self if very rocky and not the most kid friendly, but our kids loved playing in the tide pools created by the rocks. Plus the Airbnb was a minute walk away so it was great for us. These beaches also hold a lot of dear memories to me.

Le Galeon – St. Maarten baby friendly beach

This beach is by far the most child friendly of the whole island of St. Maarten. It is extremely shallow and calm. It is definitely far from everything, however, it gives you the best peace of mind when it comes to your children’s safety. One negative thing about Le Galeon is that the beach is very quiet and frankly, boring. There is no music, no fun atmosphere. It’s perfect for children and older folks who want a peaceful place to be for the day.

Ultimate Yachting

This was by far the highlight of our entire trip. We booked a day trip to Anguilla with Ultimate Yachting St. Maarten. We spent the day with Aaron and Izzy, who made everything about our day so relaxing and enjoyable. Our captain Aaron was a skilled and attentive and Izzy was always ready to offer drinks, snacks and cuddles for the littles.

We had 3 different stops around Anguilla. My favorite was to a famous spot where you can jump off a famous rock. We ended the day at Madeariman restaurant at Shoal Bay. The food was amazing as well as the drinks and service!

We plan to do rent with Ultimate yachting every time we come back to the island 100%. Cannot wait to have another perfect day like this one!

Lolos – Grand Case – Saint Martin

Okay okay, time to take a break from the bad and boujee time we were having. I had to take it back to my roots and take my kids to the Lolos in Grand Case. This is a very local food venue with multiple bbq island restaurants. I LOVE eating here with a passion. The johnny cakes, ribs, crab backs and plantain are my favorites for sure. Make sure to bring CASH as the waterfront restaurant there doesn’t accept cards.

Don’t forget to order a vodka ting with your meal as well. It’s the best way to wash down all that food!

Long Exposures

Lastly, my personal photography goals for the trip was to capture some long exposures on the beach. I had been dreaming about doing these for a long time. I did my first sets on Plum Bay at sunset with my daughter Olivia. The second sets were at Cupecoy Beach on a very wavy day. Loved the results!

Have any questions about the places we visited? Want to know more? Leave a comment below and I’d love to share more about our experiences on the island of St. Maarten.