TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cupecoy yay or nay?

Greetings! We are planning on being back on SXM in late March/early April, looking at 2 condos in Cupecoy. Previous visits had us staying at Dawn Beach and on Simpson Bay. Cupecoy is considerably cheaper! My question is: We like to walk to dinner, and loved having everything so close by in the Simpson Bay area. Will we regret staying in Cupecoy? It seems as though there's not much really in walking distance. Never spent much time in the area, besides visiting Mullet and Ernest and Fidel's from a boat. We rent a car to explore during the day. I don't want to spend a lot of money on cabs. Also, I don't remember seeing many of the Chinese groceries in the Cupecoy area? It's amazing how we've spent 26 days on SXM and I still have these newbie questions Always something new to explore, thanks in advance for any help!

Yay! I wouldn't suggest walking to dinner unless you're staying at the Cupecoy Beach Club mainly because the road is very dark. That being said, you now have some wonderful restaurants in the immediate area: Temptation, Barcode, Blue Fin, Mario's, and a short ride to Maho gets you to Mou Lon Fu (SP), Fig, Tres Amigos and many more. And, a little further ride to Simpson Bay opens up all of those alternatives. Have fun!

And don't forget Escape, across the street from Rainbow Beach Club, where Fig used to be. Excellent!!!

ApeBro,

As Klem and Linda have already stated, there are plenty of places to eat or get food in the Cupecoy area and during the daytime, walking to any of them is not a problem. But at night, while they're not very far away, walking really isn't such a great idea, depending on where you're staying and where you're walking to.

From Rainbow its an easy and okay walk to Escape or even to Barcode, but I wouldn't venture any further on foot than that.

If you're staying at the Cliffs or Cupecoy Beach Club, it's an easy few steps across the main road to the places at the Starz Casino complex, but again, I wouldn't walk any further than that.

There are several other places in that area but further off the main roads and I think there's still one local grocery back there but I could be mistaken about that one. For sure there's a bakery, a spaghetti place and a sushi offering as well as Fat Tonys which immediately comes to mind for great pizza, foot long hotdogs and other lighter fare - but there aren't sidewalks for easy walking and once off the main road it's fairly dark in areas and IMHO, it's probably just not a great thing to do. People do - I know we saw a lot of the med school students walking but they were mostly in groups of 2-3........ <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

There's also a frozen yogurt place now that I'm thinking about it.

What you will love is the lack of any traffic if you wish to go to the Maho area, or all the way to Marigot. Plenty of places to eat, day and night although depending upon where you are staying you may want to drive since it is dark in some areas. You have Mario's now in Porto Cupecoy which is fantastic, and my favorite from that area is the easy drive over to Dreams for a nice beach day lunch as well as nice days with Dany at Cupecoy. Best rum punch on island and if you reserve you can get some of the best lobster on island grilled for you on Sundays.

It is different than staying in Simpson Bay which we enjoy but more peaceful staying between the Maho area towards the Porto Cupecoy area.

Go for it, try something new, I very much doubt you will regret it.

Cheers,
T

There are some good restaurants in the Starz Casino complex. I walk a lot in the mornings, one of the draws to staying in the Cupecoy area. I have made frequent stops at the Chinese grocery store very close to Fat Tony's, it is past Bar Code. The medical students make both the grocery store and Fat Tony's a gold mine. We don't always have a car our first few days on the island as there are several places to walk to. Ocean Club also has a bar and food, they serve breakfast every day and dinner most nights, can't recall if it is every night or not. Also, The Cliff has a very nice restaurant, it was only open for lunch but I think I heard it was going to start opening on nights also.

Thank you all! The two condos we are considering are in Rainbow Beach Club and the Cliffs, so knowing there are at least a couple of places to walk to is awesome! Of course, we would never walk at night when it's too dark, as I'm sure it is around the golf course. We don't mind driving for dinner once in a while, but if my hubby wanted to have a few glasses of wine, we would def leave the car at the condo and cab it. Not a big fan of the smoke in the casinos, can you advise if there are outdoor entrances at the Starz restaurants? Or only from inside the casino? Any recommendations walking distance for a decent croissant for breakfast? I looove getting breakfast from Cafe Atlantico, anything similar?

There are definitely outdoor restaurants that you go to before the casino entrance. The Delight had really good fish the last time I dined there. Basilico is good also. The coffee shop and bakery by the Chinese grocery store would surely have pastries, but they were upgrading the store last time I was there, I am sure it is open again now.

Temptation is an INDOOR restaurant at Starz, but they have an outdoor entrance. I'm actually not sure if you can get to Temptation from the casino. I think you have to go outside to reach it.

You are past the golf course and there is a sidewalk on your side of the street from the Cliffs to Rainbow and in that range across the street you have a lot of options. Bar Code is a nice option. We walked that area at night and never had an issue but do what is comfortable. If you were to drive to this area and park you would not be parking much closer than where you are staying.

Cheers!

The restaurants are on the perimeter of the Starz complex, and most are accessible without going through the casino. I believe that the Thai restaurant, the fondue restaurant, and the sports bar have both outside seating and also inside seating that opens to the casino. Most of the restaurants are not within the casino itself, so casino smoke is not a problem (Basilico, Bluefin, Delight, Temptation). The restaurant at The Cliff is excellent and they are now serving dinner six nights per week.

What is the name of the restaurant at the Cliff called?

I think it is Le Café at The Cliff.

OK, I just hadn't heard about it. I assume, without knowing, that outside people can dine there?

Yes, it is open to the public. Just press the small,round silver button at the gate and Security will open the gate.

ok, thanks.

Yay! There is a new bakery on the hill near Summit resort and University campus, safe walking distance from both condos.

My wife and stay at the Sapphire Beach Club and we walk to Porto Cupecoy and the restaurants at the Starz complex many evenings for dinner without any problem. The only area without a sidewalk or off street area to walk is the one block stretch between Sapphire and the Cliffs.

ApeBro, let me give you a sailor's perspective. We had our boat at Cupecoy and I will agree there are some excellent restaurants on the property. Marios was absolutely top shelf and so was the check, $185 for 2. We did have a rental car as well. We would not stay there again, boat or land. The market was ridiculously priced. There is no full breakfast place. We found it far from everywhere. The road from Maho to Cupecoy is frightening at night, especially after having a few. Again, this is just our opinion.

There is a very good Bakery just down the road from Bar code for breakfast
The location you are looking at is great

Not responding to hijack the thread - If walking to dinner is high on your criteria I would consider Orient Village instead. Lots of good dining options to walk to. I'm with you re driving for dinner, prefer to walk or cab instead.

J&B

S - t - w,

I feel like we're talking about two totally different places in your description of Cupecoy and its environs. And I do believe we're all entitled to our own opinions and often times they will vary one from another so I will share my opinions here as well. I hope you don't take offense but I want the OP to know there are many sides to the Cupecoy story.

With regard to Porto Cupecoy, just curious - we have had very good breakfasts in the past at Ernst and Fidel's. Are they no longer there or no longer serving breakfast? And The Green Monkey at Ocean Club, just down the road, also does a nice breakfast. There may be other places but we don't do breakfasts out that much and when we do, we generally head in the opposite direction and usually to the Tortuga at Royal Islander or the Simpson Bay Yacht Club for the food and the views of those gorgeous yachts.

As for Mario's Bistro, it is and has always been, one of the better dining ops on the island - we've never managed to rack up a bill quite that high for the two of us but we're usually only good for a glass of wine and a bottle of water which might make the difference although the food is so good we always do a soup to dessert dinner there. And yes, the market at PC is expensive but not for what and where it is, IMO. We think of it as a very high end convenience store primarily intended for the convenience of the PC guests, but it's clean and very well stocked with virtually everything and anything we might need, and I think that's how many who use it feel. For a serious shopping order or good bargains, it definitely isn't the best island choice but I will say, I found a beautiful rack of lamb there one time and for less than I pay here at home.

In reading your post I almost feel like we know a totally different Cupecoy than you experienced, even though we don't actually stay in Cupecoy but in Mullet Bay, though we are close enough that we feel like it's our backyard. As for the road through Mullet, we've been driving it for forty plus years and while there was a time when it was a little tense going through there, today the derelict buildings are gone and it's well lit, so aside from the windy roads, it doesn't frighten us at all. We find it to be a perfect area in which to stay since it gives us easy access to Mullet, Cupecoy and Maho and at the same time equally easy access to Marigot. It's our quiet refuge from the busier areas and yet a stones throw to most of the places we enjoy. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Pat, We had a monthly slip at Port Cupecoy, just down from Marios. The road I might have not described well is the road going through the golf course to PC. As far as breakfast, I was talking about the "plaza " area by the docks. There was a nice little pastry and lunch place. We were also next to Ernest & Fidels and did not think they were serving breakfast. We were there to put our boat away for hurricane season in August and the area was eerily dead, so maybe some businesses were closing early.
Respectfully, Evan