TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cul de Sac Villa

Hi all, we are long time SXM visitors, but have never stayed in a villa in Cul de Sac area (our most recent stays have been in the Anse Marcel hillside). The basic question has to do with security. Is there any private security there? I don't recall any manned gates, and can't imagine there could be because the road Rue de Grand Caye is public and I believe it leads to the dump. Can anyone provide any insight? Also, don't know whether the area is busy with lots of construction work at this time. We aren't nervous Nellies, just being diligent in maintaining our spotless track record of awesome vacations on SXM!

Thanks in advance!

PS - our top alternate option if we decide we need more security at night is GCBC.

I'll try to answer this as best as I can, but there should be some other folks on the sight who know this area way better than I do. I honestly don't think you'll find any private security in the Cul de Sac area. Is this where you were intending to stay (and why)? On French St. Martin the Gendarmerie have three locations I believe ... a primary location in Marigot and another in the Quarter of Orleans. Each has an emergency phone number you can call should something arise. I think there's another Gendarmerie unit that services everything in between, but I'm not sure. I saw them around in the Orient Bay area last week, so there very much is a police presence in these areas.

Personally, I would opt for Grand Case or Orient Bay over Cul de Sac if general safety is your main concern. But, I've never heard of much in the way of crime in Cul de Sac so in all likelihood I think you would be fine there. Just my opinion, so I hope this helps.

Like the other poster, I doubt it, re private security in that area, although not that familiar with the area. What about the individual villa?? Is there a gate? Do they have roll down electronic shutters? There are some places in SXM that are marketed as 'villas' that are really just condos. if the villa in question doesn't have either a gate or roll down shutters, and you're really concerned about security, you might look elsewhere.

I know you are concerned about security. However, depending on when you a planning to go, the stench from the seaweed in Cul de Sac can be horrible. We love GCBC!

We stayed several times in a lovely studio in Cul de Sac. It was in a gated community (passed Ma Dou Dou), the property also was surrounded by a locked wall, and the studio had roll down security shutters, so I guess it depends on which area you're staying in...

Thanks all, I appreciate the input. The seaweed smell was certainly something else I hadn't considered! (I can actually see it accumulated in cul de sac on Google Earth) I found the same AirBnB villa listed on VRBO and got more reviews too showing it is in a small gated neighborhood called Park View behind the pharmacy and feel a bit better about it. There are so many beautiful villas on SXM, but I am always a bit cautious. Last visit to GCBC in fall there was still too much construction on the new building by petit plage, but supposedly that shifted to inside work now.

OK, glad you were able to get more info. Not sure when you're planning on going, but I assume you saw the note that GCBC was going to rebuild the restaurant and it will be closed from June , I think till around December.

Yup, the reservations desk was forthcoming and warned us about that, thanks.