TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin FYI- Anse Marcel Beach

My husband and I drove to Anse Marcel beach today only to be greeted by a closed gate and a sign which read “Anse Marcel Beach CLOSED 8-19 to 10-3”. Thankfully we only drove from Orient. Disappointing. Sorry if this has already been posted but wanted to prevent the mountain drive and turn around from happening to others! Spent the day at Bikini Beach instead. Not a bad alternative!

Nothing saying why it's closed? Is work being done on the new Secrets? There was a rumor that the French side planned to put in a road from Grand Case to Anse over the left side when facing water. It would be a continuation of the road to Grand Case Beach Club up hill past a condo rental (can't remember the name) Could that be construction? Although I doubt it.

Many places close for their vacation during this time of year. We always check their Facebook pages before we travel a long way, even during our usual November/December stay.

Whole area is a construction zone. I don’t know exactly what is going on there.

Closed for their normal vacation, it was planned, they told us when we where there in August

I could be wrong but I seriously doubt the construction and rebuilding at SECRETS would have anything to do with the Anse Marcel Beach Club since they are two totally separate properties but I guess you never know. I’m far more inclined to think they’ve closed for their vacation and stormy season, but that’s a guess.

Karen & Rick,

This is their normal time of year for vacation as we are a week later than our normal week,
Appreciate knowing as I usually stop over to see if they are open.
Another nice and different day can be spent at the lotterie farm.
Although not on the beach, it's a nice high end day with monkeys and mangos overhead.
Just arrived yesterday for two weeks.
Kindly post any other closings and I am happy to let you know what we find closed.

Thanks for the reminder with regard to Loterie Farm. We haven't been there for a while. Sounds good..

Thank you MahoKid! We have been to Loterie Farm in the past while our 3 kids did the zip line. Maybe we will check it out again this year now that we are here alone for the first time ever!

One other surprise tonight was that all the LoLos in Grand Case were closed (Monday night’s closed??). I thought they were open every night. We ended up at Le Cottage and had a wonderful meal.

All’s well that ends well! Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

I can understand a property closing for vacation/season but why deny access to the beach which is public?

I don’t have an answer to that question and I’m thinking if push came to shove and you were to access the beach away from the actual Beach Club itself there wouldn’t be too much the club could do about it although they might try. I would think they should have the right to close off their property - ie their nicely done parking area, restrooms and the bar and restaurant itself, since supposedly all SXM beaches are assured to have public access but that should NOT include the beachclub itself. But to me - without the ambiance of the club - the service, the chairs, the food and all the facilities they do offer - it would be a wasted day and ride from where we stay.

Karen & Rick,

Please don't tell my other restaurant friends that own restaurants, but I believe that Le Cottage is one of the best dining experiences on the island although it may be hard to get Stephan to smile.
We are celebrating our anniversary tonight at La Villa at 8:00 PM. You are welcome to stop and meet us. Look for the larger gentleman with blonde / white hair or ask Christophe, JC or Cedric for Michael & Renee.

Hello mahokid! I sent you a private message re: Grand Case tonight. Hopefully I did it correctly.

There are other ways to get to the beach besides accessing through the Anse Marcel Beach Bar.

Thank you for this info. Can you give direction?

Go beyond the now-empty security guard station. After the wall, find a place to park, which may be difficult with all the construction going on. But there's a walkway down to the beach. Riu/Secrets will be on your right. It's a longer walk, but you can get to the beach that way.

Thanks jazz gal.