TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Poll: Do you stay on French or Dutch side?

Accomodations French Side (Orient Bay). Play time French side 80%. Dining French side 75%

We stay on the Dutch side , and do visit the French side for a few dinners and some beaching. It all depends on weather, beach conditions and how brave (me) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> (and tired) we are to drive at night.
We did stay on the French side on our first trip in the 80's.

Timeshare on Dutch side(Divi), but we dine out on both sides.

After years of 1 day stops while cruising, we hopped off for a week 5 years ago. Have stayed at Mt. Vernon (3x), Orient Village,The Summit, and next will be on the beach in Gr. Case. Mostly French side beaches daily, but we enjoyed Mullet last June. Coming from the Midwest we enjoy the "culture shock" of the French side over the congestion of the Dutch side.

We stay on the French side 100% and spend our time on the French side beaches 100%

100% French side - after the airport of course :-)

We always stay on Dutch side and most of our activities and meals are on Dutch side. Just became more familiar with it and find it easier for us. We do make one trip over to French side to check out a beach or to show newbies around, but The Dutch side is when we land.

I have stayed in hotels both sides, and probably 50% of leisure time spend on either side, French side mostly Orient Beach. But since my last trip Nov. 25 to Dec 2, I am fed up with all the traffic on the Dutch side. Planning on spending more time on the French side on future trips.

This is my answer also, and I used to live in Raleigh, if this helps.

100% French side, lodging at Grand Case Beach Club. Dinners
all on the French side!

We have always stayed on the French side. Some shopping and meals on the Dutch side.

Dutch side lodging, shopping, food.

One trip to Yvettes on the French side and sometimes a full drive around the island per trip.

We stay on both although last trip was all Dutch side.

French side for us!

sleep and eat on Dutch..swim on French, expect for days at Cupecoy

We stay on the French side and recreate there 99% of our time also. That said we know that on the Dutch side the nightlife is better. We both try to cram some basic French language through Duolingo app on our iPhones a few months before our journey but it seems to only help with reading menus.

I think part of what we enjoy is not understanding most of the conversations we overhear...odd as that may sound. There are a lot of high maintenance travelers who don't seem to get the whole island time thing and recognize it as part of what makes the caribbean such a relaxing destination. I've found that when we are on the Dutch side (and also the one breakfast that I had at GCBC) we are around more folks who are very expressive about their expectations for service, etc...sometimes it dampers the vibe for us.

We need to give the Dutch side more of a chance as most of my impressions are based on a very small set of references.

French side!

Always stay on french side. Maybe 60 (french) /40 (dutch) in terms of time on each side during the day.

Usually spend at least one day at Divi Little Bay. One day in Philipsburg, shopping, visiting front street museum, walking around. Often at least part of a day at Dawn - and usually do an excursion with Capt Alan. Sometimes, but not as much in recent years, take boat excursions from dutch side Simpson Bay/Lagoon - Celine, Random Wind, others - usually eat dutch side if took boat excursion from there.

If cruising with port of call in Philipsburg, almost always head immediately to Orient - may spend a little time in Philipsburg before getting back to ship.

Dutch lodging
Most of our time on Dutch as well.

All French eat, sleep, play

We are returning in January for our third visit, staying again at Mont Vernon. We much prefer the French side. We love the beaches, the restaurants, and the quiet. We spent one afternoon stuck in traffic in Philipsburg on our first visit, and decided that was enough. If we wanted high rise developments, casinos, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut, we could stay home.

I live on the Dutch side (6 months) and beach on the French...eat on the Dutch, almost NEVER go to French at night

99.9% on the Dutch side. The little "buses" (vans) are so convenient on the Dutch side that I don't even bother renting a car anymore. I'm a single traveler, and I just find the Dutch side more active and inviting for a single traveler.

Dutch

Grand Case Beach Club

oops forget to respond to both. We travel around the island daily visiting all beaches and stores French & Dutch sides. Eat mostly (if not all) on French Side.

Interesting to me to see how many are on the French side. If I'd had to guess would had said TTOL [ex Club O] was largely Dutch side
Anyway did a quick straw count, had to interpret some responses, but my columns are based on stay and play, ie if you stay on the Dutch side but play both sides, I counted you as Dutch / Dutch - anyway my count totals are
Dutch/Dutch - 10
Dutch/French - 14
French / French - 23 [suspect several Club O responses in that count]
French / Dutch - 10

Intereseting snap shot, but I suspect most of the rooms for rent [hotel /ts/other] are on the Dutch side. Anyone know any info on # of rooms per side?
J&B

Always stay on French side primarily at LePetit in Grand Case.

Yes is there another side <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />?

We stay on the Dutch side and spend about equal time on each side.

We stay on the French side and spend most of our time on the French side.

we stay on the Dutch side and spend most of our time there

French side - 95%. C'est bon!!

Jim and Jane

We stay on the French side and eat on the French side.

We used to divide our stay with accommodations on the Dutch and French side. Now that we stay much longer,we prefer the Dutch side for accommodations and night life, and spend most beach days on the French side.We enjoy the entire island and appreciate the differences of both sides. To only enjoy one side seems a real shame to me when two different countries can be enjoyed in one vacation!

French side for everything.

Lodging: Dutch 60% French 40%
Daytime recreation: Dutch 5% French 95%
Nighttime activities: Dutch: 60% French 40%

This was a very interesting post. Thank you. Learned a great deal. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Stay on French side 2 weeks separated by one week on Dutch side. patronize both sides for recreation and dining

We have been coming to St. Martin since 2000, sometimes twice a year. We have stayed on the Dutch side twice. We do enjoy visiting on the Dutch side a few times each visit to grocery shot, eat and souvenir shop, but most of our time is spent in Orient Village and the surrounding home area. Seems to be less hectic and much easier for driving.