TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Nettle Bay Beach Resort April 5-12

Two couples from Canada are renting a villa at the Nettle Bay Beach Club. We have stayed on Simpson Beach twice before but have not stayed on Nettle Bay previously.
A couple of questions:
Anyone else stayed at NBBC? + or -
Can you recommend nearby/Marigot restaurants?
What currency do most businesses use in Marigot?
That's it for now. Any help?

US dollars are accepted everywhere.

Dreams in Nettle Bay is an excellent restaurant, as well as a beach with nice facilities. Depending on when you're going, they may not be open for dinner every night.

We stayed there many years ago before it became a private club. You are very near to several of the best beaches on the island, Red, Plum & Long. The local beach is not very good.

There is a small grocer a couple of blocks away and a few bar/restaurants in the area as well as several hotels on the opposite side of the road.

Marigot and the Dutch side are not far off.

US dollars and Euro are the currencies used.

La Croissanterie in Marina Port La Royale is a great breakfast & lunch destination in Marigot.
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La Croissanterie

You should check out Beerman's excellent trip report in the trip report archives, the first section of which is here

The area of Nettle Bay is a lot different 'vibe' than Simpson Bay, which is not to say it is bad, just different. It's a more residential area and many of the people there will be locals, as opposed to visitors. The beach itself there is not particularly good, in that there is often glass on the beach, so beach shoes are a necessity.

Businesses in Marigot will accept Euros and Dollars.

We have enjoyed Mai Tai right next store and there is a new italian restaurant and pizzeria right on the property, we loved it but we found it was pricey. We also have enjoyed La Main plate in Marina Royale. We only use US dollars.

I second the MaTi Beach Bar & Restaurant right next door. We tried it for the first time last year and were very pleasantly surprised. The meal was excellent. In general, you are very close to all the restaurants in Porto Cupecoy and Cupecoy proper and there are some excellent choices there - Mario Bistrot, Temptation, Bluefin just to name a few.

In Marigot, Mini club Claude has a lobster buffet on Wednesday & Saturday nights, although I understand that you now only get two tokens for two lobsters. With all the other food on the buffet, it's all you neeed.
Have not been to Chanteclair in the Marigot marina since Ina
(formerly of L'Estiment) took over the kitchen. May not have Carol's friendly service, but looks like she is continuing her magic in the kitchen.

Wow...this is amazing. Thank you all for responding so quickly.
Having spent time on Simpson Beach we are pretty familiar with the dutch side.
We really enjoyed a day cruise on Random Wind in 2014. We are looking for something comparable out on the water. Any suggestions?
Has anyone ever rented the Jet Skis on Nettle Bay?
One last question for now....
The four of us want to go out dancing one night & would like a place that we might get 60s/70s/80s music. Any suggestions?

For a day cruise, suggest TTOL sponsor Passaat. Check them out on the sponsors page. Don't know about the jetskis. For the dancing, don't have a suggestion on the French side. If you wanted to head over to the Dutch side, would suggest Red Piano.

Thanks Carol for all your help. I did check out the Beerman trip reports. Very interesting reading & pics.

No problem. Enjoy your stay!

We stayed at Nettle Bay about 6 or 7 years ago and there are some things you will need to know:
1. you will need a plug converter and maybe a power converter. The plugs were round and we needed a power converter for things like our phones so that we could charge them.
2. The unit we were in had no phone.
3. The unit we were in had limited cable TV and all but 2 channels were in French. I think we only had 6 o 7 channels in total.
4. We had to check in at the Mercur (sp) across the street and no one there spoke English so check in was a problem.
5. The unit we were in had a safe but no one could provide us the locking mechanism so we had no safe while we were there.
6. As mentioned, their beach had lots of glass in it so you will need water walkers to put on your feet.

As I said, it was at least 6 or 7 years ago so things may have changed.

Even if you are not going to St. Martin, Beerman's reports are a great read. Funny and informative.