Travel Blue Book

Dream it. Plan it. Go there.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Home
    • What We Believe
    • Contact Us/Advertise
  • United States
    • Northeast
    • Southeast
    • Midwest
    • Rocky Mountains
    • Southwest
    • West Coast
      • California
      • Northwest
  • International
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Europe
    • North and Central America
      • Canada
      • Caribbean Resorts & Hotels
      • Mexico
    • South America
  • Featured Cities
    • U.S. Cities
    • International Cities
  • Resorts & Hotels
    • Caribbean Resorts & Hotels
    • Asian and Pacific Resorts & Hotels
    • European Resorts & Hotels
      • Mediterranean
    • U.S. Resorts & Hotels
    • South American Resorts & Hotels
  • Restaurants
    • U.S. Restaurants
    • International Restaurants
  • Travel Tips & Stories
    • Reader Stories
    • Travel Tips
    • Personal Stories
    • Credit Card Rewards
  • More
    • Contact Us/Advertise
    • What We Believe
    • Guest Posting
    • Disclaimer
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Tips for Driving in St. Maarten

July 10, 2014 By Anne Keery Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: By M 93 via flickr and Creative Commons

Photo Credit: By M 93 via flickr and Creative Commons

Don’t take taxis, rent a car

Renting a car and driving in St. Maarten is a great and inexpensive way to see the island. Taxis in Sint Maarten are relatively expensive compared to renting your own car. A taxi trip to the other side of the island will set you back in the neighborhood of $40, with surcharges for luggage on top. Alternatively, a rental car will run you $30-40 per day and give you unlimited access to the island. Though there are larger vehicles, like Jeeps, available, most rental cars are tiny sub-compacts which fit on the narrow roads quite well. Additionally, they do not burn through very much gasoline, keeping your transportation costs minimal.

When you arrive in the airport, there are many rental car booths jostling for your attention, calling to you and offering to undercut each others’ prices. Negotiate for what you would like, especially if [Read more…]

Filed Under: Travel Tips, Travel Tips and Stories Tagged With: Caribbean, rental cars, Sint Maarten, St. Maarten

Restaurants in Philipsburgh, Sint Maarten

July 2, 2014 By Anne Keery 2 Comments

Restaurants in Philipsburgh, Sint Maarten

Photo Credit: By Navin75 via flickr and CC BY-SA 2.0

The bright turquoise waters of Great Bay makes a gorgeous backdrop to dining and drinking in Philipsburgh, Sint Maarten. With competition fierce for the attention of the myriad of cruise ship visitors, who dock a short walk away, reasonable prices are available as well as a wide selection of food styles. A relaxed atmosphere permeates the area and the rules are equally relaxed. Pick up a $1 can of beer from Big Wood Grill and stroll down the Boardwalk. You may even get a chance to take your picture with some pirates, or some super heroes, depending on the outfit of the day for the crew!

If $1 cans of beer aren’t your style, try a bucket of Carib Lager, a light, corona-style beer that is the preferred brew of Trinidad and Tobago. You can choose to rent a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella, for around $10, to give you a place to sip your ~$15 bucket of six beers.

Big Wood Grill Restaurant and Bar

If you stopped in for the $1 cans of beer, stick around for a while and try one of the delicious wraps. The creamy feta and chicken filled Greek wrap will satiate your need for lunch, or try out the BBQ menu. The wraps will only set you back $10-13 each.

Taloula Mango’s and Blue Bitch Bar

Taloula Mango’s is the lower deck of the Blue Bitch Bar, serving up sunny seating with umbrellas and an international menu. The sides aren’t plentiful, but they are very happy to cater to allergies and provide a large variety of choice for a reasonable price point with their menu. Staying competitive, the beers and cold, cheap and keep on coming. Try out the mango chutney mahi mahi sandwich to take in some of the local flavours. Perhaps the best feature of this restaurant is the music stage across the boardwalk, with tunes provided by an energetic local band singing and dancing away to a huge variety of cover songs, all while joking and engaging with the patrons and passersby.

The Get Wet Bar

Tucked into a hole between brick buildings, The Get Wet Bar is a wooden structure with a shady deck covered with plastic lawn chairs and tables. While the atmosphere isn’t quite as fancy as some of the other Philipsburgh restaurants, the prices, service, and the portions will draw you in. At the time of writing, the daily special was $9 and served up a substantial amount of food. If you are a light eater, you can take your leftovers to go and have plenty for a second meal. A sample daily special is two large pieces of fried chicken served with fries and a small side salad or pork chops in mushroom sauce, also served with fries and salad. The burgers are larger than my hand and the on-site smoked ribs go down like a charm. Keep your eye out for the Canadian owner; he’s a chatty one and will keep you entertained.

There are literally dozens of Philipsburgh restaurants, bars and shops on the boardwalk alone. Taking a wander will give you several choices, each with their own unique spin.

Filed Under: International Restaurants, Restaurants Tagged With: Caribbean, drinks, Food, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, St. Maarten, SXM

Cheap Snorkeling in St. Maarten

June 19, 2014 By Anne Keery 4 Comments

Cheap Snorkeling in St. Maarten

Photo Credit: By tony_donnelly via flickr and Creative Commons

If you are looking to find cheap snorkeling in St. Maarten, the first thing you should consider is to bring your own gear with you. All of the beaches are public, so if you can find your way onto a beach, you can go snorkeling, for free! That said, not all of us travel with our own gear, and rates can get rather exorbitant quite quickly. At Orient Beach, one rental outfit was charging $25 per hour for a snorkel setup.

Enter Divi Little Bay, next to Fort Amersterdam on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten. To get there, drive toward Fort Amsterdam, which is the point just to the south end of Philipsburgh. Park just before the security hut for Divi Little Bay Resort, in the parking spots along the sea wall. From there, you can walk down through the resort to the beach. [Read more…]

Filed Under: International, North and Central America, Travel Tips Tagged With: family, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, SMX, snorkeling, St. Maarten

How to Drink for Free in Philipsburg

May 27, 2014 By Anne Keery 2 Comments

How to Drink for Free in Philipsburg

Photo Credit: (By Ernst Vikne (Diamond ring) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Jewelry.

Now you’re thinking, “What? I thought we were talking about how to drink for free?!” Don’t worry, we are doing just that, but it all starts with jewelry, or jewelry stores, to be more specific.

Philipsburg is the capital of the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin, known as Sint Maarten, or just by the airport code SXM. It is home to a cruise ship terminal that sees five to seven cruise ships per day during the high season, with most boats holding 4000-6000 passengers plus an additional 2000+ person crew. That means that somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 people disembark on any given day, and competition for their business becomes fierce. [Read more…]

Filed Under: North and Central America Tagged With: Caribbean, Philipsburg, shopping, Sint Maarten, SMX, St. Maarten

Taking the Saba Island Ferry

May 8, 2014 By Anne Keery 2 Comments

Taking the Saba Ferry

The Saba Ferry (Photo Credit: By puroticorico via flickr andCC BY-SA 2.0)

Saba is a small island in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean which goes by the name “The Unspoiled Queen.” Though it is only 5 square miles (13 km sq.), it rises to a whopping 2,910 feet (887 meters) at the peak of Mount Scenery. Figuring out how to get to Saba can be half of the fun, though! [Read more…]

Filed Under: International, North and Central America Tagged With: Caribbean, Saba Island, Saint Maarten, Sint Maarten, St. Maarten, Windward Islands

Dream With Us

Facebooktwittergoogle_pluspinterestrssby feather

Plan With Us

What We Believe

Find out what we believe and join our travel movement here!

Featured Posts

  • 6 Things to Do in Nassau, Bahamas
  • Best Things to Do in St. Maarten – St. Martin
  • 5 Things to Do in Montego Bay, Jamaica
  • Racing Around Piazza Navona, Rome
  • Holocaust Concentration Camps: 7 Somber, Preserved Sites
  • Xel-Ha Eco Park: Wet & Wild Family Fun
  • On the Hunt for the Forrest Fenn Treasure
  • 5 Best Ski Resorts You May Not Know
  • Visiting The Tower of London
  • Stonehenge Facts, Fictions, and Mysteries
  • Ancient Glory: Introduction to Visiting Rome
The Versatile Blogger Award

Copyright © 2016 Travel Blue Book · Designed by Epic Reach Media · Log in