St Maarten & St Martin: Private Island Tour with Custom Stops

4.90

(129 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

"You ever seen a plane land this close?" our driver, Jean-Luc, grinned as we pulled up to Maho Beach. I laughed—honestly, I hadn’t. The jet engines roared just overhead and the sand whipped around my ankles. It was loud and weirdly thrilling, like being inside a postcard but with sunscreen stinging my eyes. The air smelled like salt and kerosene for a second, then just ocean again. That was only our first stop on this private tour of St Maarten & St Martin, but it set the tone—unexpected, sometimes messy, always alive.

We let Jean-Luc suggest a few places after that—he’s lived here forever and seemed to know every shortcut and story. At Fort Louis, he pointed out Anguilla across the water (I’d never realized how close it looked from up there). The old stone walls were warm under my hands; there was graffiti tucked behind one cannon, which made me smile. We wandered through Marigot’s market stalls for a bit—someone was frying fish nearby and the smell followed us all the way back to the van. I tried saying thank you in French; Jean-Luc just winked.

Later at Orient Bay Beach, the sand felt almost powdery between my toes—a relief after the hot stones at Fort Louis. We watched kitesurfers wipe out while sipping cold drinks from the cooler (included in the van, which honestly saved us). There was an iguana park too—I didn’t expect to get so close to those spiky little guys, but they were everywhere, sunning themselves like tiny dragons. It wasn’t a perfectly choreographed day trip from Cusco or anything—it was better because it felt personal.