Island Highlight: Driving on St. Maarten
(Picture courtesy of H&L Car Rental)
Are you planning your St. Maarten / St. Martin holidays and thinking about how to get from A to B? As buses don’t run all evening and using taxi’s or island tours only can get a bit costly over time, there is a fair chance you are using a car rental on your Caribbean getaway if staying for a week. Here are some suggestions to make the most of your itineraries around the island.
1. Driving on the Right
Contrary to most Caribbean islands, traffic on St. Maarten / St. Martin drives on the right side of the road. That applies to both the French and the Dutch side of the island. This is a very convenient feature of the island for its many American, Canadian and European visitors used to driving on the same side of the road.
2. Easy Geography
Driving on St. Maarten / St. Martin is not difficult, and for a large part self-explanatory as main roads mostly circle around the steep scenic hills in the middle of the island. In lower altitude areas like Simpson Bay, Oyster Bay and the Lowlands you find additional circuits deviating from the main road around the hills.
3. Maximum Speed
As island towns, villages and resort areas are mostly nestled below in the island valleys, the lower parts of St. Maarten / St. Martin can be considered an urban environment. The island has no highways. These factors taken in conjunction lead to the fact that on most roads, a speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour applies with only some exceptions if signage tells you higher speeds are allowed.
4. Traffic & Rush Hours
In high season St. Maarten / St. Martin traffic can be busy during afternoon rush hours between 4 and 5.30pm. This is especially the case in the triangle between Philipsburg, Marigot and Maho. Next to island office and shop closing hours, it is the timeframe when vehicles with cruise visitors returning from activities and make use of the same infrastructure as residents and stayover visitors. As this is sunset time, there is a lot of good reasons to avoid this rush hour – restaurants, beaches and the beach clubs on them just to name a few.
In the morning, it can be busy between 7.30 and 8.30 for the same reasons.
5. Parking
Given its sloping landscape and densely populated seaside, finding a parking spot can be challenging at times if you don’t know where to go. See the dedicated parking tips page for where to park in what area.
6. Atv’s, Buggy’s & Quads
All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s) or Quads as well as Buggy’s generally follow the same routes as regular rentals on island.
