How to get from St Maarten cruise port to Maho Beach in one day.
The Airplane Beach in St Maarten is not what I was expecting. I had previously had an image of a fairly peaceful wide open white sandy paradise with crystal clear water, palm trees, and every now and again, an airplane zooming low overhead. That was very silly of me. There was indeed white sand and crystal clear water, but Maho Beach is also one of the most-visited beaches in St Maarten, mainly due to the fact that it’s built directly next to the runway of Princess Juliana International Airport. It is narrow, generally extremely crowded (especially when there are lots of cruise ships in port), and there are plenty of tacky bars offering neon-coloured cocktails, beers, and baskets of fries and chicken wings. You might have already sensed from my description that this beach is not my normal kind of place.
(But it’s still pretty fun to be in the sea when a plane comes in to land.)
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How to get from St Maarten cruise port to Maho Beach
St Maarten’s cruise port is in the capital city- Philipsburg– which has space for a whole load of cruise ships to dock at once. This island is an extremely popular stopping point for cruise ships, and whenever we ported here there were at least three other ships parked up at the same time, although none of them were anywhere near full capacity. When we left the ship that morning the sky was overcast and there was drizzle all around; but the weather in the Caribbean can change in a matter of minutes. Rainclouds rarely stick around for long, and we were confident that by the time we reached the airplane beach it would have passed.
If you want to save time, you might want to pre-book your excursion from St Maarten cruise port to Maho Beach. Check out this tour, which involves a stop on the airplane beach as well as the beautiful Orient Bay on the French side of the island. Alternatively, here is a round-trip tour only between St Maarten cruise port and Maho Beach.
The best way to get from St Maarten cruise port to Maho Beach without a pre-booked excursion, is to take a taxi. The journey is way too long to walk, and costs around $15-20 per person depending on how many are in the car. Leave the piers and head to the right, where there’s a row of taxis waiting to leave. These taxis are more like minivans, and it’s likely that you’ll share a ride with other passengers or crew in order to fill up the vehicle.
Unlike the not-so-long-ago days of haggling a price with your taxi driver, prices are set, and after paying for your return taxi, you’ll be given a wrist band in the style of a package holiday. This is your ticket to the beach and back; the taxi will drop you in the car park close to Maho Beach, and taxi vans regularly take passengers back from the exact same spot.
Although the distance between St Maarten cruise port and the Airplane Beach isn’t particularly far, there is almost always traffic to contend with. The journey should only take about 20 minutes, but we spent almost double that crawling along in a long line of cars. Having sat in many a hot sticky vehicle on other Caribbean islands like the Dominican Republic or Antigua, I was expecting an uncomfortable journey, but considering the length of time we spent sat inside a vehicle that morning, it was surprisingly ok.
Alternatively you can catch a water taxi from inside the cruise port, which is slightly more expensive. Or walk into Philipsburg and catch a local bus heading to Maho Beach.
Where to eat and drink at Maho Beach
There are several options for eating and drinking at Maho Beach, and when we arrived the bars and restaurants were packed full of mostly American tourists who had been sheltering from the rain. This is clearly a popular holiday destination, whether for people travelling only to Sint Maarten, or cruise passengers and crew like me and my pal Rachel; but I was still surprised by how Americanised the whole place felt. I’d really been expecting a Dutch island. Especially considering all the cheese shops we’d passed en route in the taxi.
The restaurants and bars are huddled at opposite ends of Maho Beach, although the entire thing is so small that it only takes about ten minutes to walk from one end to the other.
(At the end nearest the car park is also, FYI, a public bathroom. Good to know, ya know.)
Hungry and thirsty when we arrived, we sat on the covered decking of the Sunset Beach Bar (check out their live webcam of the planes landing if you’re curious), and ordered fries and drinks. There were so many people that the waitstaff were ran off their feet, carrying gigantic trays from table to table and struggling to keep up with all the orders. Couples sat with suitcases drank their last cocktails in paradise before they headed off to the airport, and groups of friends who’d just arrived were already on their fourth or fifth cocktail as music pounded from the speakers. At the end closest to the beach, screens displayed the timings of the next planes to land on the landing strip to the right.
Next to the Sunset Beach Bar is Sandbar, a colourful new eatery which offers just about every kind of food you could wish for, from sushi and burgers to tacos and smores. For a slightly different vibe, and the opportunity to cook your own food on lava stones, head to the Palms Grill at the opposite end of the beach.
If you’re cruising throughout the Caribbean, I highly recommend using an eSim card so that you can easily access data across the region. The best value I’ve found so far is this one from Airalo– in fact I think they’re so bloomin’ good that I use their esims wherever I travel throughout the whole wide world!
Beach day under the airplanes
Fed and watered, Rachel and I headed onto the beach itself. The tide was in so close that there wasn’t a lot of free sand space at all- although I’m told there’s not a drastic difference between high and low tide at Maho. The crowds of people waiting for planes to land took up almost the entire middle of the beach closest to the runway. Plenty of crew from our ship had decided to visit that day as well, and we passed about thirty galley guys and their supervisor yelling “GALLEY GALLEY GALLEY!!! A-OO A-OO A-OO!!!” as they posed for group photos.
In the sea, people swam and jumped in the swell whilst waiting for the next plane to land. The only thing that separates the beach from the runway is a narrow tarmac road and a wire fence, on which signs are tacked, warning people to stay back because of blasts from the jets. And the area directly in the path to the runway was naturally where people gravitated towards; everyone needs the money shot of themselves with an airplane zooming low behind.
Finally we decided on a spot at the very far end, clear of the runway but close enough that we could make a run for it if we desperately wanted to be under the pathway of a jumbo jet. The sun was scorching hot and getting into the cool water melted away the crazy sweaty energy of the beach bar. The sky might have been blue by then, but the sea was ragingly choppy and the tide swept me off my feet several times before I could even think about getting further out into the water.
Whenever a plane appeared, twinkling in the distance of the now completely vivid blue sky, the throngs would gather tighter together, all vying for the best spot. Each airplane came in so low over the sand that it felt as if you could almost reach out and touch them as they rumbled onwards to the tarmac across the road. For the most part, we stayed out of the crowds but still appreciated the landings at an angle. But eventually the tide came in so close that there was nothing else for it but to pack up and move on.
Beware of the jet blasts- deaths at Maho Beach
Airplanes create quite humungous jet blasts when they’re taking off, and so it seems fairly logical that you shouldn’t stand too close. Kind of like never standing at the back end of a horse. It’s just not a good idea.
And yet there really is just a simple wire fence separating the road from the runway. In 2017 a woman from New Zealand was killed when she was thrown backwards by a jet blast from a Caribbean Airlines flight which was taking off. Pay attention to the signs, pals! And use your heads!
I had a great day watching the planes on Maho Beach, but will I be going back there in a hurry, pals? Probably not. Once was enough for me, and there are plenty more peaceful beaches on the island which are way more up my street.
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