KLM B747 at Maho Beach St. Maarten
I was able to get in on a pretty cheap fare to St. Maarten earlier this year, and it’s somewhere I have always wanted to go because of the famous Maho Beach, where you can be very close to planes landing at the airport, including a Boeing 747. While we were there geeking out about planes anyway, we figured we should also make a day trip over to Saba to land and take off from the shortest commercial runway in the world, and holy cow, did that deliver 😀 Costs were a little higher for the caribbean than I’m generally used to, especially food, but alas, it was still pretty awesome.
An interesting thing to note: The Dutch side of St. Maarten uses the dollar, and the French side (St. Martin) uses the Euro. On the French side you can pay with dollars, and some places will give you a very favorable exchange rate of $1 = 1€. Other places are closer to the true exchange rate or even up to $1.30 = 1€.
St. Maarten Costs
| Category | Cost |
| Activities | $117.91 |
| Airfare | $323.91 |
| Hotel (airbnb) | $188.00 |
| Food | $180.52 |
| Transport | $82.74 |
| Misc. Cash | $38.38 |
| Total | $931.46 |
| Cost Per Day | $232.87 |
![Russia – Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Velicky Novgorod [VIDEO]](https://carolinelupini.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/russia-500x383.jpg)
![The Dead Sea – Don’t Miss It! [VIDEO]](https://carolinelupini.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-03-11-at-1.44.10-PM-500x383.png)
Is that daily total per day for each person, or two (or more)?
How many days were you there and on Saba?
Are the Saba airfare costs added to the SMX flight cost and then divided by the number of days?
I am planning on going to SXM at some point, so I clicked on your article, but the numbers could use a bit more clarification (e.g. did you eat beach food or Michelin starred restaurant food).
Thanks…
The is the daily total per person, I was sharing a room with another person, so that is the only cost that would be very affected by traveling with more/less people.
I was in the islands for a total of 4 days — 3 on St. Maarten, and a full day trip to Saba, though we did not sleep there. The Saba flight cost is accounted for in activities, and is divided between the 4 days of the trip.
All of the food is quite expensive on the island, whether it is beach food, restaurant food, or even just groceries. We bought groceries and had all 4 breakfasts from that, and we also made 1 dinner at our place, and just snacked for lunch 2 of the days. When we went out to a restaurant – no matter where it was – it was pretty difficult to get a meal under $30 each, including a drink.
Next time take a cruise. My wife and I went there (among other ports) in September for about $500 each (taxes and all). Cruises include the lodging and most of the food. We spent about $80 on a St.Maarten jeep rental and a few bucks for lunch (beer) at the airport beach. Not as a fast as your trip but on the 7 day cruise we also got to see Puerto Rico and Grand Turk. The airport at Grand Turk is interesting but not as good as St. Maarten of course.
After accounting for airfare that puts it pretty close to the same amount then — plus, we really wanted to go to Saba, even though it was an extra $120 ish. The shortest commercial runway in the world is there! It was pretty cool.