Philipsburg cruise port guide

St. Maarten · from StMaartenThings, the offline iPhone guide

Where ships dock

All-aboard is in ship time. Check the daily programme and be back at the gangway 30 minutes early.

Top places near the pier

Walking times come from the app: straight-line distance plus 30% for streets, at an easy 4.5 km/h. Places further than an hour on foot show the distance instead.

1. Bobby's Marina

   17 min walk · Boat Trips & Marinas

   The marina on the east side of Philipsburg, a short walk from the Boardwalk, where the Great Bay Express ferry to St. Barths and several snorkel and sailing trips leave from.

2. 

   Sint Maarten Museum

   20 min walk · Museums & Galleries

   The small heritage museum on Front Street telling the island's story: Arawak pottery, the Dutch and French split of 1648, salt, sugar and slavery, and relics of the HMS Proselyte wreck on the reef off Great Bay.

3. 

   Great Bay Beach

   20 min walk · Beaches

   The long curve of sand right in front of Philipsburg, with the Boardwalk, beach bars, chair-and-umbrella deals and calm, clear water — the easiest swim on the island on a port day, and you can watch your ship at the end of the bay the…

4. Guavaberry Emporium

   20 min walk · Duty-Free & Souvenirs

   The house of the island's own liqueur, made from wild guavaberries picked in the hills, in an old wooden cottage at the eastern end of Front Street.

5. 

   Philipsburg Boardwalk

   21 min walk · Forts, Views & Landmarks

   The paved promenade along Great Bay beach from the water-taxi landing to the western end of town: beach bars, cafés, souvenir stalls and chair rentals on one side, the sea on the other.

6. 

   Front Street

   22 min walk · Duty-Free & Souvenirs

   Philipsburg's main street, a mile of jewellery, watch, electronics and liquor shops in old Dutch-colonial buildings, with the 1793 Courthouse in the middle and the Boardwalk one alley away.

7. 

   Courthouse

   23 min walk · Forts, Views & Landmarks

   The white wooden Courthouse on Wathey Square, built in 1793 with a cupola topped by a pineapple, is the symbol of Philipsburg and still a working court.

8. 

   Fort Amsterdam

   25 min walk · Forts, Views & Landmarks

   The ruins of the 1631 Dutch fort on the headland between Great Bay and Little Bay: walls, cannons and the best view back over Philipsburg and the cruise ships.

9. 

   Little Bay Beach

   31 min walk · Beaches

   A quieter, sheltered beach just west of Philipsburg under Fort Amsterdam, with snorkelling along the rocks toward the fort and the Divi resort's beach bar.

10. 

    Great Salt Pond

    39 min walk · Nature & Reserves

    The large lagoon behind Philipsburg that gave the island its early wealth: salt was raked here from the 1600s until the 1940s.

11. Guana Bay

    60 min walk · Beaches

    A wild Atlantic beach on the Dutch side's east coast, a short drive over the hill from Philipsburg.

12. Rainforest Adventures St. Maarten

    3 mi / 5 km from the pier — taxi or shuttle · Ziplines, Trails & Tours

    The Rockland Estate adventure park on Sentry Hill: the Sky Explorer chairlift up the mountain to a viewpoint over both sides of the island, and the Flying Dutchman, billed as the steepest zipline in the world, plus a heritage museum of the…

13. Emilio Wilson Estate

    3 mi / 5 km from the pier — taxi or shuttle · Nature & Reserves

    A historic estate in the Cul de Sac valley, once the Industry sugar plantation, now a heritage park with walking trails and the story of the enslaved people who worked it.

Ready-made port days in StMaartenThings

Each is a timed plan in the app, starting and ending at the ship (25 in all for this port).

• Philipsburg on Foot
  Boardwalk, Courthouse, Front Street and Great Bay — no taxi needed
• Planes at Maho & Mullet Bay
  Jets over the sand, lunch at the Sunset Bar, then a quiet swim
• Marigot & the French Side
  Market, Fort Louis, French shops and a long lunch by the marina
• Orient Bay & Pinel Island
  A five-minute ferry to a desert island, then the island's great beach
• Loterie Farm & Grand Case
  Forest trails and the island's summit, then lolo lunch on the beach
• Zipline, Chairlift & Dawn Beach
  Sentry Hill's views, plantation history and a reef swim

Getting around: what the app tells you

Share the taxi, fix the return

Fares are per destination for the first two people plus a smaller charge per extra person, so a group of four pays far less each than a couple. Agree the price for the round trip and a firm pick-up time before you leave — and choose a pick-up at least an hour before all-aboard. Traffic over the hills to Marigot and at the Simpson Bay bridge openings can double a journey.

Carry small dollar bills

Ones and fives pay for buses, water taxis, beach chairs, tips and lolo lunches on both sides of the island, and change is often given in a mix of dollars and local money. Cards work in shops and restaurants; on the French side, pay by card in euros rather than handing over dollars at one-for-one.

French side: lunch is a time, Sunday is closed

In Marigot and Grand Case, kitchens serve lunch roughly noon to 2:30 PM and then close until dinner, which starts around 7 PM. Many shops close for lunch and most close on Sunday; some restaurants also close Monday, and some shut for weeks in the September–October low season. If your port day is a Sunday, spend it on the beaches — Orient Bay and Pinel run as usual.

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