Just returned from a week stay at La Plantation. This was our 6th year to stay here. We love this charming little place. The reception is always friendly and helpful, the rooms are spacious and clean and the views and patio decks from the upper rooms are beautiful. The property is well maintained and very peaceful and quiet. A romantic place also suited for well behaved children. The breakfasts although the same every day are quite nice. The breakfast staff is very warm and accomodating. The outdoor dinning is delicious in the evenings. Would not consider staying anywhere else on the island. La Plantation is the perfect place for a relaxing low key vacation.

Kind staff. Nice rooms in small 'cabana's'.
Located on a strip with more hotels en restaurants, bars and shops.

Internet access is hardly ever working. But you're on a holiday, so why need it.

Lovely breakfast at the poolside.

La Plantation is located on the exact opposite of the island (compared to the airport) and depending on time of day and weahter conditions the drive there can take a while.
However, once you've arrived it's holiday paradise!

We just came back from a vacation in St. Martin last week. The trip itself was nice, although not what I was expecting from what I had read and seen in pictures. It is a small island that is half French and half Dutch. It sounds like a great way to see 2 different cultures on one island. Its still a Caribbean island in total but most people speak French on the French side and I'm not sure what on the Dutch side but most can speak English. Its not like visiting Europe, its like going to the Caribbean and there are buildings and roads in disrepair and animals running around like dogs and chickens. There are beautiful beaches and interesting towns and great resorts as well as casinos. There are also some not so great places in between and crazy, tight roads with lots of turns and hills. If you are looking for French sophistication and charm with shops and restaurants, go to St Barth's. If you are looking for quiet and undeveloped land with the best beaches, go to Anguilla. (both of those islands are a 30 min boat ride away from St. Martin so plan to make the most of your visit and island hop) If you want a variety of beaches, some shopping, some quiet, and some partying and casinos then go to St. Martin. Its all there but you have to figure out where to go on the island. Generally speaking, the Dutch side is cheaper and more of the partying side with clubs and casinos. The french side has slightly better roads and is more mellow. We stayed on two different areas of the French side.

We made it to our hotel on the East side of the island off Orient beach late at night and the night watchman was kind enough to let us in and show us to our room at La Plantation. The rooms were spread out on the property, more like individual villas. Our's was up on the hill, room 902, it was part of a larger rental with 3 units that I assume could all be rented together. We were on one side, as far as we could tell, the middle was empty so we didn't have neighbors. We had a giant patio with a table and a couple of chairs and a stunning view of the water. (there were a few trees obstructing our view but not too bad) We even had our own driveway up to the room. The upper units have the best views and generally cost more. I booked through Travelocity (I called them) and had them request an upper level room even though as far as I could tell from looking at La Plantation's sight I paid the same amount as a lower unit. The room itself was large with a tile floor and sparse furniture. We had a kitchenette, a large bathroom, a firm bed covered with a mosquito net - really 2 twins pushed together, night stands, a flat screen TV, a dresser, a table and chairs, a desk, and a small couch that could be made into a bed. The lobby, pool, and restaurant were down the hill. The breakfast, which was included, was near the pool in a pleasant covered open air patio. They had scrambled eggs, yogurt, fruit, cereal, ham and cheese, juice, coffee and every day they brought a basket of plain croissants, chocolate croissants, and baguettes to our table. There was even a calico cat that seemed to have made herself at home in the restaurant.

I think the hotel is a great value and a good location and I would definitely go back. The staff were friendly and helpful and the hotel seems to be well run all the way around.

The Hotel was in a gated compound with other hotels and restaurants.(quite a few of the smaller hotels that you will read about on here or Travelocity for Orient Beach are here) Orient Beach was a short walk down the hill with all the other beaches practically on top of one another. The beach area was covered with small shops and restaurants. (that close really early on Sunday) Most of the restaurants off the beach had beach chair and umbrellas in front of them. It is a very popular beach on the East side, which is a more windy side of the island.

A note on rental cars, if you get in too late to get your car from the airport most companies will bring your car to you if you call to ask. We used Empress, which only rents cars on the island. They are nice and family owned, and charged exactly what they said but the car wasn't great. The front tire went low the next day and we realized and the car squealed before it warmed up. We got a white Hyundai l10 which is a tiny car that has a tiny trunk (maybe fit 1 sideways suitcase) so if you have more than 2 people you would have to make the choice of people or luggage. It is good to have a small car there with how tight the roads are so don't get anything too big but maybe something with a little more power and space. Also on driving in St. Martin, most roads don't have signs and most maps don't have details so you sort of feel your way around and try not to get into accidents at the various round abouts (or circles of death, as I like to call them). There were goats, chickens, and pregnant dogs as well as potholes and roads that just ended with a cement barrier keeping you from driving into oncoming traffic.

Also, a note about airlines, be careful who you choose, we chose Spirit and our 8 hours of Travel time turned in to 17 on the way and 22 on the way back.

We stayed at the Raddison for the second half of our stay and it lacked the charm and liveliness of La Plantation. The hotel, located in Anse Marsel on the North side, was beautiful and they handed us our welcome drinks immediately as they gave us our room cards and explained where to find our room. Our room was a bit of a disappointment, though, it was small and there was a view of the back of another resort and some mountains. Also we clearly had a neighbor next door playing music and hanging out on the balcony. But the bed and furniture were very comfortable and there were robes and an espresso machine and more channels on the TV as well as web access in the rooms as opposed to La Plantation which we only had web access in the pool and reception area. The grounds were beautiful and peaceful with a private beach where the waves came in slowly and peacefully. There really wasn't a whole lot to do around the hotel.There are only a handful of shops and restaurants near the hotel, so you would definitely want a rental car if you choose to stay at the Raddison. I think you could manage better without a car at La Plantation because of the surrounding area.

We love this small, beautifully situated small hotel and have returned year after year. Key is not so much the hotel itself as its ideal location: we especally like Coco Beach, just down the hill, with a wonderful restaurant and bar and terrifc service on the magnficent beach, all chargeable to your room at La Plantation. (Access to beach chairs and towels are part of what the hotel offers without additional cost.) We regularly go to dinner in nearby Grand Cas, about ten minutes down the road, with several extraordinary restaurants, some with shimmering night vews of bobbing boats in the harbor and distant Anguilla twinkling in the night. (Romantic? Youy bet.) We find wines for our room at the even nearer USA Supermarket, or, better, Bacchus, hidden behind it in Hope Estates. There's a decent little Italian place in the neaby Orient Bay village, but litle else at present -- it was better in years past. Kokoa Beach, just along the beach, too, has decent food and a good bar as well (same charging privileges as at Coco Beach).

The hotel itself offers a decent breakfast of coffee, hot chocolate, tea, croissants, jellies, fresh fruits, scrambled eggs (I wish they'd put back in their egg boiling pots for soft boiled eggs, but perhaps there was too much disharmony about whose egg was whose), ham, cheese, applesauce, toast, and yogurts as part of your room charge, but also anything else you want to pay for. All this takes place outside, under cover, around the hotel's pefectly fine little swimming pool. Dinner there is acceptable, but not good enough to keep us from Grand Cas!

We stay in a larger middle suite on the second level with a huge patio affording a 180 degree view of Orient Bay below. A large table, four wooden chairs (without seat cushions, uncomfortably) and two lounges with netting rather than cushions complete the furniture out there. One gets to the patio through large, glass windowed, locked French doors. The locks here are tricky, hard to understand and operate, and annoying even after one gets the hang of them. At night one must close large metal, louvered doors covering the glass ones -- presumably to keep out intruders, though we've never seen anyone who didn' belong there at night or heard report of any either. (The hotel is well-patrolled within its compound and there are guards at the gate to get in at all. And a useful safe in your room.)

The rooms are plain and quite Spartan, not especially well or comfortably furnished, but liveable. Our sitting room was large, but one can't do much in it. There are four wobbly bar stools at the kitchenette countertop, a couch facing the other way, a chair, a bed-type thing with pillows against a wall, and a single desk chair do not spell conviviality for two or more. The king-sized bed is hard, but not so as to make sleeping uncomfortable. (Netting over the bed tells you that sometimes mosquitos can be a problem, but staying at various times here between late February and early April we've never been really bothered by them and don't sleep under the netting, which we put aside) Lighting in the large sitting room is poor -- harsh fluorescent from above mainly, with two small, inadequate lamps, insufficient for reading purposes. Lighting in the bedroom is similarly bad. There is a chest of drawers and closets with shelves, but you will need your own hangers if you bring a lot of stuff. The bathroom is reasonably good -- enough room and two sinks -- but the shower has no separate lighitng at all. Water pressure can be poor, but some of that can be corrected by calling reception to tell them it's not working well enough. TV in the sitting room is laughably bad: tiny flat screens -- about 12 inchers -- and terrible programming and way too much advertising. We couldn't watch any of it. Maid service is daily, but none too terrific at actually cleaning anything. New sheets, yes; but not much more. The towels are old and they seem never to have heard of fabric softener. The refrigerator is small, but adequate. One gets a few dishes and kitchen implements, but not enough glasses (we hard two from the bathroom -- two!) and no ashtrays. Another really bad thing is that the hotel wifi does not reach the rooms, unbelievably, so that even phone calls are hard or often impossible to make otherwise than through the hotel's system. The airconditioning works well and is adjustable and is aided by a large ceiling fan, also adjustable.

Staff at the hotel are kindly and as helpful as they can be, expecially in the breakfast/dinner area around the pool. One gal has become a very good friend over time -- and we can't wait to see her every year.

The cost for all this is, frankly, modest. Just compare rates for nearby other hotels. And if what I've described seems less than you might like, we get the impression from casual conversations with others at Coco Beach who stay elsewhere that they have much, much smaller quarters, without views, without patios, and without being much more comfortable.

Why not five stars? Because they really, really need to update the rooms with more comfortable furnishings, get wifi into the rooms, and improve the lighting, theTVs and the programming. But we love La Plantation and will return, even if they don't do this. After all, the French have their own little quirks, as we do. Some of them are the reasons we enjoy visiting as much as we do.