Maho Beach

Located on the Dutch side of the beautiful island of St.Martin, Maho Beach – also called Aeroplane Beach and Airport Beach – is a popular curve-shaped beach with white sand. USA Today listed this beach as one of the 10 best beaches in the Caribbean in 2023, and it is a favorite of Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as Mr. Beach. In addition, TripAdvisor also listed this beach as one of the 25 best beaches in the Caribbean as a part of its Travelers’ Choice awards list in 2024. This beach should not be confused with another separate beach with a similar name – this beach is named Maho Bay Beach St John USVI and it is located in the Virgin Islands.

Maho Beach does not offer lifeguards or any other amenities except rental facilities for beach chairs, sunlounges, and water sports equipment. There are restrooms at Sunset Beach Bar & Grill and you need to pay a fee of $1 to access it. 

Maho Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, swimming, kite surfing, windsurfing, parasailing, paddle boarding, jet-skiing, boating, snorkeling, water-skiing, kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife watching. 

This beach is popular with windsurfers and kitesurfers because it sometimes offers amazing windsurfing and kitesurfing waves. You can check the Maho Beach cam online for more information regarding the water conditions. In addition, snorkelers also visit the beach’s northern end to explore the nearby Mullet Bay. If you are planning to swim, kayak, or snorkel here, we recommend being careful because the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents and dangerous waves. A popular activity here is plane spotting – many visitors watch airplanes from nearby as they arrive and depart from a nearby Saint Martin Maho Beach airport named Princess Juliana International Airport. The planes sometimes are as close as just 30 meters from the ground level. If you want to watch planes here, we recommend visiting between 12 noon and 6 pm. 

However, we recommend being careful because watching planes from such a close distance can sometimes lead to serious injuries and deaths because of the impact of jet blasts. 

If you like shopping, there are multiple shopping stores near the beach.

Maho Beach does not offer wheelchair access to visitors with disabilities.

Getting to Maho Beach is easy – this beach is located near Sunset Bar and Grill, which is located near 2 Beacon Hill Road. There is a large paid parking lot near Sunset Bar and Grill – you can park at this lot for free if you purchase something from the restaurant. There are also a few free street parking spaces nearby. 

In addition to these parking areas, there is a paid parking garage behind the nearby Sonesta Maho Beach Resort Casino & Spa and a paid parking lot near The Morgan Resort & Spa. In addition, there is also a paid parking lot near the Mullet Bay Golf Course – you can easily walk to the beach after parking here.

We recommend visiting this beach early during the summer because the beach can get crowded quickly, and the parking areas here can also quickly fill up.

If you like taking pictures with beautiful views, Maho Beach offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Caribbean Sea and the Sint Maarten shoreline.

There are many attractions near Maho Beach within a 25-minute drive.  Rainforest Adventures St Maarten is a popular eco-park that offers many fun things to do and explore, including the Emilio Wilson Museum, which is set in a restored plantation house, zip lines, large slides, and a chairlift. Seaside Nature Park is a nature park that offers interesting horse riding tours and it also offers interesting walking trails, a petting zoo, and an oceanfront pavilion. Casino Royale is a casino that offers a variety of fun games including card games, slot machines, and table games.  Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit is a museum that has props and memorabilia from various films including Men in Black, Highlander, and Star Wars – this museum was established by special effects makeup artist Nick Maley, who worked on the iconic character of Yoda from the Star Wars franchise. If you like shopping, Sint Maarten’s Front Street has a variety of interesting shopping stores. If you are looking for another attraction near the beach, Topper’s Rhum is a rum distillery that offers interesting tours of its premises – these tours offer an insight into how rum is manufactured and bottled.

There are many restaurants near Maho Beach. Sunset Bar & Grill is a restaurant and bar that offers amazing dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner including sandwiches, seafood, salads, quesadillas, pizzas, and barbecued dishes – it also offers live music performances.  Moulin Fou Restaurant is an upscale French restaurant that offers amazing gourmet dishes, including steaks, seafood, veal, lamb, pasta, and duck.  JAX Steakhouse is another upscale restaurant that offers amazing steaks and it also offers soups, ribs, burgers, pastas, and seafood. Da Waterhole offers a variety of excellent Italian dishes including pizza, pasta, seafood, soups, and local Caribbean dishes. If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, Sandbar Sxm is a beach bar and a food truck that offers a variety of great dishes, including sushi, sandwiches, burgers, salads, and chicken wings – it also offers amazing cocktails, and hosts live music performances.

If you are looking for a hotel near Maho Beach, there are many great nearby options. The 5-Star Sonesta Ocean Point Resort offers many amenities including multiple pools, a gym, sports courts, a casino, a spa, and multiple Sonesta Maho Beach restaurants and bars. The 4-Star Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino & Spa is another upscale hotel that offers many amenities including a gift shop, a casino, a spa, multiple pools, a gym, a water park, play areas, a casino, and multiple restaurants. Another great upscale hotel is The Morgan Resort which offers many amenities including a pier, cabanas, waterslides, an observation deck, an infinity pool, a spa and salon, multiple bars, a restaurant, and a fitness center. A more affordable hotel is the Royal Islander Resort - La Terrasse which offers many amenities including a spa, fitness center, a pool, a hot tub, a supermarket, and access to nearby tennis courts, paddle courts, and multiple restaurants. If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 3-Star Mary’s Boon Hotel offers many amenities including a spa, a restaurant, and oceanfront sunlounger loaner facilities.