Planes flying over Maho Beach in Saint Martin

Maho Beach: not the largest or even most beautiful beach on our island of Sint Maarten, but surprisingly it is the most visited and famous one. This small beach is on the Dutch side of the island, surrounded by coral and its surface is very dependent on the tides of the day: some days you can lounge around on powdery, white sand, on a beach chair or towel. But other days the sand is completely gone and you’re left with huge rocks to climb on. We locals lovingly refer to Maho Beach as “a living beach” because of this. You’ll never know what mood she’s going to be in! Luckily though, the beach isn’t the main attraction here: it’s the fact that you cannot get a better view (and feeling… aka getting sandblasted) of planes taking off and landing RIGHT in the back of you when on Maho Beach. Yes, places like St Barths also give you an up close and personal experience with landing planes, but Maho still takes the cake: we’re boasting the world’s shortest runway to accommodate planes such as the Boeing 747! Not just the cutesy little propellor planes here, we have some serious big birds thrusting their way in and out! The History Channel program “Most Extreme Airports” ranks Princess Juliana Airport as the 4th most dangerous airport in the world! And from Maho you are able to witness this again and again! Unfortunately the Boeing 747 no longer frequents our airport but not to worry: we still get plenty of big birds such as the Air France Airbus A340-300, 737’s, planes from Klm, Jet Blue, Air Transat and American Airlines and many more. At either side of the beach there is a place to sit down for lunch and drinks, both with different vibes to offer. While you’re enjoying your drinks, be sure to look at the crazies that disregard the warning signs and still attempt to hold on to the fence (which has now been doubled for safety), and all the folks who will be running for cover into the sea after standing in the way of the thrust of a plane about to take flight!