Shopping in Philipsburg St. Maarten

St. Maarten Shopping

The three parallel streets that form the heart of the Dutch Side capital of Philipsburg, Front Street, Back Street and Cannegeiter Street is probably the easiest shopping layout you could find in a town. Here are some tips.

If you’re visiting in High Season, you should check out the cruise ship schedules (any shop will have these). As St. Maarten is a major cruise port, you want to avoid shopping when the streets are full of thousands of cruise passengers. In general, there are no cruise ships on Mondays or Saturdays so you can have the town to yourselves.

There is both free and paid parking available but it’s not so easy to find. Try to go to town early so you have a better chance of finding parking and also have the whole day or a significant part of it to do your shopping and then move on to one of your favorite beaches or activities. Parking in the center of town is virtually non-existent so don’t even bother to try.

If you are early enough, grab breakfast at Chesterfield’s or at the Greenhouse or one of the small cafes in town before you work your way up Front Street and its over 100 jewelry stores among its other shopping attractions such as boutiques and gift shops.

You can also stroll the Ocean Walk bordering Great Bay Beach and enjoy some refreshments or lunch at any one of its many cafes. Philipsburg has a variety of restaurants from French, Chinese, Creole and Indian as well as American cuisines so lunch is a pretty good idea.

Most of the stores open at 10am and close at 5pm but generally stay open later if busy.

St. Maarten Island