Cost of Living in Marigot
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Marigot, so the $2,200 a month above is our own estimate rather than a measurement. On 330 of our 921 city guides the figure is built from a published Numbeo basket, a one-bedroom rent in the centre plus one person's monthly costs without rent, converted to USD; this city is not one of them. Treat it as a starting point and check current rental listings before you budget against it. How we source everything.
Budget around $2,200 a month on the French side, which is expensive by Caribbean standards and considerably cheaper than Saint Barthelemy next door. A one-bedroom runs roughly $900 to $1,400, with Terres Basses and the Baie Nettle strip at the top. Groceries in the French supermarkets are imported and pricey, though crossing to the Dutch side for some shopping is normal and legal, since there is no border post. Restaurants in Grand Case, which markets itself as the gourmet capital of the Caribbean, are excellent and expensive. The euro is the currency on this side and dollars are widely accepted.
Where to Work in Marigot
Connectivity is reasonable. Fibre reaches parts of Marigot and the main settlements, French mobile networks operate with free roaming for European visitors, and power is generally reliable, though the recovery from Hurricane Irma in 2017 took years and some infrastructure still shows it. There is limited coworking. The time zone is four hours behind GMT, which gives a good working overlap with the eastern United States all afternoon and with Europe in the morning, one of the more genuinely useful positions on this site for anyone with clients on both sides.
Getting Around Marigot
A car is the practical answer. The island is about eighty seven square kilometres shared between France and the Netherlands, with a single ring road and no border checks between the two halves, though the road narrows and the traffic backs up badly around Marigot and Simpson Bay. Shared minibuses run the main routes cheaply. Marigot itself is walkable. Princess Juliana International Airport on the Dutch side is the island's air link and one of the busiest in the eastern Caribbean, with direct flights to Europe and North America. Anyone crossing to the Dutch side regularly should also know that the two halves use different currencies and different plug standards, which catches people out more often than the border does.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Marigot
Saint Martin is a French overseas collectivity, part of France and the European Union but outside the Schengen area, so a Schengen visa does not admit you and time here does not count against a Schengen allowance. European Union citizens may live and work here without a permit. Most Western nationalities enter visa-free for ninety days. The Dutch side, Sint Maarten, is a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands with its own rules, and although nobody checks the internal border, the two sides do keep separate records. Anyone planning a long stay should also weigh which side to base on, since the French side offers European Union rights and the Dutch side offers a lower cost of living.
Best Time to Visit Marigot
December to April is the dry season and the high season, warm at around twenty seven degrees with low humidity and the whole island busy. May, June and November are quieter and better value. Hurricane season runs June to November, and this island took the full force of Irma in 2017, which was the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record at landfall and destroyed a large part of the built environment. Recovery has been substantial but uneven. September is the quietest month and much of the tourist economy shuts. Carnival on the French side runs in February and March before Lent, while the Dutch side holds its own in April, so the island effectively gets two.
Pros and Cons of Marigot
The case for the French side is the food, which is genuinely a cut above anything else in the region at Grand Case, the beaches, the ability to live in France while working American hours, and the freedom of movement for European Union citizens. Two legal systems on one small island produce useful arbitrage in several directions. The case against is that Saint Martin has real crime problems by regional standards, the recovery from Irma is incomplete, traffic is bad, and the island is heavily dependent on a cruise and charter economy.
Who Marigot Is For
Saint Martin suits European Union citizens who want a Caribbean base with no immigration friction and a time zone that works for both sides of the Atlantic. It suits sailors, since the lagoon is one of the largest in the Caribbean and a major charter hub. It suits anyone who takes food seriously. It does not suit anyone wanting quiet, anyone uncomfortable with the security situation, or anyone hoping for a cheap island, because this is not one. It also suits anyone who enjoys the oddity of the arrangement itself, since the 1648 Treaty of Concordia dividing the island is among the oldest border agreements still in force anywhere.
Photo: Original uploader was Darwinek at en.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
