If you’re an AV Geek, plane spotting at the Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten is a must to add to your bucket list.
When most people think about plane spotting in St. Maarten, visiting Maho Beach usually comes to mind. Whether it be “riding the fence”, capturing a selfie on the beach, or snapping photos from Sunset Beach Bar, most visitors tend to limit themselves to the water front.
However if you’re interested in capturing arrivals and departures from other angles, there are a few different spots you can check out.
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When is the best time to visit Sint Maarten for plane spotting?
St. Maarten has a decent variety of traffic, with its share of props, private jets, and commercial tubeliners coming in on a daily basis. However if you really want to cram in as much variety as possible, plan your trip around mid-December through April.
Peak traffic tends to focus around the first week of January as most travelers rush back to their daily lives, and January 2nd usually sees a mass exodus of business jets and general aviation traffic.
With that said, let’s get into the list of plane spotting locations in St. Maarten.
Maho Beach
Let’s start by getting the most popular location out of the way. Maho Beach is located to the west of the airport, literally under the approach path for runway 10. If you’re looking for overhead fly-bys or prefer to ‘ride the fence’, this is the spot to be. It’s also great if you want to experience a runway 28 departure.
If you are looking to capture the full aircraft within the frame of your photo, you can take walk to either the Sunset Beach Bar or Driftwood Boat Bar to get a better angle. Of course you can take a look for yourself to come up with the most creative angles.
Unfortunately I’ve fallen out of love with this spot ever since the newer and higher fence was installed, making it difficult to get shots from the beach front. Standing on the barriers has also been disallowed, and pressing your camera lens on the fence doesn’t seem to work either because of how small the wire pattern is.
Here are a few examples, with the A330 and Islander taken from beach front, and the banana A320 taken from the rebuilt Sunset Beach Bar.
D’s Beach Bar and Grill
By far a spotter’s favorite, D’s Beach Bar has a covered deck facing the runway with a great view of the touchdown aiming point markers (the solid white sections). It’s great for capturing and departures from both ends, even allowing for some very close up photos of the aircraft on the runway and even on the ramp.
The bar and hotel is located to the right side of the runway, near the end of White Sands Road.
You might need more than one lens as a 70-300mm works well for more distant photos, but if you’re looking to frame the entire aircraft in your shot while it’s directly in front of you, you will have to go with a much shorter focal length. An 18-55mm should be suitable.
Here are a few examples. Missing are those side profile shots as I only had a 70-300mm on hand at the time.
Even though you’re free to visit the deck, it’s good manners to support the restaurant by at least buying food and/or drinks.
Mary’s Boon Hotel
If you’re hunting runway 28 action, Mary’s Boon Hotel is the ideal spot. Located on the south eastern side of the airport, the hotel has two decks overlooking the first turnaround bay and end of runway 28.
Due to the trees to the left, it’s hard to see runway 10 arrivals in the distance, but you can see aircraft backtracking in either of the two turning bays, as well as departures and landings if they are using runway 28.
The one downside is that the deck is not covered, and it can get pretty hot once things warm up. Just like D’s Beach Bar, staff members won’t stop you from visiting the deck, but it’s always a good idea to show your support by purchasing food and/or drinks.
Credit: Bradley Wint/Gate CheckedTower Road
There is a stretch of land overlooking the airport to the north near where the air traffic control tower is. To get there, drive on Amazone Road and turn right on the street just after the solar panel array. Drive past the tower radome and continue left.
There are a number of empty lots of view the airport from, but it’s not a guaranteed location as the lots may sometimes be overgrown with bushes making it difficult to access. I myself had difficulty getting a good shot of the runway because of how overgrown the area was.
While you can get a good shot of the non-gated section of the ramp and the touch down zone, I fear this area may soon become inaccessible as more developers build villa properties on these empty lots of land. On the upside, you might soon be able to rent an Airbnb with an unobstructed view of the airport!
Radio Tower Outlook
If you want a different perspective and have a long range telephoto lens, you can drive up to Radio Tower Outlook on Cole Bay hill. At the top is a dish encapsuled in a radome. I’m not sure the exact purpose of this dish, but I’m told it might be a weather radar linked to St. Maarten’s Meteorological Department.
Unlike the other locations mentioned above, you’ll have to do a bit of driving into the town to get to Mango
Once you get to thetop, you’ll need to walk up the steps of the station, and then along the right side until you’re on the western side. From here you’ll have an excellent view of the airport and surrounding areas. The tower is about 2.5 miles/4 kilometers away from the airport, and even my 300mm lens struggled to capture close up shots.
It’s a great location if you want to see planes making that famous right turn after departing from runway 10. Maybe you might be lucky to capture a 28 arrival if the winds dictate that.
The one concern I have with this location is the potential dangers of high frequency radiation. At the foot of the station is a sign warning visitors of the risk of high voltage lines and high frequency radiation. When walking along the side, you’ll notice two large cables leaving the station. Those should be avoided so as not to cause damage and injury to the lines and yourself.
While the dish itself should not pose an immediate threat at it is high off the ground, I won’t advise staying here to extended periods of time given the very close proximity to the station. If you want to spot here, time your arrivals so that you’re only standing at the lookout when the aircraft is landing or departing. If you want to stay longer, return to the road side beyond the warning sign in between aircraft movements so as to limit potential HF exposure.
Sonesta Maho and Sonesta Ocean Point (Hotel)
If you want to combine your spotting experience with a hotel stay, there are the Sonesta Maho and Sonesta Ocean Point resorts located on the left side of the approach path next to Maho Beach. Depending on where your room is, you may or may not get a view of the threshold, but you’ll be able to still see all aircraft on final approach. Here’s one from my stay in 2019.
Credit: Bradley Wint/Gate CheckedThe Morgan Resort (Hotel)
On the right side of the runway next door to Sunset Beach Bar is the Morgan Resort and Spa hotel. They offer roof access, with an excellent view of runway 10. While you won’t get the view from your room, you will need to be a guest in order to access the roof top.
Sea True Villa (Rental)
One villa that has gotten quite a bit of attention is the Sea True Villa which overlooks the airport, with a good view of runway 10, and most parts of the ramp. Sadly the terminal blocks the gate area, but it’s a small compromise when you can spot from the comfort of your vacation home.
Credit: Sea True Villa/VRBOOther small hotels and Airbnbs
This list can go on and on about potential hotel rooms and Airbnbs surrounding the airport. Given the constantly evolving environment, I won’t cover additional locations, but there are a number of locations offering room and board services with a good view of the airport.
If you’re looking for places, there are a number of airport facing units on Beacon Hill Road and White Sands Road. A number of new developments are also popping up just off Amazone Road, which run right along the border of Airport Road.
