St Maarten

"We loved our stay at Villa Karibuni on our recent vacation with our 2 small children (aged 4 and 6). The view is incredible and we especially enjoyed our time lounging on the deck in the mornings or afternoon/evenings and enjoying the pool and the view. Another highlight was utilizing the kayaks and taking them to Pinel Island for the day. It was windy while we were there so the kayaking was a fun challenge to Pinel but it was effortless coming back! The property is waterfront - just a few steps off the deck and you can be in the kayak heading to the nearby sand bar (amazing for photos) or Pinel. When we are in the Carribbean we enjoy exploring different beaches and areas but you could happily go to Pinel each day. Pinel island has lizards and hermit crabs in a certain area away from the beach that the kids discovered and this made Pinel especially fun for them. The water there is very calm too. The beaches we loved other than Pinel were Anse Marcel and Happy Bay a short walk from Friars Bay. We had considered staying in various hotels and were SO glad we chose this villa because we spent our days out and about exploring and when we came home we didn't feel we needed to go out again (unlike being in a hotel room). Since we have small children it was great to hang by the pool sipping cocktails and use the charcoal grill to prepare dinner with the delicious French ingredients available locally. The local village does have some great restaurants which we enjoyed a few nights too. A few small items were missing from the house but Manon was very responsive and made sure we had all we needed. She also can book reservations or excursions and even babysitters. The house was very clean and although not brand new it was nicely and simply appointed. The air conditioning worked just fine for us in the bedrooms and the rest of the house didn't need it because of the ocean breeze plus there is a huge fan. The whole villa has black out shutters so we all slept in! Manon also kindly provided us with snorkeling equipment and kids sand toys which was so nice. The pool has an alarm on it should you wish to use it which is great if you have small kids. I recommend you stay here - we will be going back!"