Our 3rd stay at Esmeralda in 3 years. It is the most relaxing, laid-back resort. The rooms are large and meet our every need. We LOVE sitting on the porch in the early morning and late evening, enjoying the sounds and breezes. Even with all the wonderful beaches that we do spend every day on, the villa-side pool adds a wonderful touch for before beach swims and after dinner wind-down. The free continental breakfast is delicious - who bakes better croissants and baquettes than the French? We love to bring that to our room and eat on the porch as the world wakes up. Wide-screen TV! Never even bothered to put it on. We appreciated the AC. Every single staff member was pleasant, kind, and helpful. We went off-season (August 12 - 20) and got exactly what we so desperately needed - rest, relaxation, a time to reunite, read books, tan, nap, talk about things we don't have time for at home.

JRN & MAN

My husband and I have been to many resorts in our 18 years of being married but the Esmeralda Resort on Orient Beach is one of our favorites! This was our first time vacationing in St. Martin (June 2 - 9th 2012), and it won't be our last! We cannot wait to go back next year and stay at the Esmeralda Resort again!

The staff was very kind as Leo (great guy!), welcomed us and gave us the rundown on the resort. Claudie, the general manager, also upgraded us to the villa next to the presidential suite to help celebrate the fact that I am a breast cancer survivor (thank you soo much!). This was my first tropical trip since battling breast cancer. Leo, Claudie and all the staffers were always accommodating to any requests. The front desk clerks happily helped us with food reservations and transportation (cabs). I hurt my ankle on the 2nd night in St. Martin and Leo (front desk clerk) found a walking cane for me to use to get around. Miss you Leo!

The villa we stayed in was beautiful. There are 4 or 5 rooms to each villa and each Villa has a pool. You also have your own front deck which was great to have coffee on each morning and cocktails each night before going out to dinner. Housekeeping and the maids always made sure the rooms were cleaned everyday and honored any requests we had with additional towels, etc. The TV was great to watch early morning and before going to bed and had a large amount of cable channels to choose from. I hate it when you go to a resort and only a couple of stations are offered. The rooms are well decorated and very comfortable and extremely clean. We heard the hotel went through room renovations and could tell that everything was freshly painted (outside and inside). The bathroom is very nice with new aqua tiles and a beautiful rain shower head. We never had a problem with hot water or water pressure as you might have at other resorts.

The grounds are beautiful and well kept at the Esmeralda Resort! Our pool was clean and maintained by the resort 2 or 3 times a week.

We ate at the Astrolabe restaurant (next to the Esmeralda Resort) a couple of times and can only rave about the fabulous food. We can eat at this restaurant every night....the food was that good.

Coco Beach is the beachfront area that is next to the Esmeralda Resort. Coco Beach is beautiful and you get two chairs and a table or two (requested) with an umbrella. There are waiters that bring you drinks and are very nice and funny! The food at Coco Beach restaurant was very good. I highly recommend eating here (the burgers and pizza were great!).
The beach is beautiful and appears to be in a more relaxed area of Orient Beach. My husband looked forward to walking the entire stretch of Orient Beach everyday and would comment how beautiful Orient Beach is! There are more active areas of Orient Beach but if you want a more relaxed atmosphere stay at Coco Beach! I'm telling you Coco Beach is where you want to be if you want rest and quiet time to enjoy your book! I also think Coco Beach is the prettiest section of Orient Beach!

We have stayed at other resorts (including all inclusive) and this resort is by far our "New Favorite". We cannot wait to go back next year. In fact, we met several couples that told us they have been coming back to this resort for over 17 years. We also met a young couple on their honeymoon (2nd leg of their honeymoon) that stayed in a suite next to our suite, and they said the Esmerala Resort was better than the place they stayed at on their first leg of their honeymoom trip which was a Sandals Resort. This Honeymoon couple were not happy with the Sandals resort but loved the Esmeralda Resort!!! They also said that the food at Astrolabe and Coco Beach was far better than the all inclusive food at Sandals.

If you are on the fence about all inclusive vs. non-all inclusive....we have decided that you still pay the same. Our food and beverage bill came out to be the same if we had paid for all inclusive yet we had top notch food by allowing ourselves to dine at any restaurant on Orient Beach. You also get a Food and Beverage Card when you check into this hotel. This card allows you to go to any restaurant on Orient Beach and have your beverages and food charged to your overall food and beverage invoice at the end of your trip.

Don't believe the 1 or 2 star reviews, as the majority of reviews are 4 and 5 star reviews for the Esmeralda Resort. This resort is great! It has everything you need. Where else can you go and have a clean and comfortable room, a beautiful pool to every Villa, a pretty beach front, a wonderful staff that runs the resort, and a great restaurant on the premises?

Thank you Esmeralda Resort for making my trip fun and memorable! We cannot wait to book you again next year! Miss you already. The "Musso's".

We just returned from a week at the Esmeralda resort on French St. Martin. This is our 3rd visit to St. Martin and our 3rd stay at Esmeralda. This resort is exactly what we look for in a relaxing vacation. The room we had appeared to be recently redecorated, with a brand new flat screen TV. We had trouble with the remote and called the front desk. Someone came immediately and showed us how to operate it. The room was clean when we checked in and was cleaned thoroughly every day while we were at the beach. We love the kitchenette because we like to buy groceries locally for the occasional snack and to cut down on meal expenses. The small refrigerator, toaster oven, coffee maker, as well as dishes and utensils are ideal for us. We would eat an early morning breakfast on our own porch; have a late morning snack at the free continental breakfast and then an early afternoon snack back on the porch. The Astrolabe also offers a fuller breakfast and dinner.

Each villa includes maybe 4 guest rooms and each has a porch overlooking a pool. The pool was great for an evening swim to wash off the salt and sand from the beach. Also, it’s a great way to meet your neighbors.

We like the beachfront at Esmeralda because it is away from the more crowded beach sections where the tour busses pull in and disgorge day trippers. It is an easy walk through this section to enjoy the casual beachfront restaurants, activities, and locally operated beach shops. An umbrella and 2 chairs are included with the room at the resort through a relationship with Coco beach beachfront restaurant. There were always chairs and umbrellas available no matter what time we came down to the beach. We ate several meals at Coco beach and we recommend it highly. Esmeralda is planning a major upgrade to the Wi-Fi capability sometime this summer or fall and this will be a welcome addition, although some may not care one way or the other. We continue to be very pleased with Esmeralda and look forward to returning again soon. For us, this is clearly the best choice on Orient Beach.

We just returned from a 7 night stay at Esmeralda. This was our 3rd time and won't be our last.
Everyone is so friendly and helpful. The refurbished rooms no longer have a hot plate with a skillet and pan but they were more than happy to provide for us. Updated shower head and toilet were nice as was the air conditioning.
We really enjoy the breakfast. It's really the only time we see any people aside from walking around or the neighbors may be on their patio. Being able to relax on the patio and by the pool without having anyone bothering you is so wonderful. The grounds were well cared for.
A short walk down to Orient beach makes it nice and we really enjoy the beach. Lots to do. We don't go out at night so we can't help with the night life info. We enjoy watching the sun rise.
If you are looking for solitude and a place to relax and unwind Esmeralda is the place.
Only negative would be the ants.