The place to stay if you are to visit the French St-Martin. We used this Hotel has our home base, rented a car thru St-martin hotel guide http://www.sxmhotelguide.com/cars.php and voîla!

The room comes equipped with a cuisinette & small fridge, so when we got tired of bread and jam in the morning, we cooked ourselves upped bacon & eggs! We only had the breakfast plan, but that is all you need in St-Martin, because you have to explore the island! It's safe and even the tap water is good to drink! The washroom only has a hand held shower, but we didn't care, has long as we can wash. They make up the rooms twice a week, it's less intrusive. The bed is made up of two singles; so what. The floor is tiled... noise during those romantic moments...but we had 2nd floor (top floor) so we didn't care much. Balcony view was on the lagoon, we e-mailed beforehand to request such and got it! The place was very clean. Bring a current converter & adapter if you need to plug in something, the French side has 220v. People at the hotel are very nice!

Jardin de Chevrise is very quiet and low key: GREAT! When we got there at night...no services...so we called a pizza!!
No restaurants on the premises but there are two just down the hill. We dined at the Taïtu and enjoyed it! The bakery, also down the hill (2 min walk), has great bread and croissants!

My advise:

Bring American money (do not get it on the island, bad exchange rate there). Forget the Euro, USD is accepted everywhere and in some places: 1 euro=1$ !!!

When renting the car, ask them to have it delivered to you at your hotel and picked upped at no charge. This way you can get the car one day after your arrival and the have picked up a day before departure. You save two days rental fee! Buy insurance before you leave, it's cheaper (7$ a day for 10,000 collision). Driving in St-Martin is an experience, the roads are narrow and use your horn! Do not leave anything in your car, it may attract theives.

Bring a small cooler, it's very useful!! Every day we went to US-Import (it's a grocery store, there is one in Grand Case but the better one is in Marigot...Bordeaux wine for 2 euro or 3$...not a typo...3$!!!). We got, ice, water, baguette, sausages, cheese and of course wine for our daily pick-nick on the beach!!! Very French!!

Restaurants: go to http://www.sxmhotelguide.com/cars.php and get the list of all restaurants to suite your needs. In Grand Case we enjoyed Lolos, good food for cheap and a bottle of wine for 10 euros or 15$!

Beaches: the one we preferred... (have a look here http://www.st-maarten-info.com/St-Maarten-Beaches/stmaarten_Beaches.html and if you can read French, go here: http://www.sxmsaintmartin.com/index.php

Happy Bay: best beach on the French side, 10 min walk east of Friar's bay, clothing optional, some services; drinks and food.

Cupecoy: the only beach we tried on the Dutch side, very nice, next to no services. Again, clothing optional.

Petites cailles: 25 min walk (get sneakers) along the shoreline with great view going there. On this very secluded beach we were alone all day...what a drag!!!

île Pinel: need to get a boat ride for 7$ (5 min from Jardin de Chevrise). When you get there, find a path going north from dock side, that will take you to a secluded beach (there are two secluded beaches, but the best one is to the north), but you can always stay on the main beach where the restaurants are. Great view of St-Martin from here!!

We didn't care much for Orient beach, too commercial for us but we tried it on our first day.

The official site to Jardin de Chevrise is:
http://www.orientbayhotel.com/fr/intro.html

e-mail me if you have any questions: ptoleme@mail.com

We stayed at the Jardins De Chevrise, on our first night in SXM.
We were glad that we didn't have to stay for more than one night.
The room was small and the colors nice, but the room was european for sure. The power used a converter and the air conditioner leaked water all over the floor and on top of a outlet.
The king size bed was actually 2 twins and they were pushed together. on a tile floor. need i say more? The bath room was small but useable. we won't stay again, but for the money it was adequate.

My husband and I just spent a relaxing week in St. Martin (March 3 - 10, 2007). We stayed at the Jardin de Chevrise. We made our choice based on the reviews from this site and they were bang on. The hotel is very quiet and void of the antics of an all inclusive type of place. The employees seemed genuinely happy to have us and respond to our needs. One thing to note is that we had a car, a must for the island in my opinion. We opted not to buy the breakfast but instead had coffed and pastries at the boulangerie at the bottom of the hill. Later in the week I ventured down to the pool where the breakfast at the Chevrise was being served and asked if i could buy a cup of coffee. She charged me 1.50 US and I recieved a full pot of great coffee. I would suggest this as an option for anyone who like me, needs a bit of a kick start in the morning.

As noted by other members, the beds were really hard but we were either worn out each night or we got used to them because we didn't have much of a problem sleeping. The shower is really not great but for us it was more humourous than anything. The rooms were very clean and we recieved maid service twice in our week long stay. This means keep your bath towels as you may not get them replaced right away although if you went to the front desk I'm quite sure they would exchange them for you. Also we paid 15.00 US to purchase a beach towel service that allowed us to exchange our beach towels everyday.

One thing to keep in mind about htis place is that the hotel does not offer a 24 hour on call service - the reception is open from 8 - 12 and 2 - 6, so if you need anything then you have to ask during these hours. Really not an issue outside of planning ahead.

If you're waivering on staying at this hotel becuase it's a 2 star I would suggest going for it. We thought the same thing but are really happy we chose this place. It was very personable and quiet. If you are a family then I would suggest staying at the sister hotel, Orient Beach. It is basically the same but with more room. If you're only a couple, then save the few hundred bucks to go shopping in Marigot and stay at the Chevrise.

I hope this review helps and enjoy your stay!

Stayed here from 3/17 to 3/23/06 - We had a great time.

It was out 2nd trip to SXM - the 1st time we stayed at the Pelican Resort and we wanted to try the French side this time... This is NOT a resort - Not realls social - RENT A CAR!!!!!! I don't think you can stay at a place like this and really get a feel for the island without a car and the driving is real easy.

A few things - The beach I would say is 1/4 mile down a path - Maybe the last reviewer didn't find the right path but, it's not that far and easily walkable.
Before I left i couldn't find a good map or couldn't place the hotel - If you look on any may or picture - the Jardin is North right behing Mount Vernon Hotel on Mt Vernon.

The review of the room was Dead On - Small, CLEAN, OK Beds and Shower - But, the people are friendly.

What was also good about the hotel was the location - Being on the French side we experienced more late nights on that side at Grand Case (2 minutes away) which is great for water side food ( Le'Escapade was Great) and the Orient area which is fun at night....We Loved Cote Plages as well as La Chapelle...

As far as the hotel - you get what you pay for - I felt like I was at a Red Roof Inn in Disney and people are comparing it to a Disney resort complaining that the monorail doesn't pick them up....

Everything is CLEAN - Pool is clean - Oh yeah and skip the breakfast - That French pasty place on the main road back down Mt Vernon is a much better deal and probably the same pastries...

Also - There's a good market / Wine store on the way to the hotel in Grand Case where you can get some real good Cheese to go with the Bread....

One IMPORTANT note - Bring Cash for the Fench side - ATM's are on the Dutch side and for some reason, the restaurants on the French side offer 1$ = 1 Euro if you pay cash which saves you 20%!!!!!!

Also there's some much better wine deals on the Dutch side near Simpson Bay for the Yachts.... Even French Wine is cheaper..

ENJOY!!!!