Great place to watch the planes come an go. The beach itself is just ok. People come here to watch the planes... caution.. don't sit in the middle... you will get blasted as a plane takes off. The sunset bar is the main hang out... with good food. They even have a set up so you can hear the cockpit conversations with the tower. Great fun.

I had a GREAT time at Maho beach. Definitely something I needed to cross off my "bucket-list". We rented a big Ford Maxivan to cart the 13 of us in our group from horseback riding to Maho Beach. We had just missed the landing of an Air France 747 by about 5 minutes... We were parking the car at the casino next to the beach as it came down.

The beach itself is small, with a sharp drop at the water line, so it's good to be aware of the water. The highlight is the airplanes. The kids had a ton of fun playing in the water along the small beach. When a DC-9 took off, they thought it was hysterical as people who braved the jetwash got blown towards the water.

Everything was good until one DC-9's pilot gave the beach a big thumbs up and I saw it's engines facing the area where we were sitting. I moved out of the way before he started the engines. So after the kids got blown into the water and sand was embedded in every crevice of their bodies, they wanted to go back to the cruise ship.

Still it was a great time! It was a big topic of conversation throughout the cruise.

The bars on either side of the beach were crowded and it is a spectacle to see the airplanes landing and taking off. I felt it was too crowded to wait at the bars for a drink, but it's not a beach where we expected to spend a lot of the day at.

Maho Sunset Beach and Grill are the reason I keep coming to the Caribbean over and over. I have visited here 3 times and will definately come back again. The beach is not crowded and watching the planes land is AMAZING!! Yes, I was stupid enough to get "blown" into the water when a large aircraft took off the last time I was there. All I can say about that is I'm glad I have that memory, but "Ouch!!!" (there are videos online if you're curious).

The food and drinks were great and there was a live band the last time we were there which made the atmosphere even better. The beach is VERY calm and gets deep fast, so it is great for just floating about and relaxing. It is a topless encouraged beach and bar, so it may not be the best place if you have children, but my group was 21+, so it was fine with us.

LOVE this place and can't wait to come back!

Maho Bay Beach is small compared to some of the other beaches on St. Maarten/St. Martin, but this is the place to watch the airplanes come in. Standing on the beach you swear you can touch the wheels! The bigger planes, like 747 come in on either Saturday or Sunday. It is truly an amazing sight. Parking is along the road, but watch for signs.