It has been said that travelers can visit St. Maarten for a year and never eat at the same place twice. With one of few major international airports, it lends itself to being one of the most diverse islands with over 200 cultures and nationalities calling the island home – and the melting pot is evident in the island’s culinary scene. To celebrate the abundance of culinary delights offered island wide, St. Maarten invites travelers for its annual food festival – St. Maarten Flavors. Every November, restaurants around the island design a special prix fixe menu of either three courses or one, highlighting their specialties all at affordable prices to give visitors a chance to try places they might not otherwise get to experience. Those wanting to be near all the festivities can stay at Holland House Beach Hotel – situated on the Great Bay Boardwalk and one of the participants in the St. Maarten Flavors festival. The stunning boutique hotel provides a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of the city with beachfront views and an oceanfront al fresco restaurant just a few steps away from the Great Bay Beach’s turquoise waters.
To continue your gastronomic journey through the Caribbean, hop on a quick flight over to Saba – where the five-square-mile island will be hosting the second annual Unspoiled Queen Rum & Saba Lobster Festival. The destination is brimming with unbounded natural beauty, bucket-list dive sites, pristine hiking trails, and a tight-knit community that opens its arms to all who come to explore their beloved home. There is no better time to experience the very best of Saba than during this culinary festival, an event dedicated to celebrating the destination’s culture and community. The week-long festival aims to highlight two of Saba’s local delicacies. The first is Saba’s spiny lobster, caught in the Saba Bank – a 60-mile-long stretch of submerged atoll – rich with Lobsters at the height of its season in the fall season. And the second being locally infused rums, blended with fruits and spices native to the land, so rich and delicious it’s even used to bake desserts. Island restaurants will bring the two together, creating their own variations of rum-inspired lobster dishes, and offering rum-tasting sessions, an experience saturated with local flavors. Additional festivities include a rum treasure hunt, crafty claw art sessions with local artists, a lobster & rum bar crawl hitting all of the bars across the island and a rum-centric sunset booze cruise around Saba’s stunningly scenic Marine Park. The whole week will give festival participants a taste of all that Saba has to offer from culture to cuisine. Stay at the beautiful Juliana’s Hotel to be right in the heart of all the action.
