Growing up, my household by no means went on beach vacations. The world is massive and there’s a lot to see, so our journeys all the time revolved round Segway excursions and museum visits quite than piña coladas and chaise lounges. But as we’ve all grown older—and subsequently, extra exhausted—the idea of truly enjoyable whereas utilizing our PTO has turn into more and more interesting. Which is how we discovered ourselves at La Samanna, A Belmond Hotel, in St. Martin this previous April, sunburnt and waterlogged in one in every of the property’s wow-worthy villas overlooking Baie Longue, recognized for being one in every of the most stunning seashores in the Caribbean.
We stunned my dad with the journey for his sixtieth birthday, and contemplating there was snow on the floor in Ontario, the place my brother and oldsters reside, after they boarded their flight in Toronto, I don’t assume we may have picked a higher vacation spot. The temperature was in the 80s the complete time we had been on the island (a UV index of 11 was, in truth, a shock to Canadian pores and skin), and our lodging had been definitely up to snuff for such a particular celebration.
We stayed in one in every of La Samanna’s four-bedroom villas (there are additionally a couple of three-bedroom villas, and 76 different rooms and suites unfold out alongside the property), which was just about one large two-story mansion with all the pieces a group may need to trip in type. I’m speaking a full employees, soaking tubs in the en suite bogs, a stocked kitchen (and fridge) with top-of-the-line home equipment and fixtures, a yard pool with a greater sq. footage than my Manhattan condo, a laundry room, and two workplaces. When we first stepped by means of the entrance door and into the gloriously ethereal lobby, the pool peeking by means of the arched home windows and the marble spiral staircase to our proper, I felt a easy “holy [redacted]” slip by means of my lips. It was all uphill from there as we explored additional, the interiors a good mix of excessive design and comfortable cool, with Caribbean art work adorning the partitions and extra out of doors lounge areas than we knew what to do with.