Orient Beach

Orient Beach

Located on the northeast side of Saint Martin (the French Side) and facing out towards the Atlantic Ocean, Orient Beach is one of the best known beaches in the Caribbean. Much of this notoriety is due to the clothing optional resort, Club Orient, on the south end of the beach. You can also find many other hotels and restaurants along the beach. Because of the traditional nude use of the beach and the good availability of services, Orient Beach often appears on "10 best" lists of nude beaches in the world.

This beach is also known as Baie Orientale (French) and Orient Bay.

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There are 3 reviews of Orient Beach.

Trip Report by BeachComber on 5/27/2005
My wife and I spent a week in November 2004 staying at Orient Beach on French St. Martin.

** Geography **

Before telling my own experience with Orient Beach it would be best to give some idea of the layout of the beach and surrounding facilities. Orient Beach is on the Northeast side of Saint Martin facing out towards the Atlantic Ocean. The beach runs from Southeast to Northwest with the Southeast half being the most heavily developed.

At the Southeast end of the beach is the clothing optional resort, Club Orient. The Club Orient portion of the beach ends at a rock break (might have to get your feet wet) before opening up to the rest of the beach. Going up the beach from Club Orient is a series of small bars, restaurants, and shops until you hit the Orient Village about 2/5 of the way up the beach. Right after the village is several large beach operations with bars, restaurants, and lounge chairs including La Playa, which is where we spent much of our time during the day. At about the 3/5 mark the development stops and the beach turns fairly wild (no chairs and backed by dunes) until you reach the Mount Vernon hotel at the far Northwest end.

One interesting location on the beach is a small thong bikini shop just outside of Club Orient. The owners of the shop tend to work in the nude, so you might get a slight surprise when you are digging through bins of thongs and look up to see that the proprietor is wearing nothing but a smile.

Since Orient Beach faces out towards the Atlantic, it tends to be rather windy. There was a few times we were nearly driven off the beach because every bit of sand wants to go airborne. It can be troublesome at times but it sure makes the kite surfers happy. The water can be a bit cool since it doesn’t get as much of the nice, shallow Caribbean warming. The warmest, and calmest, water was right in front of Club Orient. Even if staying further down the beach it is worth a walk down there for a swim (with or without attire).

** Schedule **

Our average beach day could be summed up as follows:
1. Morning walk up and down the beach.
2. Breakfast in the room.
3. Get some sun at La Playa.
4. Meal along the beach.
5. More sun time.
6. Afternoon walk up and down the beach.
7. Drinks and a few snacks at a beach bar until dark.

For our walks we would start from the middle, go north to the far end of the beach in front on Mount Vernon hotel, turn south and walk to the south end in front of Club Orient, and then reverse back up to the middle of the beach. This gave us a good overview of the entire beach and what was going on.

** Observations **

The people at Club Orient were almost all nude, as you would expect. Still, nobody there seems to mind when a clothed person walks through. During our first day there we didn’t feel like walking the entire length of the beach and did our turnaround at the rock break marking the start of Orient Beach. Right after we turned around a nude man coming the other way stopped us and said it was OK to walk up through the other part of the beach as well. We thanked him and said we were just tired that day. Every walk of ours after that went all the way through Club Orient to do our turn at the true far end of the beach.

After Club Orient you don’t see many nude sunbathers except for a small enclave right about the 3/5 point going up the beach next to another rock break. This rock break marks the transition from the developed to the wild side of the beach. This other enclave is on the developed side.

Along the wild portion of the beach you may see a few nude sunbathers. These seem to be the ones just looking to avoid crowds. We didn’t see any “hide and stroke” types along any portion of the beach, which was definitely a good thing.

The Mount Vernon hotel was closed and being worked on while we were there. I’ve seen other reports of the operators there harassing nude sunbathers, but with nothing but workmen at the facility that wasn’t happening. At least one time we saw nude sunbathers using the sand right in front of the hotel.

Speaking of sand, the beach as a whole was in a declining phase while we were there. Near the rock breaks you had to get your feet wet to cross over and the big pipe by the middle of the beach was well out of the sand. At the main concession locations they could only put out three to four rows of chairs and had many, many more stacked up in back with no place to go.

Being on the French side of the island, anywhere along the beach you were likely to see topless sunbathers and walkers. In some parts of the beach as much as 20-30% of the women would go topfree. Also, some of the less shy nudist at Club Orient like to take a walk up the beach and back. The concentration is highest during the morning and late afternoon, but a few go for walks at any time of the day.

When the cruise ships come in you see a few “boat people” turn up at the beach. Being that Orient Beach is about as far from the boat dock as you can get, people don’t tend to end up there by accident or without knowing what to expect. A big portion of them tend to wind up at a few chair concession locations and those end up being mostly textile. A few wander down to Club Orient or off to other locations if they want to go nude or topless. For some reason the cruise ship people don’t seem to like going nude and topless around their fellow passengers. A few go on fully clothed gawking excursions to Club Orient, but the inhabitants just ignore them until they get their eye full and go away.

** Food **

Food at the beach was a bit of a let down. Most of the beach restaurants serve fairly common food. If you want something memorable you are better off going into Marigot (capital of French St. Martin). For breakfast and often lunch we found it easier to pickup something at the little market in Orient Village and eat back in the room.

Staying in a hotel directly behind La Playa, we tended to eat at the beach restaurant there more than other locations. The service was very acceptable and the view from the upstairs dining area was very nice. The only problem with upstairs was the wind, which could make eating difficult even with the plastic screens drawn. The restaurant at La Playa had a tendency to run out of specials, but what was available tasted great and had nice size portions. After a full meal all you wanted to do is head back to the beach to bake for a few more hours.

** Conclusion **

If you are looking for a place where you can go clothed, topless, or fully nude then Orient Beach is the place to be. All three types of groups seem to get along just fine there. The beach has plenty of services and caters to all types.

Review by BeachComber on 3/30/2005
Originally posted in the "alt.nudism.moderated" USENET group on 30-Mar-2005 by "David". Reprinted here with permission of the author.

The nude part of the beach is open to the public all the time. You do not have to be a guest at Club O to use their beach and their facilities. We often stay at a timeshare and drive to the Club O. parking lot and use the beach there every day. It is our favorite place to stay when we are on the island, but our timeshares that we purchased on the island give us much more affordable accommodations... and we then just have to drive a bit to get to the beaches we like. The island is pretty small and it is a short distance to all the beaches no matter where you stay. A car is a necessity to take in all that the island offers. Even if you stay at Club O, you will want to take in some French food in Grand Case.

Hotels -

Not all hotels on Orient Bay are comfortable with c/o. Some that are more accepting are le Hoste, Esmeralda, Green Cay Villas and of course Club Orient. Mt. Vernon on the northern end of Orient Beach had a long-standing policy against nudity on their grounds but recently the sign that prohibited nudity was taken down and people have reported care-free nudity near their volleyball net. nudity on the grounds of Mt. Vernon is still prohibited. The pools at Esmeralda see some discrete nude use, the pool at Le Hoste has frequent topless and less frequent nude use. The pools at Green Cay Villas are very private and shared by 2-3 villas and depending on your neighbor depends on the nudity level of the pool. We have seen a very few people walk nude from their hotel room at Alamanda and Le Residence de Plage as well, but most of the time it is topless for the women and shorts or pareo for the men till they reach the beach, then folks whip the stuff off for the walk to Club O or to the nude area between Coco Beach and BooBooJams.

Restaurants & Beach Bars.

Coco Beach Bar has a section that has a section designated for c/o use... We frequently eat nude at Bay Watch, have hosted nude parties there etc. Some people enjoy nudity at Pedros... but after that the nude use of the restaurants can be a moving target. We have seen nude diners at BooBooJams, a rare nude diner at Kontiki, Other beach bars and restaurants change their attitude depending on the day, who is there and who is complaining. Topless is common at all the beach bars, but there are days when the Disney cruises are in town where even topless folks will feel on display. Of course nudity at the Perch and Papagayos is the norm.

As near as I can figure out, nudity on Orient Beach is governed by the French law that allows municipalities to designate a beach either textile exclusive, nude exclusive or no designation at all which then institutes a defacto designation of clothing optional. Tradition governs the use of the beach and tradition can be interpreted differently by various people. Long-time visitors to Orient remember when nudity was common the entire length of the beach because the only two facilities there were Club O and Pedros. Now that other facilities are built, some people are trying to limit nudity to the southern end by Club O. Of course long-time nudists are resisting that effort. The climate of the beach has changed tremendously over the last 10 years. It is very developed (perhaps over-developed now with Orient Village) and businesses are catering to cruise ship day trippers much more than in the past and that alone has caused a change in attitude toward nudity on the beach.

Gendarmes don't seem to take any action unless somebody from one of the hotels or restaurants call in a complaint... then they come and follow-up on the complaint and leave....That means that you can be asked to cover-up one day and be not hassled for being nude in the exact same spot for the next month. When I talked with a Gendarme official about this he explained that when people call in a complaint the Gendarmes have to determine if there is something lewd and illegal going on, thus they go to that area of the beach and take a look around. If they see simple nudity they will ask that person to leave the area or cover-up, thus giving the appearance to the people who made the complaint that action was being taken. It appeared that while simple nudity is not a reason for enforcement, some people who call in and complain think it is... I got the distinct impression that the Gendarmes wish that the complaints would go away... but they will respond.

Every six months or so, new Gendarmes are rotated into SXM and sometimes a new officer will take a hard-line stance against nudity, only to have people from Coco Beach or one of the more nude tolerant establishments call the Gendarmerie in Marigot and complain that the officer is ruining their business. Enforcement then stops until the office receives another complaint...

This kind of enforcement seems very haphazard to those of us from the USA who would like things to be more black and white... But that is the way it is. The French have a very live and let live attitude. They count on people being respectful and considerate of each other and hope that people will adopt an attitude of toleration... Thus many of their beaches have naturists, textiles and topless all co-mingled on the same stretch of sand and nobody gets bent out of shape... I think that is what they want to continue at Orient Beach.

What Orient Beach will never be is a place like Hedonism or a Spring Break type place for lewd public behavior. Open sex, running around with a woodie, doing body shots offend the local residents of the island and visitors alike very quickly and will result in a backlash about nudity on the beach in general. I also heard from a French official on Guadeloupe that they are sometimes caught by surprise at the lack of a mature attitude toward nudity by visitors from North America. They described some people's antics as being very juvenile and every thoughtless. That kind of behavior is jeopardizing tolerance for nudity all along the beach.

By the way there are several other more private beaches on SXM where one can go nude. We have had many beautiful nude days on Happy Baie, Baie Rouge, Cupecoy and others. Some of those places are where the local French residents of the island prefer to go rather than to the more developed Orient Beach. You might want to consider those spots when you plan your trip. One of our good naturist friends arrange their annual trip with a week on the French side and stay on Orient most days. Then they plan their second week on the Dutch side and spend their days at Cupecoy or Baie Rouge. It gives you a chance to do both sides at night, take in the casinos and restaurants as well as the day time activities on the beaches.

David

Review by BeachComber on 1/28/2005
I was fortunate enough to spend 10 days here in late November 2004. It is a 1-1/2 mile long sandy beach with everything from a large hotel at one end, to a wild undeveloped beach along the side, to a village of shops, restaurants, and small hotels in the middle, to a clothing optional resort at the other end. You can truly find everything for your beach going tastes at Orient Beach.

My only complaint with this beach was a bit too much wind much of the time. Since this beach faces off into the Atlantic it gets the full force of the trade winds. Still, for those wind sports such as wind surfing and kite surfing it has the perfect conditions.

This beach on the French side of St. Martin is about as far away from the main cruise ship port in Phillipsburg as you can get. This keeps the cruise traffic down so that you can relax and enjoy your stay. Another advantage of being on the French side of the island is that you are free to go topless anywhere on the beach. Actually, with the nude resort (Club Orient) at one end of the beach you are likely to see topless or nude along the entire length of the beach. Don't be afraid, they won't bite!

All in all, I could not recommend a more relaxing yet interesting place to take a beach vacation.

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Photos

There are 6 photos of Orient Beach.

Club Orient sign

Club Orient sign

Topless on Orient Beach

Topless on Orient Beach

Undeveloped section of Orient Beach

Undeveloped section of Orient Beach

Developed section of Orient Beach

Developed section of Orient Beach

Ocean from La Playa

Ocean from La Playa

North from La Playa

North from La Playa

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Nearby Beaches

There are 10 beaches within 3.4 miles / 5.5 kilometers of Orient Beach.

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Nearby Towns

There are 10 towns within 8.7 miles / 14.1 kilometers of Orient Beach.

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Nearby Hotels

There are 10 hotels within 1.2 miles / 2.0 kilometers of Orient Beach.

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