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La Samanna bar |
Many places profess to offer 'the perfect getaway' but few actually deliver the goods.
Only a few people on the beach, crystal clear water, perfect water temperature, perfect air temperature, smooth sand, and a general feeling of relaxation. Dreams of an island escape are easy to conjure but are often less perfect in real life. How wonderful, then, to be a guest at La Samanna, where dreams and reality are one in the same.
Orient-Express has grown from a small company with eight hotels and two trains to become a multifaceted enterprise with 49 hotels, boats, and trains in its portfolio. One of the company's most experienced general managers, Pascal Deyrolle has worked in every area of the company's inventory and fondly recalls his five years living in Brisbane as "the best years of my life" when he was GM of the now defunct Great Southern Rail. The cosmopolitan Monsieur Deyrolle is now General Manager of La Samanna, the most luxurious hotel on the island of St Martin/St Maarten, one island with two histories, French and Dutch.
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La Samanna dining terrace |
As would be expected of an Orient-Express property, La Samanna offers a stellar selection of rooms, suites, and villas for short-term and long-term stays (some European guests return every year to take the best accommodation for the entire winter season). Rooms have undergone a recent renovation, raising the standard even higher than before. La Samanna is located on Baie Longue, which is indeed the longest bay on the island, a generous sweep of sand whose perfect orientation receives the sun all day long. Guests can be pampered in beachside cabanas or simply take to the water and enjoy a splash. There are two pools on the property, the larger one in a lovely setting above the beach, the other right on the sand. The public areas of the main building are charmingly simple, and the outdoors is never more than a few steps away. With a casual feel of a grand, tropical home, guests are comfortable whether barefoot in shorts and t-shirt or dressed for dinner taking their poodles for an evening stroll. The exotic bar area is crowned by a marriage tent imported from India.
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La Samanna enjoys a commanding position on Baie Longue, one of the island's most beautiful beaches |
La Samanna, an Orient-Express hotel and member of The Leading Small Hotels Of The World, offers the island's most luxurious accommodation. Though St Martin attracts visitors looking for holidays in all budget ranges, those looking for sumptuous rooms and suites with the level of service expected in Orient-Express properties will be pleased with the product offered at La Samanna, where the newly renovated inventory is extremely spacious. And since this is France, the breakfast croissants, pains au chocolat, and other baked goods are just the way they are supposed to be to start the day right.
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La Samanna sunset |
St Maarten/St Martin is one of the most popular of Caribbean destinations; as such, it is well served by several leading US airlines, including jetBlue, whose very reasonable fares are available to St Maarten's Princess Juliana Airport (SXM) from New York-JFK, Boston, and San Juan.
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La Samanna spa treatment room |
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| La Samanna's hotel and villas |
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