Review: The Paradise Peak Clothing-Optional resort in Saint Martin

Saint Martin was one of the first of the Caribbean islands to appear on the naturist map when back in 1981, Club Orient Resort opened its doors. Throughout the next decades, the resort would become hugely popular and attract naked tourists from around the world. Until 2017, when Hurricane Irma pretty much blew the place away.

Club Orient may be gone, but the naturist culture that the resort has been able to build still remains. Orient Beach is still one of the very few official nude beaches in the Caribbean, and Saint Martin has several more unofficial ones. In recent years, more and more new naturist resorts have started opening their doors, catering to those who have lost their naked haven on Saint Martin as well as to new visitors to the island, like ourselves. We went to what’s probably the most picturesque resort on Saint Martin: The Paradise Peak.

Unless you’re island hopping and are arriving by ferry from Saint Barts or Anguilla, your first image of Saint Martin will be at the Princess Juliana International Airport. The only international airport on the island has direct connections to several destinations in the Caribbean and the USA, as well as to Toronto and Montreal in Canada and to Amsterdam and Paris in Europe.

The airport is located in Sint Maarten (Dutch Saint Martin). The Paradise Peak, as well as every nude beach, are on Saint Martin (French Saint Martin). But no worries, although these are individual countries, there’s no border control between the two and the distances are negligible.

The best way to get from the airport to the resort and around the island is by rental car. Coming from the airport, you cross the bridge and take a left on Rue de Hollande. Keep following this road through Marigot until Rambaud, where you take a right on Rue du Pic Paradis. Keep climbing up the hill until you reach the end of the road, this is where The Paradise Peak is. Due to the uphill road, in bad weather conditions, it’s recommended to have a 4×4. We rented the cheapest car we could find (Volkswagen Polo) and had no issues going up and down the hill. The drive from the airport is about 20 minutes.

If you’re not planning to visit much of the island, or you just don’t want to drive, there are plenty of taxis at the airport. Or you can ask the owners to organise a pickup. There is public transport in Saint Martin, mostly in the form of minibuses connecting the larger cities. It’s not very reliable and they won’t take you to the resort or any of the nude beaches.

The Paradise Peak is an 8-room boutique hotel, offering 3 types of rooms. The garden rooms in the back of the resort have a very natural atmosphere among the fruit trees. The terrace rooms are in the main building and their biggest perk is the private terrace that faces amazing views of the island down below.

We stayed in one of the pool rooms which, as the name suggests, are located right next to the pool. Other than being just steps away from a skinny dip in the morning, these are also the largest rooms. The bedroom is huge, with a very comfortable bed, TV, air conditioning, and a fridge. Even more impressive than the room was the bathroom which reminded us of a spa in Europe. It’s not just very stylish but also spacious enough to have a small party.

The Paradise Peak offers an oasis of peace and tranquillity in a luxurious setting. We visited Saint Martin in October, which is still the low season, and yet the island was already quite busy. We can only imagine what it must be during the high season. But once you start climbing the uphill road towards The Paradise Peak, all noise disappears. When you reach the resort, you won’t hear more than nature.

The main highlights of the resort are the infinity pool and the jacuzzi. One level below is a lush garden and massage area. These are the clothing-optional parts of the resorts. When you climb the chairs towards the main building and the bar, some cover-up is required, but a towel or sarong does the trick. This is where the complimentary breakfast is served in the morning, as well as the sunset apero around 5:30 pm.

Honestly, we don’t understand why not more resorts do a communal drink, and not just for the free booze or the magnificent sunset. This is also a time when everyone gets together, making it a great moment to meet the other guests. We came across some lovely people and the one-hour apero often resulted in late-night drinks and laughs.

Important to mention is that The Paradise Peak doesn’t offer lunch or dinner, but they can help you with an app that is like the local Uber Eats. Food from several restaurants around the island can easily be delivered to your doorstep.

When we started planning this trip to Saint Martin, we quickly realised that visiting the nude beaches would be top priority. Looking at the map, The Paradise Peak didn’t seem like the perfect base for this as the resort is pretty much located right in the center of the island. Obviously, we didn’t realise how small Saint Martin is. From The Paradise Peak, you can literally get to the most remote corners of the island within less than 45 minutes.

Orient Beach is about 20 minutes away, Happy Bay at 15 minutes, and both Cupecoy and Baie Longe at about half an hour. Meanwhile, we also named the 4 nude beaches on the island. We mostly liked Orient Beach because of its history and amenities (there’s a beach bar !) and Happy Bay because of the scenery and the relaxed atmosphere. We heard that the island is generally relaxed when it comes to beach nudity, so even on the non-nude beaches, you can get naked if you walk away from the crowds.

Beaches, nude or not, are the most important attractions on the island, but there’s a lot more. Saint Martin is also famous for its hiking trails, among which the hike to the top of the Paradise Peak mountain. There are picturesque towns to visit with historical colonial architecture and plenty of local restaurants selling fresh seafood. For the more adventurous, there’s zip lining, banana boating, paragliding, quad biking, or our personal favourite, standing just meters below a descending aeroplane at the beach next to the airport. As Saint Martin is tax free, don’t forget to do some shopping!

We mentioned “peace and tranquillity in a luxurious setting” before. If that’s what you’re looking for, you are the perfect guest for The Paradise Peak. Most of the other guests we met used the resort as a base for exploring the island. Often doing the “one day inside, one day outside” thing. But if you just want to destress or recharge, we imagine that this is an ideal place as well. As the resort is clothing-optional, it’s also a great place for newbie naturists, couples where just one is a naturist, and people who don’t wish to be naked all the time.

Tess and Hugh, the owners of The Paradise Peak earned their stripes in hospitality before they took the plunge to open their own resort. They must have paid attention in class because they treat their guests in a very comfortable way. They are often there to answer your questions and share their knowledge of the island, yet they give their guests all the space they may need. Not important at all, but we still like to mention it: They are quite a lot younger than ourselves.

The best ways to book at The Paradise Peak are:

English and French are fluently spoken

Should we mention “peace and tranquillity in a luxurious setting” once again? Nah. To us, The Paradise Peak was a great base to explore Saint Martin. A place that felt like coming home when our skin started to turn red and our butts were full of Caribbean sand. A place where we loved waking up in the morning and having our sunset drinks in the afternoon.