La Samanna, A Belmond Hotel, St Martin

What the classifiers highlight

On the southeastern edge of Baie Longue, arguably St Martin's finest beach, 83 rooms, suites, cottages and villas take a whitewashed, Mediterranean-adobe look with terraces facing the water. L'Oursin serves French-Caribbean dinners on an open-air terrace. Children get a camp and a nanny, plus a wristband that sounds an alarm near the pool, and some staff have stayed forty years.