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Great Bay Beach placed No. 9 in USA TODAY 10Best's 2025 Caribbean beach readers' poll
Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg was No. 9 in the USA TODAY 10Best 2025 Readers' Choice poll for Best Caribbean Beach, the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau announced in January 2025.
By SXM Daily ยท
Reported 9 January 2025.
Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg was No. 9 in the USA TODAY 10Best readers' poll for Best Caribbean Beach in 2025. The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB) announced the result in a government release on 9 January 2025, saying it was elated that voters had picked the beach as one of the 10 best in the Caribbean.
Great Bay Beach, Philipsburg. Photo: Dr. Thomas Liptak / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
USA TODAY 10Best's own award page listed the beach at No. 9 in the 2025 category. The same page showed it had been a runner-up in the category in earlier years, including 2024 and 2019. The release's headline called Great Bay Beach a "winner", but the beach was one of ten places in a ranked readers' list, not the overall winner.
How the poll works
According to the STB release, nominees for the 10Best Readers' Choice Awards are put forward by a panel of experts, and 10Best editors narrow the field to a final list. Readers can then vote once per category per day.
10Best described Great Bay Beach as a beach paired with a boardwalk, with water sports, shopping and dining, and beach bars along the shore. The STB noted that thousands of cruise passengers and residents use the beach every day.
Related
For more on the beach itself, see Great Bay Beach, Philipsburg.
Sources
- USA TODAY 10Best: Great Bay Beach, 2025 Readers' Choice Awards
- Government of Sint Maarten: STB announces Great Bay Beach in USA TODAY 10Best Caribbean Beach 2025 Readers' Choice Award
Source: https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/great-bay-beach-philipsburg-st-martin/