Princess Inn: A Home Base in the Heart of Oranjestad
Self-catering apartments a three-minute walk from Statia's historic core.
Why Go
Statia doesn't do resorts, and that's the point. Princess Inn hands you the keys to a whole apartment on quiet Beatrixweg, then leaves you to live like a local in the sleepiest, most underrated island in the Dutch Caribbean.
The Experience
The property is a modest two-story house tucked into Upper Town Oranjestad, split into two self-contained apartments. Upstairs sits a two-bedroom flat with a fully equipped kitchen, an air-conditioned living room, a breakfast nook and a terrace that catches the trade winds and looks out over the pastel roofs of town. Downstairs is a four-bedroom apartment where every room has AC, plus a big living area, a proper dining kitchen, a wide terrace and a back garden patio for late-night rum sipping. Because it's an apartment rather than a hotel, you set your own rhythm: coffee on the terrace before a Quill hike, groceries from the Cool Corner supermarket a few blocks away, dinner cooked in your own kitchen while frigatebirds wheel over the Caribbean.
What to Try
Walk five minutes downhill to the ruins of Fort Oranje, where cannons still point out over the bay Alexander Hamilton knew as a boy, then keep going to the honey-colored sand and turtle nests of Oranje Bay. Book a two-tank morning dive on the Aquarium or Charles Brown wreck with Scubaqua or Golden Rock Dive Center; both will collect you from the door. Reserve a half day to hike the Quill, the dormant volcano whose crater rim you can reach in about ninety minutes from town. Pick up a $10 nature tag from STENAPA first, and finish with pumpkin soup and goat stew at Ocean View Terrace.
Insider Tip
Statia has no bank ATMs that reliably take foreign cards and almost every restaurant is cash-only in USD, so pull euros or dollars before you fly in from Sint Maarten. The apartment kitchens are a genuine money-saver here: the Duggins and Cool Corner supermarkets a short walk away stock Dutch cheeses, fresh bread and imported produce that arrive on the Wednesday cargo ship, so shop mid-week for the best pick.
The Practical Stuff
Address: 8 H.M. Kon. Beatrixweg, Oranjestad, Sint Eustatius (Caribbean Netherlands). Getting there: 15-minute Winair hop from Sint Maarten (SXM) to F.D. Roosevelt Airport (EUX), then a five-minute taxi into Upper Town; the inn is a three-minute walk from the historic center. Both apartments are self-catering with fully fitted kitchens, AC in most rooms, private terraces and Wi-Fi. Rent a car through Antillean Horde or Brown's for reaching dive sites, Zeelandia Beach and the Quill trailhead — the island is only 8 square miles, so a compact is plenty.
Pair It With
- Aquarium Dive Site — One of Statia's signature reef dives, a five-minute boat ride from Oranje Bay and easy to slot into a morning before returning to the apartment for lunch.
- Baby Beach (Zeelandia side) — A wild, wind-swept stretch of black-and-tan sand for sunset walks — bring drinks from the apartment since there are no vendors.
- Fort Oranje & the Historical Foundation Museum — Downhill stroll from Princess Inn that anchors Statia's outsized 18th-century story as the 'Golden Rock' of Caribbean trade.
- The Quill National Park — The island's iconic volcano hike; the inn's kitchen makes it easy to pack a trailhead breakfast and rehydrate afterward.
