With direct flights from Paris, the island of St Martin has an intriguingly distinctive flavour that derives from its unique pedigree - half of it is French (St Martin) and the other half Dutch (St Maarten)! This unusual cocktail gives a lively and unexpectedly cosmopolitan flavour to many aspects of the island mood, but the idyllic background setting retains an unmistakeably Caribbean flavour - with sweeping hillsides covered by lush green vegetation, and sun-bleached beaches fanned by cooling trade winds. And in its attractive little capital, Marigot, St Martin offers visitors a wealth of restaurants, duty-free shops and sophisticated nightlife that all provide temptations of another kind!