The French Antilles on a shared island — harbour market, Fort Saint-Louis, and Creole cuisine with a Paris accent
Marigot is the capital of the French collectivity of Saint-Martin, the northern half of the divided island shared with Dutch Sint Maarten. The town has a distinctly Gallic character — an open-air market selling spices, rum, and Creole produce along the waterfront, good bistros and boulangeries alongside island beach shacks, and Fort Saint-Louis watching over the harbour from its hilltop. The French side is noticeably quieter and more residential than the Dutch.
Saint-Martin's French half was settled in 1648 following the Treaty of Concordia — reputedly negotiated on the spot by a French soldier and a Dutch soldier walking in opposite directions around the island's perimeter. France administered the territory as part of Guadeloupe for centuries before it became a separate overseas collectivity in 2007, granting Saint-Martin direct representation in the French parliament. Hurricane Irma in 2017 destroyed much of Marigot's waterfront and market district, which has been rebuilt more robustly.