Sint Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands

Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort

Price per night from$380.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD380.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Eyes on the volcano

Setting

Lilliputian Lesser Antilles

Intrepid travellers to Golden Rock Resort on tiny St Eustatius in the Lesser Antilles are rewarded with widescreen volcano views, sultry starlit nights, and a local history worthy of its own blockbuster. Ocean-facing rooms open onto balconies with enticing gardens below. Leisurely strolls might take you somewhere different each time: a remote plot where giant cacti and succulents invite rainbows of butterflies; toe-dipping from the pool’s semi-submerged loungers (with a Statia Flower cocktail in hand, natch). Or diving into the island’s rich history – literally – at Oranje Bay, where Statia’s starring role in the American War of Independence is recalled in long-submerged sea walls and coral-festooned cannons that lie half-buried on the ocean floor. 

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Facilities

Photos Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort facilities

Need to know

Rooms

75, including 29 suites.

Check–Out

11am. Check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible at an hourly rate of $15, where availability permits.

Prices

Double rooms from £322.06 ($407), including tax at 7 per cent.

More details

Rates include an à la carte breakfast served in Breeze restaurant.

Also

The botany-potty owner’s dedication to improving the coastal habitat at Golden Rock Resort has seen over 100,000 trees and plants added since 2018, with many more still to come.

At the hotel

Swimming pools, restaurant and bar, dive centre, saltwater lagoon and beach club, fitness room, sports field with tennis court, free shuttle to nearby beach and other island destinations, free WiFi. In rooms: Nespresso machine with pods, kettle, fridge, free bottled water, smart TV, air conditioning, ceiling fan, balcony with two loungers, bathroom with shower, bathtub, robes and slippers.

Our favourite rooms

Every room at Golden Rock Resort is ocean-facing, with neutral European-style decor that’s designed to draw the eye outside to the colourful tropical gardens and Caribbean Sea beyond. There’s plenty of space for loungers on every balcony and a tub in each bathroom but if you really want to stretch out, opt for a suite or lodge, all with 60 square metres (or more) of space.

Poolside

Coconut palms line the main pool, with its cute arched bridge and partially submerged loungers for maximum toe-dipping action. Towels are provided and there is bar service poolside. Open sunrise to sunset.

Spa

The hotel’s spa, the Rock, is surrounded by lush vegetation, where birdsong will have you drifting off in no time. And, nature isn’t just relied upon for the setting – traditional treatments are elevated by local ingredients, like massages with neem leaf and body scrubs with seaweed and coffee.

Packing tips

Tiny Statia is a great place to play at being a castaway, and for leafing your way through those shipwreck classics you’d otherwise never get around to. Heck, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels aren’t going to read themselves, and where better than in the solitude of Sint Eustatius’ volcanic-sand beach with only the gently lapping waves to break the silence.

Also

The resort’s man-made saltwater lagoon is about the size of a football pitch and nearly 10 metres deep in some parts. If you crave the beach, the free shuttle transports you to black volcanic sands in just five minutes.

Pet‐friendly

Pets will be in clover with their own bed, bowls, treats and toy. There’s a daily charge of $35 (only one pet permitted in each room) and a $75 cleaning fee at the end of your stay. You’ll need to bring all relevant pet vaccination documentation with you. See more pet-friendly hotels in Sint Eustatius.

Children

There’s a small play area in the grounds and children are welcome in the main pool.

Sustainability efforts

A keen botanist, the owner of Golden Rock Resort has introduced more than 100,000 trees and plants to the resort’s 40 acres since 2018, attracting all manner of native critters – look out for flashes of emerald-green on your morning walk to breakfast as tiny hummingbirds flit from plant to plant sipping nectar from the colourful blooms. But the focus on sustainability doesn’t stop there: a fieldful of solar panels generates much of the resort’s power, lighting is controlled by timers and LED sensors, there’s a reverse osmosis water filtration system and the restaurant’s catch of the day is provided by local fishermen. A greenhouse is also planned to provide the kitchen with fresh fruit and vegetables daily.

Food and Drink

Photos Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort food and drink

Top Table

Sit out on the terrace to experience the sunset in all its orange, pink and purple glory, but remember to arrive early – Statia sundown is no later than 7pm even in peak season. A cardigan or jumper will stave off the freshening ocean breeze later.

Dress Code

Just because the rest of the resort is ultra laid back, doesn’t mean your dinner attire has to be. Jazz it up with pressed pastel linens and bold tropical-print maxi dresses.

Hotel restaurant

Breeze, named for the balmy trade winds that keep it comfortably cool in spite of Statia’s prevailing humidity, is open daily for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. The focus on fresh local ingredients means plenty of fish and seafood on the menu – red snapper, jumbo scallops and mahi mahi – delivered by local fishermen that very morning. Grab a table on comfy semi-circular banquettes by the window or head out to the terrace for fine sunset views.

Hotel bar

Slap-bang in the middle of the restaurant, beneath outsized wicker lampshades, Breeze Bar is open for drinks and snacks. Bobbies Beach Club is set by the lagoon and serves up pizza, sushi and sizzling grills from its three open kitchens. Seafood is served from a boat moored in the lagoon, and we’re told the bar features a staggering collection of rums from Latin America and the Caribbean, meaning you can also expect boozy tiki-style cocktails like Quill’s Lava and the Deep Sea Diver.

Last orders

Breeze is open daily for breakfast from 6am–10am; lunch is served from 12pm–3pm, except on Sundays; dinner is Monday to Wednesday only, from 6pm–9.30pm.

Room service

You can order anything from the restaurant menu to your room during opening hours.

Location

Photos Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort location
Address
Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort
Behind the mountain #21
St. Eustatius
+599 318 3348
Caribbean Netherlands

Set on the tiny island of St Eustatius in the Dutch Caribbean, Golden Rock Resort is set in 40 acres of lush tropical gardens overlooked by the (extinct) Quill volcano.

Planes

The nearest airport is F.D. Roosevelt, a mere five-minute drive from the resort. Most visitors connect via Queen Juliana Airport on the nearby island of St Maarten, arriving on St Eustatius by tiny twin-propeller plane in just 15 minutes. From there a free shuttle whisks you to Golden Rock Resort. Should you fly into Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport on St Kitts, the hotel offers a 60-minute speedboat transfer service to the resort for $175 per person (for a roundtrip), which also includes airport pickup, transfer to the port and refreshments.

Automobiles

On an island this small, a car is very much a luxury rather than a necessity. That said, there are plenty of rental agencies should you wish to explore the extremities of this tiny island paradise independently. Taxis are also plentiful and cheap.

Other

Ferry services operate between St Eustatius and the neighbouring islands of Saba and St Maarten every weekday.

Worth getting out of bed for

Some might argue there’s no need to leave the grounds of Golden Rock Resort at any point during your stay. And they’d be right: tennis, yoga, massage, cocktails, poolside lounging, tropical gardens, swoonsome volcano views – it’s all right here. They even have their own dive centre, where experienced and novice divers alike can marvel at underwater lava flows and archeological sites. You can also visit a couple of historical monuments, to wit: an original water cistern built by Dutch colonists in the 1600s and a memorial marking the site of a slave burial ground.

However, should you wish to further immerse yourself in Statia’s troubled history, head to its tiny harbourside capital, Oranjestad. Here, narrow cobbled streets garlanded with fragrant frangipani and blazing bougainvillaea point the way to Fort Orantje, a 17th-century clifftop bastion complete with turrets, cannons and an incredible back story that includes a starring role in the American War of Independence. Pause in the jasmine-scented courtyard then climb the tower of the nearby Dutch Reformed church for far-reaching views to St Kitts and St Maarten. The decaying vine-covered walls of Upper Town’s ruined (and roofless) 1739 Honen Dalim synagogue and adjacent iron-gated cemetery are also worth a look, a reminder of the Jewish community that once flourished here.

Underwater thrills abound here, too. You need only don a snorkel to spot 17th-century sea walls reclaimed by the ocean just beneath the surface in Oranje Bay, where moray eels play hide and seek in rusting cannons and butterfly fish dart playfully among colourful corals. There are over 30 more major dive sites around Statia, including a pair of coral-coated Dutch tallships at the aptly named Double Wreck and the self-explanatory Barracuda Reef just off the southwest coast.

Back on dry land, a hike up (and into) The Quill should be considered absolutely essential on any trip to St Eustatius. You’ve spent long enough gazing at the Quill from the resort, so why not hike up (and into) it? Leave the rust-red roofs of Oranjestad far below as you ascend the mountain’s steep slopes, before scaling the crater rim into dense rainforest, crammed with mango trees, orchids galore and several species of butterfly. Look out for the striped Zebra Longwing, native to volcano, and the majestic kili kili kestrel, Statia’s national bird.

As well as diving and hiking, the resort can organise big-game fishing excursions, starlit evening cruises and more; all sure to make for much more convincing postcard fodder than a dubious ‘wish you were here’.

Local restaurants

Dining in sleepy St Eustatius is, like the island itself, a pretty laid back affair. But there are a few good options in Oranjestad if you fancy eating out. Ocean View Terrace is – as the name suggests – notable principally for its prime spot in Upper Town with arguably the best seats in town for taking in those glorious Caribbean sunset views. The food ain't too shabby either, all hearty goat stews and creole shrimp curries, with a side order of American-style steaks and burgers.

Down below in Gallows Bay (don’t ask), The Old Gin House’s seafront restaurant serves up a variety of grilled meat dishes as well as lobster, snapper and mahi mahi so fresh you’d swear it had jumped straight from the ocean onto your plate. NB: the restaurant is named in honour of its previous incarnation as a cotton gin mill, as opposed to anything to do with the hard stuff, just in case you were limbering up to loudly demand the gin list.

Local bars

On an island not exactly renowned for its nightlife, Cool Corner, located directly opposite the St Eustatius Historical Foundation Museum, is a bastion of old-school pub charm and one of Statia’s liveliest spots. This wood-panelled stalwart is the oldest bar on the island and remains a firm favourite with locals for post-work and weekend gatherings.

Reviews

Photos Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this coastal paradise on the pocket-sized island of St Eustatius (aka Statia), unpacked their duty-free rum and wistfully mixed a piña colada, a full account of their Caribbean caper will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Golden Rock Resort on St Eustatius…

It’s the views that hit you first, from the steep descent to the jungle-fringed airport runway to the equally verdant Quill volcano rising to greet you as you pull into the drive at Golden Rock Resort. That volcano will rarely leave your sight – it’s there when you step out of your room, little fluffy clouds dreamily bobbing across its crater rim; you can see it from your lounger by the pool and even when breakfasting on the terrace at the Breeze restaurant.

Rooms and suites offer an alternative but no less majestic vista, with all balconies and terraces facing oceanward. Step out at dawn to watch the sun rise over the horizon and hear the resort’s lush tropical gardens, teeming with birds, butterflies and bees, burst into life.

A football-pitch-sized lagoon hewn into the cliff face draws water direct from the sea below and is expected to attract its own native flora and fauna as it matures. If the (roughly) 500-metre stroll through the gardens to this man-made paradise feels like so much hard work, fear not; a fun electric train is planned to ferry you there and back.

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Price per night from $380.00