A St Maarten Love Lock Bridge : The Causeway Bridge
A One Time (!) St. Maarten Excursion
St. Maarten is a very popular destination to get married. If your honeymoon led to St. Maarten, or you are just very much in love and marriage might be looming in the future, there is a unique activity amongst the many things to do on St. Maarten for you. You can symbolically lock your passion with a physical love lock on the Simpson Bay causeway bridge, showing your love will be forever. As this story will argue, on St. Maarten that means more forever than placing your bets on some of the other love lock bridges in the world.
A Bridge In Good International Company
Though the Causeway Bridge over the Simpson Bay Lagoon was only installed in 2013, its love lock feature builds on a long historic tradition. Historically, scholars are not even sure if the concept of decorating bridges with love locks originated in China, Russia or Europe. Over the past century, the love bridge or Most Ljubavi in Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia was credited with the first known official love lock bridge. The Italian book and movie Ho Voglia Di Te created a worldwide love lock bridge hype in the early 2000s. Famous love lock bridges in the world are the Ponte Milvio (Milvian Bridge) in Rome, the Pont des Arts (Bridge of Arts) in Paris and the Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge) in Amsterdam.
On St. Maarten, Your Love Is Forever (Not So Sure About the Other Bridges)
Locking your love on St. Maarten might be more effective than doing so in aforementioned cities. Some old European lovelock bridges were damaged under the weight of the locks attached to them. In other towns, protests arose because of the locks covering the view of monumental bridges. This led various municipalities to prohibit attaching locks or cut away lovelocks frequently, not contributing to the symbolism of eternal love. Thankfully, this is not prone to happen soon to the only a decade old, massive St. Maarten causeway bridge. Apart from a size not likely to be wholly covered with locks in the foreseeable future and a relatively young age, the fact that your lock is placed in befitting heart shaped frames will prevent damage to the construction in general.
A “Love Lock of Two Nations”
Metaphorically speaking, the Causeway Bridge could be also considered a love lock on its own merit. Though the bridge is located on “Dutch side” St. Maarten territory in its entirety, from its north end it is only a 100 meters from the border with the French side of the island. This makes the causeway bridge a great connection between the French side capital Marigot and Princess Juliana International Airport. Previously, traffic between these two hubs had to go all around the large lagoon via either the Lowlands or Cole Bay areas.
Bring Your Own Lock
Contrary to many romantic destinations featuring love locks, you need to be serious about your intentions on St. Maarten as there is no reseller of locks next to the bridge. In addition, the love lock section is in the middle of this 700 meter behemoth. So it is recommended to pop by local hardware stores like Kooyman in advance before you surprise your loved one by gesturing your love is made for eternity. To add to your unique St. Maarten excursion, see for the opening times of the bridge when catamarans and mega yachts make their way from from Simpson Bay to Cupecoy or Marigot and vice versa.
Map
If you are convinced you found that perfect partner and you are looking to place a love lock on the Simpson Bay causeway bridge, please see below map where the bridge is located.
Back to Visit St Maarten main page