The Caribbean makes a great destination for sun-worshippers, offering a taste of paradise few other places can offer

Once the preserve of the rich and famous, today over 20 million tourists visit the islands every year.

And most of course will arrive by plane into one of the many airports in the region.

But one airport above all others offers the visitor a spectacular entry that can take the breath away.

Princess Juliana International Airport on the island of St Maarten, facing the Caribbean waters.

It is famous for its “beach landing” as the airport’s runway is just a couple of kilometres away from Maho Beach, offering an amazing landing view of the beaches.

Planes skim the heads of sunbathers as they make their final approach.

One tourist captured on video the moment an American Airlines flight from Philadelphia touched down.

The passenger jet is seen passing ridiculously close to the beach at a scary altitude, almost clipping the heads of onlooking sunbathers.

The airport handles a variety of aircraft a year, ranging in size from Cesnas to Boeing 747s, making it the second busiest airport in the North Eastern Caribbean.

It caters to 1.8 million passengers annually, originating primarily from the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean.

Princess Juliana International Airport is one of the oldest and busiest airports in the region.

It started off as an airbase, which was then turned into a civilian airport opened by Princess Juliana of Orange of the Netherlands on March 4, 1944.

Then 20 years later the then Dutch Minister Barend Biesheuvel officially opened the new Princess Juliana International Airport on the site where it is presently located in Simpsonbay.

The runway today measures 7,546 ft x 148 ft (2,300 m x 45 m).