When I go to an island, I do not want glitz. I want sand, a drink, and a good book. That is all. So I was sure I wouldn’t be sucked in by St. Barts, the most expensive island in the Caribbean, where homes sell for $22 million and the beach shops are Louis Vuitton and Hermes boutiques. It’s where Beyonce vacations, for crying out loud. But now that I’m back from St. Barts, I can say without hesitation: It’s my favorite Caribbean island. Glitz and all.
st-barths.com
The thing about St. Barts, the thing that’s missing from many other Caribbean isles I’ve visited, is that it makes me feel like a local. My husband and I were totally comfortable exploring its entire eight square miles. We weren’t expected to hunker down at a resort; there were no seedy neighborhoods to avoid. But that still doesn’t mean every area caters to tourists. Despite its reputation, St. Barts isn’t Las Vegas; it’s a historic island where many residents still live in modest whitewashed cottages and collect rainwater in cisterns.
To get around, we did what most visitors do and rented a car. We spent our days driving from beach to beach—there are twenty-two of them, and not one is private. We ate lunch in little restaurants filled with locals who smoked and drank Champagne and spoke in Creole. On one particularly lovely evening, as we strolled along Gustavia harbor, we came upon an outdoor screen playing a French documentary with English subtitles. We stopped to watch. The crowd was a mix of locals and tourists, and I smiled at how normal that seemed. But it isn’t normal, not in the Caribbean.
So why is St. Barts this way? For one thing, there isn’t a port for large cruise ships, so there aren’t the attending restaurants and shops that cater to in-and-out tourists—and repel locals. For another, half the accommodations on the island are villas (we stayed in one ourselves), and no one just sits in a house on vacation. They do what we did—drive around and explore. And even if you stay in a hotel, the ones on the island aren’t your typical behemoths with ten restaurants, round-the-clock activities, and on-site casinos. By law, hotels here can only be two stories, and their amenities are equally scaled down. You’re left with one way to enjoy St. Barts, and that’s to check the place out.
The islanders are happy to oblige. Some still remember the dark days of the mid-sixties, when St. Barts was isolated from the developing world and had little but salt to export. For centuries, it had been requisitioned by ambitious colonizers, then summarily forfeited: first by its “discoverer,” Christopher Columbus, then by the Maltese, and finally by the Swedes, who signed it over to France in the late nineteenth century.
But in 1957, David Rockefeller—smitten with the island’s beauty—bought property on St. Barts for a vacation residence. The Rothschilds did the same that very year. The American elite was put on notice: St. Barts was an “it” spot.
And so it remains, a playground for the overly moneyed and, quite often, the underly dressed. But it still welcomed me in, gave me the run of the place, and practically kissed me on both cheeks like French family would. And, of course, it never denied me the requisites: I still got my sand, my drink, and my book—though I was too busy having fun to push past chapter two.
THE DETAILS
When to Visit
December through April is high season, when rainfall is minimal and the temperature hovers around eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Prices drop in May and June, as do the crowds. While there is a little more rain, it’s still a great time to go. Avoid St. Barts July through November, which is hurricane season and a time when many businesses close.
How to Get There
After you fly into St. Martin, there’s no low-key way to get to St. Barts. Option one is to catch a forty-minute high-speed ferry and brace yourself for the notoriously rough seas. Option two is to hop on a fifteen-minute commuter flight with no air conditioning. Use the fan in your front seat pocket to keep cool as your pilot lands on a hill-flanked airstrip widely considered one of the world’s most dangerous.
What Not to Miss
The food / St. Barts has become increasingly well known for its restaurant scene. Standouts include L’Esprit de Saline, a side-of-the-road restaurant near Saline Beach beloved by locals for its seafood; sleek Bonito, overlooking the Gustavia harbor and serving French-Latin cuisine; and Maya’s, a family-owned St. Barts institution with a lovely French-language menu.
Great diving / Swim along coral reefs, spotting everything from sea turtles to eagle rays. LaBulle Diving Center offers private and group dives, plus all equipment rentals.
The villa experience / There are nearly 500 villas on St. Barts, roughly equal to the number of hotel rooms. Villas typically afford more privacy, wider views, and the opportunity to pretend you live here. St. Barth Properties, Inc. offers rental villas of various sizes, along with amenities like airport or dock pickup, daily maid service, and round-the-clock concierge assistance. If you splurge on a property in the “Grand Cru” collection, you’ll wake up every morning to a continental breakfast awaiting you in your kitchen.
