St Barthélemy / Driving/Parking

Driving is something of an issue in St Barths at the moment. The roads are narrow, winding and often steep and there are far too many cars for them. At busy times of day in season – when people are in a rush to get to restaurants at lunchtime, for instance, the roads become clogged. Gustavia and St Jean quickly become jammed. Bear this in mind when you are leaving for the airport. You will also find that drivers, particularly motorbike riders, drive quite quickly for the narrow and winding roads, and with a certain Gallic nonchalance. Be careful. This being France, driving takes place on the right of course. Generally anyway.

The cars for rent are mostly jeeps and small cars. As elsewhere in the Caribbean, the mini-mokes that were once the standard mode of transport have now almost entirely died out. Some quad bikes are for hire if that is your thing and recently a wave of Smart cars came on to the island (accompanied by a rumour that it was possible to change the side-panels to go with your outfit).

You will see a lot of people zipping around on scooters and motorbikes in St Barths and may be tempted to join in. When asked, the general advice given by hoteliers is don’t. Many of the roads are made of concrete, which becomes slippery when it rains. If you do decide to ride a motorbike then you are required to wear a helmet (and the police have occasional campaigns to make sure that you do).

There are just two petrol stations in St Barths, one opposite the airport (open daily except Sunday, but with a 24-hour dispenser) and the other in Lorient, which is open daily except Sunday and Thursday afternoon.

Parking

With so many cars all headed for the same beaches and restaurants, parking in St Barths can be a nightmare. In Gustavia the streets are narrow and there is barely a space left after 10am. If you don’t spot a place as you first drive through the best advice is to go to the fringes of the town (perhaps on the high road out of town), park and walk back in. St Jean, where there are both shops and a popular beach, also gets extremely crowded. On one occasion a driver, clearly in a desperate hurry to get into Nikki Beach, the hip beach bar in St Jean, simply abandoned his hire car in the middle of the road, keys and all, to hell with the traffic. There are parking regulations of course and occasionally they are enforced in Gustavia but not usually elsewhere.