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St Barths map
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Nature
The official symbol of St Barths is the pelican (or gosier in French), which you will see all around the island, wheeling on the air and then diving headlong into the sea in the hope of a meal, and then, with luck, ruminating on a rock or a fishing boat to digest its catch. On land you will see a small number of other birds flitting around the undergrowth, including a hummingbird (colibri) and the little yellow breasted bananaquit (sucrier). You will see small wading birds on the beaches and in the salt ponds.
Fauna on the island is limited to a small number of reptiles – iguanas and quite a few lizards that climb the walls in the search for mosquitos and other insects.
Dolphins swim in local waters and will sometimes play at the prow of your yacht as it carves through the water. Whales can occasionally be seen between December and April. |
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Nudity
Toplessness is permitted and takes place everywhere on the beaches in St Barths. Officially speaking complete nudity is illegal. Practically speaking though, you will find that people will take their clothes off at the western end of the two beaches on the south of the island, Anse de Grande Saline and Anse du Gouverneur. The farther west you go the fewer people will wear anything. |
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Passports & Visas
St Barths is a commune of Guadeloupe and therefore part of France, which means that any holder of a valid European community passport is permitted entry without a visa. As of 1 July 2005, U.S. and Canadian citizens must present proof of citizenship in the form of a valid passport. A return or onward ticket is required of all visitors. |
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Places to Go/Activities
The interest of St Barths lies mainly in its activities (beaches, watersports, restaurants, shopping) and, if you are so inclined, its people, who you can watch, but the island has a few quieter pleasures too. Here are a few things to interest you if you take the time to look around the island.
Gustavia
Capital of the island, Gustavia is a very pretty town. The houses clamber over the hillsides above three sides of a rectangular harbour, most of which has wooden boardwalks along its shores, and where anything from dinghies to some of the world’s swankiest yachts tie up. The streets still have pockets of pretty Caribbean authenticity in the stone and wooden buildings, but the air of the place is a small busy French town in the tropics, with some extremely smart shops standing shoulder to shoulder with cafés and municipal buildings.
Gustavia is also the only place where a visible connection remains to the Swedes that owned the island for about a century. St Barthélemy was used by the Swedes mainly as a trading port and once there were warehouses all around the wharfs. Just a few of the original Swedish buildings remain now (the Wall House is the best example) as many were destroyed by hurricane and fire in 1850 and were never rebuilt. Still, some streets retain their oddly exotic sounding names: Droninggatan, Kongsgatan and Ostra and Westra Strandgatan. Look out for the small but distinctive, pyramid-roofed clocktower known as the Swedish Belfry, which was once attached to the Lutheran Church.
Instead the overlay of French culture is far more noticeable nowadays, in the shops – Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Blanc Bleu – in the general way of life, scooters zipping past open-air cafes and in more familiar streetnames on blue enamel plaques: Rue Général de Gaulle and Rue Jeanne d’Arc. It takes less than half an hour to walk around the town.
Gustavia harbour is very attractive as a port, but it is also a sight in itself during the height of the winter season, when a huge number of mind-bogglingly large and glitzy private yachts cruise into town. They stand shoulder to shoulder on the wharf, barely swaying in the water, but teetering on the edge of unconscionable vulgarity. On board parties take place within metres of one another, just on a different multi-million dollar chunk of hardware. If you don’t happen to own one it is still quite impressive to see them berthed.
Gustavia Museum
If you have a moment to tear yourself away from the beach to discover a little bit of St Barths culture, then the main museum is on the western arm of the harbour in Gustavia, set in a restored Swedish warehouse next to the Town Hall. There are some mildly interesting displays of old-time life in St Barths including carved Amerindian stones, maquettes of ships and mock ups of old St Barths ‘cases’, traditional houses with thick rendered walls and tin or straw roofs, and of course the objects of everyday life that were used inside them, including demi-johns for water collection and chinaware. Opening hours, Mon-Thurs, 8.30am-12.30pm and 2.30-6pm except Monday mornings and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
The Inter Oceans Museum, Corossol, t 590 27 62 97
Set in the local St Barthian area of Corossol, this is more a collection than a museum, and not exactly sexily presented either, just rows and rows and rows of shells from around the world. It is however, wonderfully compulsive, the result of one man’s overweening passion, and an extraordinary display of nature’s truly extraordinary intricacy, beauty and variety. It is impossible to describe, but incalculably beautiful. Only 400 or the 3000 species of shell are from the Caribbean region, but there are several ‘world records’ in size, entry €3.
The island of St Barths does not have that many ‘sights’ to see beyond the daily life of the islanders and holidaymakers as they go about their business. The Tourist Information Office on the waterfront in Gustavia recommends three tours of the island which vary from 45 to 90 minutes. These can be arranged through them or through any taxi driver. The island is unexpectedly attractive and the steep roads mean that views open up at every turn.
As you head east, quite a few stone walls are still visible from the old days of intensive husbandry, but only a few of the original ‘cases’ can be seen nowadays among the island’s many private villas. Quichenottes, traditional cotton bonnets that were worn by the St Barthian, women have almost entirely disappeared now, but if you’re lucky you might just see one, in one of the two towns to the northwest of Gustavia, called Public and Corossol, which are the most ‘local’. |
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Places of Worship
The main Catholic Church, Notre Dame de l’Assomption, is on Rue de l’Eglise in the south of Gustavia and the Anglican Church, St Bartholomew’s, is on Rue Samuel Fahlberg the waterfront in Gustavia. There is also a church in Lorient. |
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Real Estate
With an estimated 500 foreign-owned homes on island, there is plenty of opportunity to buy on St Barths. And there are plenty of desirable houses too. The settings are spectacular to begin with. Although not that many villas are on the beach, the island’s terrain is so rough and steep that there is a different spectacular location, with another magnificent view, every hundred yards. As you would expect, with all the wealthy home-owners, there are some truly fantastic houses, many of them up to the minute in terms of design and specification.
St Barths was first ‘discovered’ in the 1950s, when its extremely well-heeled early visitors and land-owners included Rockefellers and Rothschilds. Villas began to appear in numbers in the 1970s and then really picked up in the early 1980s. Building, and rebuilding, has continued steadily to this day. The island has kept its cachet and sees a long string of celebrity homeowners.
The most fashionable area to live has always been around St Jean, because of its restaurants and activities, and because of its excellent beach of course. Other areas tend to have their own specific reasons for their popularity. Gustavia is liked for its proximity to the shops and the very pretty harbour, Colombier also for spectacular views of Gustavia and Lurin is popular for its isolation near the lovely Gouverneur beach. Pointe Milou, on the north coast beyond Lorient, has many homes because that is where land first became available.
With the island as built up as it is, undeveloped land is extremely hard to come by and only a few parcels come available each year. There is very little land left with potential for building permission - there are also certain green zones where building is not permitted, for instance above Gouverneur and Salines on the south coast. Also, the St Barthians themselves are quite canny and do not let their land go for sale easily. Practically speaking therefore, most purchases in St Barts are resales, which the new owners then radically redevelop or knock down and completely rebuild. All of this said, purchasing a house on the island can be a slightly capricious business. These are often third or fourth homes and many of the owners don’t actually need to sell, though they are happy to have their house on the market at the right (usually extremely expensive) price. Houses can go on and off the market seemingly inexplicably.
There are no restrictions on purchasing land in St Barths by nationality, but there are a number of legal and financial considerations that you should take into account when buying. The real estate agents will help you with these. While it is legal (unlike anywhere else in French territory) to quote a price in US Dollars, practically speaking most house prices are quoted in Euros, particularly at the moment, with the dollar weak.
Prices do not vary as much by their location in St Barths (though there might be a small premium for a property in St Jean) as by their setting, the view, the surface area, the privacy and by the quality of the home. Average prices for a two bedroom house with no view might be €1 million, in St Jean a nice three bedroom house might go for €5 million, or €8m for something brand new. The highest price ever paid for a villa in St Barths was just over €$20,000,000 for a five-bedroom villa on Flammands beach.
Our recommended St Barts real estate agents are -
| | Sibarth Real EstateThe biggest real estate agency in the small but very prestigious French island of St Barths in the north-eastern Caribbean. Sibarth Real Estate, which is affiliated to Christies Great Estates, is the longest established estate agent on the island and over the years has sold many of the island’s many spectacular houses. Based in Gustavia, Sibarth also has a villa management and short-term holiday rentals arm. |
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Recommended Books
St Barths feels as though it might have lots of writers tucked away working on masterpieces, but in fact there don’t seem to be many and the only recently published novel set on the island is Murder in St Barts by JR Ripley, which has had mixed reviews. One famous St Barths regular is musician Jimmy Buffet. His books include Tales from Margaritaville and most recently A Pirate looks at Fifty, which is about a trip around the Caribbean on his flying boat, in celebration of his 50th birthday.
Funny Face Carré d’Or Shopping Centre, t 590 29 60 14, info@funny-face-books.com
A lovely bookshop in Gustavia, with an excellent supply of books from across the Caribbean as well as plenty of good international beach reading. Located above the Black Swan and Chopard Boutiques. |
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Restaurants
You can eat out extremely well in St Barths, unexpectedly well for the Caribbean, and it is clearly one of the pleasures of the island. First, there are many good French chefs, next the island benefits from the same routes of supply as St Maarten/St Martin and Anguilla (with fresh ingredients flown in daily from France and the United States) and lastly there are good settings and of course plenty of willing and appreciative diners.
There are literally scores of restaurants on the island and you can find anything from cuisine ‘gastronomique’ through Créole and Provincial French fare, to pizzas and crêpes and then to exotic tidbits such as tapas and sushi. The food and of course the manner in which it is served is French at base, but it is generally adapted to the climate by having lighter sauces (without the use of cream) and using exotic local ingredients. Some chefs draw on the cuisine créole of nearby Martinique and Guadeloupe but others use local fruits and spices imaginatively. There has been a wave of Asian cuisine recently – as a tropical cuisine it may fit the climate better, but some say that it is favoured by a clientele conscious of their weight because it uses clarified butter instead of cream.
It is worth noting that (again unlike the rest of the Caribbean), many of the finest dining rooms on the island are actually in hotels. Of course, eating out in St Barths is not cheap, but do remember that, this being France, service is included. The money officially marked for service may never actually reach the waiters and waitresses however, so a tip on top for special attention is appreciated. Price categories are as follows, according to the cost of a main course (excluding lobster and steak) at dinner: Expensive - €25 and above, Moderate - €15-25, Inexpensive - €15 and below.
Le Gaïac, Le Toiny Hotel, t 590 29 77 47, letoiny@saint-barths.com, expensive
Elegant, modern Caribbean setting that draws on traditional Caribbean architecture and design, overlooking the half-moon pool and the moonlit Caribbean sea. Gourmet French cuisine with ingredients from the Caribbean and around the world, local tuna and lambi, but fish from Chile and Scotland.
On The Rocks, Eden Rock, St Jean, t 590 29 79 99
Newly built restaurant on different levels on the flanks of Eden Rock. Very fashionable spot and gourmet French cuisine.
La Case de l’Isle, Isle de France Hotel, t 590 27 61 81, isledefr@saint-barths.com, expensive
Pretty setting on a veranda right above Flammands Beach, gourmet cuisine at dinner, sophisticated and simpler fare at lunchtime when you’re in from the beach.
Maya’s, Public, t 590 27 75 73, expensive
French and Créole cuisine in a very pretty waterfront setting on a deck and under palms, just outside Gustavia. Ever popular, ever trendy.
L’Esprit Saline, on the road to the beach at Saline, t 590 52 46 10, lesprit3@wanadoo.fr, expensive
Very pretty tropical garden setting, tables under canvas and in alcoves of greenery, nightly changing menu of fusion cuisine, a mix of French, Asian, Caribbean and international flavours.
Eddy’s, Rue du Centenaire, Gustavia, t 590 27 54 17, moderate
Asian setting in a garden courtyard in town, under an open-sided wooden roof, menu deceptively simple, but fine French, Créole and international fare.
Pipiri Palace, Rue Général de Gaulle, t 590 27 53 20, moderate
Tables under the extended tin roof and in the palm-bordered courtyard of a lovely old creole ‘case’ in Gustavia (also an art gallery and shop). Créole and Provençal cuisine served with a breezy and charming air. Member of the Chaine des Rôtisseurs.
Andy’s Hideaway, Vaval Shopping Centre, St Jean, t 590 27 63 62, moderate
Open-sided terrace with gingerbread trim, looking onto, well, er a car park and the back of a shop. Their strapline is ‘Corked wine, warm beer, lousy food, view of a car park’, Ever-popular though, a lively crowd for pizzas and slightly more adventurous French and international platters.
Le Repaire (des Rebelles et des Emigrés), Rue de la République, Gustavia, t 590 27 72 48, inexpensive - moderate
Popular stopover on an open-sided deck on the road into town, daytime drinks and salads, French and Créole cuisine.
La Bête à Z’Ailes, Rue Samuel Fahlberg, Gustavia, t 590 29 74 09, inexpensive
Great waterfront setting in Gustavia, tapas at lunchtime, sushi, sashimi and maki to go with evening music.
The Wok, Route de la Saline, Lorient, t 590 27 52 52, inexpensive
On the road inland, a Vietnamese restaurant run by a French and Vietnamese family, very popular with the locals for an unpretentious meal out. |
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Rum
No rum is made in St Barths, but the islanders have a reputation (as they do generally in the French Caribbean) for flavouring rums. The rum itself is imported and then it is steeped with local fruits and spices, resulting in a rich, fruity and mellow taste. St Barths’ most famous producer is Ginette in Anse des Cayes, whose rums are incredibly strong. She has around 120 of them, flavoured with fruits and flowers. You are advised not to drive after a tasting. |
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Sailing
St Barths is quite a popular stopover for yachts. It is a natural place to sail to from nearby St Martin/St Maarten, which has a huge sailing industry. There are a number of small islands and cays scattered between the two islands.
The only place to anchor off St Barths itself is on the protected southwestern shore, and when it gets busy, and Gustavia harbour is full to busting, the yachts sit at anchor for hundreds of yards out to sea.
Marina services
For fuel at the dock, contact t 590 27 99 52, or f 590 27 98 08
The main island in the region for yacht hire is nearby St Martin/St Maarten. On St Barths a number of companies offer day trips both by powerboat and by sailing yachts, see Day Sails and only one company on St Barths offers yachts for longer hire, Nautica. |
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Scuba Diving
Scuba diving in St Barths is by no means the best in the Caribbean, but the corals and the colours are good, largely because of the shallow water (between St Barths and St Martin it goes no deeper than about 100 feet) and the sandy bottom, which reflects the sunlight. There are not many large fish to be seen at the dive-sites, but with the reefs left largely untouched by local fishermen (this is because of the local disease ciguatera and more recently because of the marine park) there are plenty of small fish to be seen. Among the gorgonians or sea fans swaying in the current, you can expect to see angel fish, sergeant majors and grunts. There is a wreck dive, the Kaïali.
There is a fee to dive in the Marine Reserve of €1 per diver per dive. Sometimes this is charged as extra by the scuba companies, but equally often it is included. Independent divers launching from their yacht should go to the Marine Reserve office on the waterfront in Gustavia (upstairs behind the Tourist Board and Port Authority). If you will be diving a lot then you can buy a card that permits unlimited diving for the year for €15. Of course if you are diving outside the Marine Reserve then there is no fee to pay. The Association Grenat oversee the Marine Reserve, PO Box 683, 97099 St Barthélemy, Cédex, t 0590 27 88 18, resnatbarth@wanadoo.fr.
Dive sites
Where the dive companies take their trips depends on the weather, but the prevailing winds come from the Atlantic and so it tends to be in the southwest, in the lee of the island. Most of the diving takes place in the various sections of the Marine Reserve, where there are plenty of buoys. No anchoring is permitted in the Reserve. If you are not diving with a company from St Barths please note that gloves are prohibited.
There is a small section of the Reserve just outside Gustavia Harbour, where Les Gros Ilets (outcrops out of the water) are used for scuba beginners on their first open water dives. Le Pain de Sucre (sugar loaf) is also a popular site. Nearby, the Kaïali lies in less than 100 feet of water and it has two good entries and an easily visible exit. Just south of this section of the Reserve are Les Petits Saints.
A second popular area is around Ile Fourchue to the northwest of St Barths, where you can expect to see worms standing on their tails, which withdraw back into their holes when you pass over them.
Some companies do dive the other section of the Marine Reserve around Ile Frégate and Ile Toc Vers, which, because of its less protected position looking out into the Atlantic, has slightly different and larger corals and the fish. It is more ‘advanced’ diving and so it is recommended that you are experienced or very comfortable in the water before diving there. If the weather is coming from the north, then there are sometimes trips to the southerly island, Ile Coco.
Two dive operators (and general watersports companies) worth looking out for are West Indies Dive and Marine Service, both located on the harbour in Gustavia. |
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Security
There are very few problems with security in St Barths, but as everywhere you are advised to be sensible with your belongings. It is sensible to lock your villa when you leave it and not to leave anything visible in your car. From the point of view of personal safety you can walk anywhere on the island at any time of day, even as a woman alone, and you will be perfectly safe. |
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Service Charge/Tipping
St Barths is France, and so in restaurants service is included in the bill, however it is quite unlikely that the staff will receive it, so you may want to reward them with a tip if you feel that they have done a good job. |
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Shopping
Shopping is a serious pursuit in St Barths and the island has the finest shops available in the Caribbean. An impressive number of famous lines actually have their own outlets on the island – Dior, Hermès, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Ralph Lauren, Bulgari, Manuel Canovas and many more – but of course countless other famous brands our available through independent shops. There are prêt à porter shops, jewellery and watch shops, shoe and leather goods shops, perfumeries, lingerie shops, even speciality sunglasses shops.
There are even a few lines that originate on the island. The famous ‘St Barth French West Indies’ is made by Pati Fashion and is for sale in a number of places around the island. They have outlets in St Jean (in the Villa Créole mall) and in Gustavia (Passage de la Crémaillère) and their factory is in the Immeuble Finca. Made in St-Barth, which offers island and Caribbean crafts and thin beach shirts for women, also has outlets in Gustavia and in the Villa Créole mall in St Jean.
And these are just small items to take away. You’ll be surprised how much furniture and other heavy stuff is on sale aswell. The island has many homeowners of course, who need to furnish their dream homes. Two shops, Teck and The House, are dedicated almost entirely to Oriental furniture and carvings, but there are many lifestyle shops.
Bulgari, Cour Vendôme, rue de République, Gustavia, t 590 29 62 24
Jewellery, watches.
Cartier, Le Carré d’Or, rue de la République, Gustavia, t 590 27 66 69, cartierstbarth@wanandoo.fr
Jewellery etc.
Teck, Rue Samuel Fahlberg, Gustavia, t 590 29 87 91
Oriental wooden tables and chairs, carvings and other furniture for the home.
The House, Rue Général de Gaulle, 590 27 88 04
Furniture, mainly oriental, and other decoration for the home including statues, spreads and lamps.
Vintage, Rue du Roi Oscar II, Gustavia, t 590 52 43 25
Own line of clothes designed by owner, some vintage couture and some end of line Dolce & Gabbana from Paris.
Pati de St Barth, Pasage de la Crémaillerie, Gustavia, t 590 27 78 04, Villa Créole, St Jean, t 590 27 59 06, www.patidestbarth.com.
Famous St Barths marque ‘St Barth FWI’, clothes, beachwear, jewellery, art and accessories. Can visit factory in Gustavia, Immeuble Finca.
Made in St-Barth, Rue Général de Gaulle, Gustavia, t 590 27 57 45, and Villa Créole, St Jean, t 590 27 67 60
Original artwork and handicrafts and a line of Made in St-Barth beach wear.
Ligne de St Barth, Lorient, t 590 27 82 63
The island’s very own line of beauty products (cosmetics, oils etc), which are made in Lorient. You can even the see the factory behind a glass wall.
Raffia, Route de Saline, St Jean, t 590 27 78 39
Women’s ready to wear clothing, on the route up the hill out of St Jean.
Calypso, Carré d’Or, Gustavia, t 590 27 69 74
Prêt à Porter clothing and accessories from a number of well known brands.
Lolita Jaca, Carré d’Or, Gustavia, t 590 27 59 98
Prêt a porter, dresses and casual wear, even djellabas, from abroad and in their own Lolita Jaca line.
Sabina Zest, St Jean, t 590 27 90 01
Women’s and some men’s clothes, prêt à porter in the Villa Créole Shopping Centre in St Jean, made on island by Swedish designer Sabina.
Supermarkets
Match, Centre Commercial de la Savane
Largest supermarket on the island, entrance opposite the airport terminal building.
Superette de l’Aéroport
Good general supplies right off the main road, next to the petrol station.
AMC, rue de la République, Gustavia
On the road into to town, good general supplies.
Marché de l’Oasis, Centre Commercial de l’Oasis, Lorient
General Supplies.
Delicatessens/Epiceries
Rôtisserie-St Jean, Vaval Shopping Centre, St Jean, t 590 29 75 69
Wine and cheese, and some prepared meals.
Mayas To Go, les Galeries du Commerce, St Jean, t 590 29 83 70
Patés, wine and cheese, and of course meals to take out.
The Cellier du Gouverneur, rue de la République, Gustavia, t 590 27 99 93
Extensive collection of French wine in an air-conditioned shop on the main street.
La Cave du Port Franc, Public, t 590 27 65 27
On the road out of Gustavia, a warehouse with an extremely broad selection of wines from around the world.
Le Goût du Vin, rue du Oscar II, Gustavia, t 590 27 88 02
Friendly shop in town with a good selection of wines from around the world.
Chez Ginette, Anse des Cayes, t 590 27 66 11
Rums flavoured with fruits and flowers, extremely potent. |
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Solo Travellers
St Barths is an extremely lively island and while there are many bars and restaurants where you can expect to run into people there is not really a singles’ scene. As with much of the rest of the Caribbean, most people travel as a couple, or in families and groups of friends travelling together. There are many young expatriates on island, mainly French, working on island, so there are crowds around. You will meet people if you make an effort but it is not necessarily that easy.
If you would like to hide away on your own for while then you are better off staying in a hotel or villa resort, where you will be looked after, rather than in a villa or an apartment complex, where you may find that you are left pretty much to your own devices.
Some good options for solo travellers include: | Eden Rock
A small, stylish, lively and extremely fashionable hotel set around its own rocky promontory on St Jean beach, right at the heart of St Barths’ north coast. Glitzy atmosphere. | Isle de France
A small, gracious hotel tucked away in Flamands on St Barths’ north shore, set on a superb stretch of sand. Its setting is exquisite, half on Flamands Beach and the rest in a very pretty tropical garden tucked into a steep sided valley. | Emeraude Plage
Emeraude Plage is a small enclave of self-catering bungalows and cottages that stand ranged around a sandy garden fronting onto St Jean beach. They are quiet and private, and relatively simple, but also within a shout of the action of St Jean. |
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