St Barthélemy / Airport

Arriving by air in St Barths is not for the faint-hearted. The landing strip is short, it leads straight into the sea and inconveniently, where you’d like the pilot to be lining up for landing, there is a hill. All in all, it is fitting that the small flat area on which it is situated is called the ‘Plaine de la Tourmente’ (Plain of Torment). It’s exciting, though. Watching from the ground, the planes seem to dangle in the sky like a toy on a piece of string (sometimes held by a malevolent child). Inside the plane, landing has a stress quotient. If you dare look, that is. All of this said, the pilots are excellent, and they make the landing many times a day. It is fun to stand and watch them coming into land, either on the aforementioned hill, or from St Jean beach. 

The largest aeroplanes that can land in St Barths are 19-seaters (Dorniers and Twin Otters). They are STOL (Short Take off and Landing) and their pilots have to have a special licence, which must be renewed each year. Their record is generally extremely good. Still, if you decide that the landing really isn’t for you then ferries also make the crossing from St Maarten, though the timings are not necessarily convenient to meet the international flights. Otherwise you can always hire a speedboat from St Maarten. It’s expensive, but they are available. 

Most flights originate in Dutch St Maarten (or the French side St Martin), which is just 10 minutes flying time from St Barths, but local companies will charter from as far away as San Juan, Antigua and even Barbados (see Getting to St Barths). The runway closes at night, so the last planes are allowed land and leave 15 minutes before sunset. The strip remains closed until 15 minutes before sunrise. Flights only leave at night in the case of a medical or security emergency. 

The terminal building in St Barths is modern and plush and is topped by a pint-size observation tower. If you are picking up a car on arrival, turn right out of the arrivals area and you will find the car hire booths beyond the check-in desks. On departure you can find a drink or a snack upstairs (or you can nip across the road to the shopping centre), but there are no shops or cafés once you have entered the departure lounge. 

You can check in for your flight fairly late in St Barths. Because no large planes can land on the island there is never that much of a queue at the check-in desks and the process is generally pretty smooth. The official check-in time for most companies is 60 minutes before departure of course, so don’t push it, but locals tend to arrive around 30 minutes before departure. 

Taxi rates from the airport are as follows: 

Gustavia - €10 
Flamands - €20 
Saline Beach - €15 
Gouverneur Beach - €25 
St Jean - €10 
Pointe Milou - €20 
Le Toiny - €25