Your St Barts -Villa Rental in St Barths, Saint Barthélémy

St Barts Island :: Eden Rock

In the November 2007 issue of Condé Nast, they published their eagerly anticipated Reader's Awards and guess who topped the list? St Barts Island!  More specifically, Eden Rock was named the top hotel in the Caribbean!

Number two on the list was Hôtel Saint-Barth Isle de France, and it was a very close race!  And not only did our hotels and resorts top the list of readers favorites, the island itself was voted number three overall, right behind Bermuda and St John.

Considering what a small island we have here, I'd say we've done pretty good. On behalf of myself and every other resident of the island, thank you for voting for us!!! We hope to see you again very soon!

You, my lucky readers, will be the first to preview my very first video posted on YouTube, about St Barts Villas. 

St Barts Beach :: Gouverneur Beach :: Photo Courtesy of didierbeck

This St Barts Beach is by far my favorite on the entire island.  It is virtually unspoiled and it's long white beach seems to stretch endlessly.  There is no building on this beach, so when you go there, you can expect a feeling of total privacy. 

To get to Gouverneur Beach, you must drive a bit, but your travel is well worth it.  Go up to the top of Lurin Hill and then head straight down for about a mile to arrive at your destination.  The road is very narrow, so please drive with care. When you come to a stop, you will be above the beach, overlooking Gouveneur Bay.  This view is one of the most beautiful sights on all the island.  Relax for just a few moments and soak in the crystalline water - the colors of the water are like no other that you'll ever see; trust me on this one.  In fact, there is a company on the island, Saint Barth Tours and Travel that gives tours, and they make it a point to stop at Gouveneur's Beach, they put it on their agenda.

If you continue on down to the small public parking lot,  you can leave your car and then head to the beach for the day.  What is so interesting about Gouverneur's Beach is that it is actually owned by an individual.  Yep, the whole piece of land, including the beach.  But, according to French law, no beach may be private, so there is public access to this beach.  The owner has been gracious enough to establish a very nice parking lot.  Please remember this when using this area, and respect the tranquility and cleanliness of the area.

After you get out of the car, you will need to walk through a small area of trees and soon you will come to the southern tip of the beach.  I find that this area is typically where families will set up camp for the day because there is an area of shallow water there right by the rocks, plus there is a bit of shade, which can be really nice when you have small children with you.  If you're by yourself, you can walk a bit further because the entry in to the water is easier from the trail.  Even further down the path, you will find some stones that have been uncovered by the waves, so be careful because it can get slippery.  At the other end of the beach, total nudity is tolerated.

On the off season, I have been lucky enough to have this beach entirely to myself - at least before 9am.  But even year-round, this typically is one of the least crowded beaches.  Here on St Barts, a beach is crowded if there is someone less than 30 feet between you and your beach neighbors. 

If you love to snorkel, head to the left hand side of the beach as it is great right by the coast.  If you are a strong and confident swimmer, you can easily enjoy an hour of good snorkeling.  The snorkeling isn't dangerous by any means, but you will drift a bit while you're out there so you'll need to swim you way back to the beach.

Legend is that one of the most famous French pirates, Monbars, had hidden his treasure in one of the caves by Gouveneur Beach.  Imagine the vacation tales you could bring home if you opened your eyes wide when you were snorkeling and you spotted a golden Louis at the bottom!!

Recently, there has been some construction going on on the upper flank of the hill, right above the bay.  The villa owner has chosen to paint his home orange, which is not very discreet, and frankly, I don't like it much.  At least not the color.  The house itself is beautiful and pristine. 

One final note, this beach is much like Saline in that it does not offer much shade.  And since there is no building on the beach, there is also nowhere to grab a bottle of water or a snack, so come prepared.  This is especially crucial if you're traveling with children!!!  Enjoy Gouveneur Beach - maybe I'll see you there!!

St Barts Beach :: Gouveneur Beach :: Photo Courtesy of utilityman252004

St Barts villas are an amazing piece of real estate to own; just ask anyone that has one.  Once, one of the most destitute islands in the Carribean, a building boom by the Rockafellers jump-started both its growth and popularity.  It has now become the "St. Tropez of the Carribean." Before you go out and drop a few million on a villa though, there are a few things you should know.

As of February 2007, St Barts became an "Overseas Collectivity" or collectivité d'outre-mer, meaning that it is part of the French Republic. As such, it is primarily French law that applies, although each "collectivity" (similar to a US municipality) will have it's own specific laws in place; this also means that euros are the currency, and with the recent lag in the US dollar, it makes everything a bit more expensive for Americans.

There are no restrictions on who may buy property in St Barts, if you can afford it; however, if you are a non-French buyer, the bank will only loan you 50% of the value of the property.  If you need to finance the entire thing, you will need to speak to a major financial institution.  Oh, and there are no private sales going on in St Barts;  realtors are the only professionals allowed to sell property on the island, per French law.

Expect to wait a bit too; property on the island is in high demand.  Not only can you not find a 2 bedroom villa with a view for under $1.5 million, you can't find property to build on either.  This is one of the ways we keep the island small and comfortable; if we make too much property available, we'd have people building all over the place - it would destroy what makes the island so great.

So, if you're serious about buying on St Barts, check out St Barth Realty.  They have a variety of villas to choose from, and they're organized really well, by price.  Even if you're not yet in the market for a villa here on the island, have a little fun "window shopping."

For any of you that have visited, or want to visit St Barts Island, and that are part of the Facebook community, come join my group! 

When you click the link, you'll be prompted to log in to your account.  Don't have one?  Join up! I would love to get pictures posted from all of your fabulous vacations.  Planning a trip? Ask me whatever you want!! Who better to get the skinny from than a person who owns a villa here?  Better yet, chat amongst yourselves and give each other ideas of what to see and do and where to eat.

I hope you enjoy……and I hope to see you join the group soon!

Recently, when surfing the Internet, looking for other people stories of their visits to St Barts Island, I came across this website, GetJealous.

This site is devoted to those who travel, and want to share their experiences.  It's really pretty cool.  So, I was really excited when I found this travel diary, posted by user "Liward."  These people seem to travel all the time, and indeed, I am jealous!

On their trip to St Barts, they were lucky enough to walk in to a bar on December 29th of last year, just in time to catch Jon Bon Jovi playing.  And I quote, "When you walk in to a restaurant in St Barths you never know who might be playing. Here's Jon Bon Jovi playing a few tunes."

The very next day, they caught Catherine Zeta-Jones singing "No Woman, No Cry" while Jimmy Buffet played the guitar!

"And yes this is Catherine Zeta Jones singing reggae, "No Woman, No Cry" And look who's playing the guitar! We caught Jimmy playing twice."

Amazing, isn't it?  But, truly, this is really what St Barts is all about, especially in late December.  Just a small and simple French village full of celebrities enjoying life without a fuss.

St Barts Island :: Airport Landing

There's no doubt, when you're flying in to St Barts island, the landing is a tricky one.  The landing strip is short, and ends in the water, and on the approach, you hover precariously close to a hillside area; in fact, many people stand there and take pictures of the planes as they come in.

This YouTube user has posted a video of a flight simulator, landing in St Barts.  It is incredibly accurate; the plane is identical to the small planes that are used on the flight. 

The software he's using is called Flight Simulator 2004 with FlyTampa Scenery and can be found here.  Modern technology never ceases to amaze me.

YouTube user NuYawka (New-Yorker for all of you who are not familiar with the accent) recently took a trip to the island and visited many a St Bart Beach I'm sure.  However, he seems quite fond of Saline Beach, and he posted this great video about the slightly treacherous walk approaching the beach.

I discussed this before in a previous post, and you'll see in the video why I recommended that you not wear high heels or flip-flops when making the trek to the beach.  In reality, it is about an 8-minute hike to the beach, but his video captures about 2 1/2 minutes……you'll see how, even after you do all that walking, when you get to the crest of the hill and start heading down, you still can only see a very small part of the beach.  It is not until you make your way to the bottom, that you can actually get a full view of the entire shoreline.  At the end of the video, he also makes a comment about not using a video camera on Saline Beach, as it is a clothing optional beach, which is totally true, but I had never really thought of it that way. 

If you go to his website, you can see a video diary of their trip to St Barts - get a perspective from an everyday vacationer as opposed to someone that lives here part-time. 

St Barts Villas :: Domingue Villa

As you all know, I own a villa on St Barts; and I have to be honest, I love it when Americans rent it.  In fact, 90% of our visitors are Americans, while 5% are from Canada, and the rest are French.  Overall, Americans just show so much more respect for our house, much more than our French guests.  They're also really good about leaving us very detailed feedback about what they would like to see different in our house. All this feedback has led to some changes around here.

Because of the large number of American guests that we host, we have given a lot of thought as to what we can do to make the house more comfortable for our guests.  We decided, first and foremost, that we'd need to put a Starbucks in every room…….no, I'm just kidding.  But we know how you Americans love your Starbucks, so we did put  a Nespresso machine in the kitchen, so you may enjoy espresso, à la European.

St Barts Villas :: Villa Domingue ~ Fitness Room      

We've also installed air conditioning in every single room, heat in the pool and wi-fi on the top floor for those of you who can't vacation without your computer…..we'll be putting in a seperate wireless connection in the Summer of '08.  A gym with a television and DirecTV, straight from the East Coast.

But with all the renovations, we also removed the jacuzzi, for aesthetic reasons.  Although, according to the guest book, no one really seems to be missing it.

We've talked a lot about the beaches of St Barts; but this St Barts Beach, the Beach of Public, is a little different.

All day long, especially during the high season, cars make the trek down the down the hill above the St Jean airport strip, called La Tourmente, to make it in to our capital city, Gustavia.  Between St Jean and Gustavia, cars have to cross a part of the island known to us locals as "Public."  This is where the Beach of Public is located.

When you think of a vacation on St Barts, you don't typically think of the area of Public, as it's not publicized in any travel brochure; it is the industrial section of St Barts.  Yes, I know, it's hard to imagine that an island this small has space for a large industrial section, but without this part of the island, there's no way we could survive.  Public is where the power plant, the wholesalers, the water plant, and the garbage and waste collector are located. Not really the image of St Barts you want to retain, but really, most towns have some area of their city that is dedicated to this.

Further down from the main drag, Public has also kept a little more of a local feel to it, and so visitors often make the trek to check this part of the island out.  Here you will find a local cemetery with historic tombstones, Maya's To Go serving its famous creole dishes, and a very small beach.  Well, maybe not a beach so much, more like a with a combination of sand and pebbles; it is often times used as a launching pad for small fishing boats. 

My advice would be this: if you area looking for somewhere to swim, check out one of the other amazing beaches that grace this island.  You have plenty to choose from, so why bother trying to find a good place to lay a towel on Public Beach?  Scope it out from the water, perhaps when you're sailing from Gustavia to Colombier, or go there at night, but to enjoy the food at Maya's…….speaking of which, my mouth is watering at the moment, just thinking about their creations.  I can't believe I dared write about her creole-thai-fusion cuisine as I'm starving to death on a train that is supposed to be high-speed; argh, French technology and service…..don't even get me started!!