Saint Barthelemy (Gustavia)

Saint Barthelemy is a small, very hilly, French-speaking island that has a reputation for catering to the rich and famous. Its small airport is perfect for private jets, and its capital, Gustavia, is littered with shops like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Valentino, etc. Near our cruise ship (far right in the photo below), were a half dozen private yachts of impressive size.

For this destination on our cruise, we had booked a sunset catamaran sail tour, so we had the rest of the day to explore on our own.

We rented a car from Hertz via booking thru their website. Though it seemed a little confusing online, we selected the “Harbor” location - which really meant that they would send someone to pick us up from the Gustavia port. Unfortunately due to timing of getting off the ship, we missed our scheduled pickup time at the Port, and they seemed to be having trouble with their phones so we couldn’t connect with them via WhatsApp or Phone.

Fortunately it was easy enough to catch a cab to the rental car center to begin our adventure. The 5 minute cab ride cost about $30USD.

Though the roads were all paved and easy to navigate, the steepness of the hillsides surprised us at times! We circumnavigated the island in a counter-clockwise direction, starting with Gouvernour Beach, followed by Plage de Saline, and then Grand Cul-de-Sac for lunch where we stumbled upon the very chic Le Barthelemy Hotel and Spa, and its beach-front restaurant, “Amis”. In a “first” for us, as we were enjoying our beach-front lunch, we noticed every 20 minutes or so, a model passed by in a new outfit - marketing the clothes, jewelry, shoes and accessories!

The beaches we visited for the most part had no shade and no services - so if you plan to go for the day, think about buying or renting chairs/umbrellas and pack your own snacks!

When we were done with the car for the day, a gas station right across the street from the Rental Center allowed us to return the car full of gas, and then a Hertz representative dropped us off back at the Port so we could jump onto our sunset cruise.

Summary

St. Bart’s was cute and very easy to get around. French is definitely the primary language and many of the workers there seem to be young French service industry professionals working part-time jobs. My guess is that lodging is quite expensive around the island, though we didn’t research. We would enjoy returning to St. Barthelemy for a few nights to experience some of its fine dining and night-life - as well as to enjoy its main town Gustavia for a few more hours.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”

– Unknown