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[bigletter]St. Barts, aka Saint Barthélemy, is a small Caribbean island in the French West Indies famous for its chic set of jet setting visitors and upscale accommodations. In addition to being a glamorous and buzzy island, part of the exclusivity remains it’s limited modes of entry, the steep dive into the island on a ten seater plane and even steeper hotel prices! And especially if you’re like us and don’t live on the East Coast it’s a much longer stretch of travel, hence why I jumped at the opportunity to come when my sorority sister decided to have her wedding on a Thursday in south Florida![/bigletter]
Getting to Saint Barthélemy
If you’re flying private or taking a private boat you will likely have more options onto the island on your own schedule. Otherwise you will have to take a 10 minute flight via WINAIR or St. Barth Commuter from St. Marteen (SXM airport) or a 45 minute ferry boat.
Since I wanted to be extra mindful of time, given we only had the weekend, I opted to take the short flight onto St. Barts from SXM. I ended up booking with both airlines (WINAIR on the way in and Commuter back) to accommodate our schedule and both experiences were basically the same, although I did like St. Barth Commuter’s plane a bit more.
I don’t think anyone loves the little plane but I love efficiency so I was willing to take the plunge, literally!
But if you’re fearful of small planes and very steep landings you can opt for a 45 minute ferry ride. The ferry on the French side of St. Marteen has a 20 minute shuttle to the port from SXM baggage claim, but there are only a few trips each day which is something to be mindful about when budgeting your time. Also, if your flying into St. Marteen you will have to go through customs upon arrival and go back through security to board the small plane to St. Barts. So plan to have everything ready and time in between flights/shuttles.
And time is really important when you’re going from one country to the next, as St. Marteen requires its own customs and check and security and border patrol. We had about an hour to get through St. Marteen en route to St. Barts, which currently requires a health screening document you must complete in advance and testing if you’re unvaccinated. The rules are constantly changing so check their website here for updates.
We had a solid two hours between our flight back from St. Barts onto St. Marteen en route to the U.S. and I’d recommend having ample time in between the two when reserving your flights.
Dare I say I’d be willing to do it again? Even after our flight to St. Barts had to circle about five times while waiting on clear weather to land the plane! It wasn’t fun but totally worth it to see this beautiful and bougie island!
Getting around Saint Barthélemy
Everyone said to rent a car but St. Barts is known to be the party island for the rich and famous and this mama wanted a cocktail the second we landed this tiny teeny plane!
If we were staying for longer than a weekend I would have certainly gotten a car to drive around, despite all the narrow streets and hills on the island. I was concerned ahead of time about our ability to find a taxi cab so I made sure to email our hotel our itinerary and they assured me that getting a cab would be easy. Even for some of the last minute changes I was able to get a cab within 5-10 minutes. When we were out at restaurants and beach clubs the valet was able to call us a taxi and while out shopping, we called our hotel again to call us a cab.
Some of the drivers had a business card to give us so we could call/text them ourselves but we never had to do that. Since the island is so small there’s about 50 drivers total which is certainly enough to go around given there are also only so many visitors!
Whether you are staying in a villa or hotel I recommend giving the concierge your itinerary in advance as well as asking for a few recommendations for drivers to call while on the go. The prices for transportation were higher than you’d expect given how close everything is but I also imagine so is renting a car or hiring a personal driver for the duration of your stay. We used US dollars for almost every ride and our credit card for a few willing to take them. If you have euros you will likely get a bit of a better deal but either way is ultimately that same.
No matter how you arrive, be safe and enjoy!
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