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[bigletter]I’ve been wanting to visit this chic little Caribbean island for years! Saint Barthélemy, commonly referred to as St. Barts, is a slice of fanciful heaven in the French West Indies, a territory of France known for being absolutely fabulous. Everyone speaks French and everyone working in hospitality is from France, essentially making St. Barts a tropical version of Saint Tropez. The island is small and exclusive, most likely because it can be challenging to get to {how to get to St. Barts, here} and challenging to find accommodations that haven’t already been booked by celebrities and royalty the week of Christmas and New Years!
Fortunately we went at a great time, right before rain season and after the huge influx of glitterati!
Since we were only here for a weekend this isn’t quite a true travel guide, but rather a peak into a place I’d most certainly love to revisit again and continue to write about. Enjoy![/bigletter]
Checking into Villa Marie
We arrived onto the island around 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon. I was a little concerned to see rain, however, very happy to see our hotel valet waiting outside the airport with two perfectly yellow and white striped umbrellas, a few Evian bottles and a big smile. As he drove us up and around the island hillsides he promised us the rain was unlikely to stay much longer and thankfully he was right as the skies cleared right up later that evening.
Hotel Villa Marie was even more serene and exotic than the Instagram photos let on, I was baffled by the attention to detail and design elements, especially since I’m not a huge fan of yellow, but more about our stay to come in a future post.
After freshening up we grabbed a quick bite and took a substantial nap while the last bit of rain cleared out just in time for me to wear feathers and satin to dinner.
Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at Bonito
Since our time here was short and the list of culinary ch-d’oeuvre was long I had no other option but to double dip for one night! So I booked us a late dinner reservation at Bonito, known for it’s romantic ambiance and outstanding seafood dishes before heading to a second reservation at Bagatelle, the island’s premiere place to, as they say in French, par-tayyyyy.
And outstanding it was, the cocktail I ordered (as I believe all the cocktails women order) arrived in the most special of glassware: a shell shaped and backlit! You know I love a detail and this will most certainly be on my list for replicating at our next dinner party!
Since we didn’t have the entire evening to taste the whole menu I was eager to try out the ceviche sampler which was all very yummy but the tuna definitely stood out! In addition the waiter at our hotel strongly recommended the Bonito tacos, which I can concur are the absolute best. We had the tuna but if we had room for more food before heading to our next dinner reservation I would have tried the lobster too! Arthur ordered some veggies and fries too and they were delicious along with the most delectable olive bread I chose from the bunch.
The place was wonderful and I would definitely come back again for a full dinner next time or to sit at the bar at Sunset since the view is spectacular!
Dinner and dancing at Bagatelle
St. Barts is a small island with guests looking for the fun to flow through dinner and beyond. I’d been to the Bagatelle in Los Angeles before and heard about its other locations in every major city, it’s first being in New York, created in the spirit of the French Riviera. Needless to say my expectations were fairly high and certainly met by the end of the night when we all ended up dancing on tabletops while watching the wait staff rotate over the top performances to encourage bottle service sales amongst it’s patrons.
My favorite was the lucky couple who lived out their Titanic fantasy aboard a makeshift ship, but the motorcycle entrance was pretty out there too, putting my baby bottle service performance for Parker to shame!
When we arrived for our reservation around 9:30pm I was a tad disappointed not to be seated close to the DJ, but per the host I was supposed to have requested that in my reservation. Regardless they gave a us an even more romantic table on the dock and amongst the bougainvillea display, so suffice to say I was satisfied! We munched on truffle pizza, an avocado salad and fries, all good but nothing particularly special as I expected given this was our second stop for a reason.
After finishing our dinner and a few drinks we went inside to participate in the all the fun. Eventually they cleared out the chairs and most of the tables that didn’t have people already standing on them!
Morning beach walk at Cheval Blanc
Cheval Blanc is a gorgeous hotel right on the beach in St. Barts that my friend told me I had to check out while visiting and I am so glad we did. It’s perhaps one of the more romantic spots that really feels like an oasis, just like our hotel.
Nestled below a hill the main house is the epitome of what I imagined St. Barts to be, bright white wood plantation style with a great big wraparound porch.
Completely inviting with a long open hallway as you walk up the steps with a direct view of the ocean.
The place feels intimate despite how many private villas and guest rooms there are, with full beach chair service and a lovely pool that overlooks the sea.
We came a tad too early for a cocktail so we settled for a little cup of coffee to take on a windy walk by the beach.
Thankfully I came prepared for the breeze with my tweed cardigan which is my new go-to, I’ve decided, over my favorite bikini. And it was perfect for a little stroll along the short beach, with views of all the chic vacation homes carved into the beachy hillside.
Our walk was short before we had to get back to our hotel and freshen up for the rest of the day, but those ten minutes sitting on the front porch waiting for our car cemented my desire to add Cheval Blanc high on my hotel bucket list. What a serene little spot and later that evening we ended up sharing a cab with a Scottish couple staying there for their honeymoon; absolutely no surprise to me!
Daylight dancing at Nikki Beach
I am so glad we arrived right on time for our 3pm reservation, in the midst of the day party at Nikki Beach that had likely been brewing over the last hour at least. The hostess apologized they would be closing in two hours and I smiled knowing that would serve as a perfect cutoff for our daylight shenanigans given we had dinner reservations I refused to spoil!
The DJ was spinning and the sax player made high school quarterback status amongst all the groups of bikini clad patrons he swayed with on the tops of their table. I still can conjure up the sounds in my mind as I sipped my pink champs over ice in a wine glass and danced in my shell top (similar here) on the banquet with Arthur!
I knew Nikki Beach was the place for a day party, especially on Sundays, but what I was perhaps most impressed by was the food especially given Arthur is vegan and always getting the shorter end of the stick. But he ordered perhaps the most beautiful green salad I’ve ever seen, the vegetarian style version of the shrimp bowl, and the most aesthetically pleasing veggie roll. I was over the moon about the sushi pizzetta I ordered that easily knocked Katsuya’s crispy rice right off it’s high horse.
It was an unbelievably fun afternoon and I know each beach club has it’s popular day but this place definitely seems to be the most upbeat of them all and I would highly recommend.
Shopping in Gustavia
After dancing the afternoon away at Nikki Beach we somehow found the energy to explore the main town on the island. Again, thank you Nikki Beach for closing a tad early and thereby encouraging us to continue the day somewhat clear headed! First stop of course was at a random little caffe/bar for a quick sip of espresso, which was so chic with a mini meringue swirl to compliment the bitterness.
After that we set out beyond the big name French brands like Dior and Hermés to find the gems of Saint Barthélemy and of course there were so very many!
Unique to the island is Lolita Jaca St Barth, designed on the island which also serves at the home of it’s only two boutiques, one for the day and one for night shopping (which is conveniently located next to Bonito). Of course you can shop it online too but it’s nice to know they only have retail stores in St. Barts. I also loved Gisele St Barth as I knew from the name itself it’d be chic, for obvious reasons, and I loved the mix of designers even though quite few are fairly well known. Unfortunately they do not have an online shop but they do list some of the brands they sell on their Instagram page here. Another chic little store we came across was Mamour De Saint Barth, which also doesn’t sell online but does have another location on Capri, of course.
However, Arthur and I were more excited by the kids boutiques we stumbled across like Petit Bateau which has elevated basics for littles and MC2 Saint Barth, a designer I fell in love with after snagging the best ski sweater ever (similar here) before finding their store for kids on this trip! We had so much fun at both places picking out stuff for Parker and perhaps that cemented what we already now know, even miles and miles, away he’s still everything and more!
from St. Barts designers
Our last night at Le Ti
We ended the trip on a high note with an entertaining evening at Le Ti, yes the place where the New York Housewives met the pirate, and if I may add the only place on the island you’d expect a pirate to be? The place is unlike most places here in that it’s not exactly as sleek and glamorous as it is kooky in comparison to all the bleached white wood verandas and elevated decor typical of most establishments. It’s a bit more to theme, like a theme park for adults with a burlesque show, dance floor and costume room for everyone to get into character.
Literally, I became a cowgirl, which I felt was very American of me.
I was impressed by how fun it all was and how much Arthur enjoyed it more than just another romantic dinner, something we are fortunate to do anytime while in Los Angeles. We danced the night away and had the best time fraternizing with the other guests who by the end of the night felt like classmates all celebrating a collective graduation of sorts.
And perhaps that’s exactly what this trip happened to represent to me the next morning on the porch of our room, a culmination of this first year as parents. We survived it and found our way to a place where we could be a just a couple again. I know I will always cherish my newfound role as mom, but how nice it was to get back in touch with the best version of myself, vacation Monica. Xx
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