The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Villa Tom

The "Dearly Beloved" and I just returned from a week on the island staying at Villa Tom. This was our fourth time on the island, but our first in a villa. The following are a few thoughts on the villa that may be helpful.

The villa is on top of a hill in Camaruche. The turn off of the main road onto the street to the villa has to be one of the most dangerous on the island, kind of like landing on the air strip...at night...in a thunderstorm. It's at the peak of the hill with roads coming from all four directions and the oncoming traffic has no way to see or be seen. How exciting!

The villa is spotless and very well maintained. The swimming pool is attractive, fair sized, and very private. The deck is well maintained. The four pool lounge chairs are comfortable.

The villa itself is three bedrooms and two baths. There's a nice kitchen and a sitting area/living room with a TV (French satellite, but who wants to watch TV anyway) and a stereo that if you have the cables will accommodate an iPod. Outside there is a garden patio and a patio area between the pool and the living area. We didn't spend any time in the downstairs bedrooms. The kitchen was more than adequate for our needs which were limited, and could have done much more.

The entire upstairs is the master bedroom, bathroom and balcony. The master bedroom is huge, but at least half of it is unused space. There are two air conditioning units in the bedroom and they do a nice job of keeping things invitingly cool in the room. The bed is large and comfortable, but doesn’t have box springs. The sheets and spread are of good quality and in excellent shape. There are two chairs on the floor and one swinging from the ceiling (no -- not that kind of chair). The swing blocks the view from the bed to the bathroom a little so it has function other than just seating. The master bathroom has a nice tub and a separate shower. The balcony is on the northwest corner with great views toward Lorient, St. Martin, and the sunset in the distance. There are a few seats on the balcony and a small coffee table.

On the negative side, and these are intended only as (i) items that would improve the villa and (ii) to provide full disclosure for anyone who may have different sensibilities than I do -- only the bedrooms (including the master bath) are air conditioned. The downstairs bathroom is sweltering at all times. We left the windows open and that helped a little, but also allowed the mosquitoes in since there aren't screens on the windows. One of the windows opens to the patio, thus reducing any privacy someone might want in the downstairs bathroom. The kitchen/living area has no A/C or ceiling fan, making cooking a real meal a challenge unless you want to use sweat as a seasoning. The only ceiling fans are in the bedrooms and they are desperately needed in all of the other rooms since the orientation is to the west.

For more than two people, the bathroom situation would be a bit of a problem, depending on how heat and mosquito sensitive the folks staying in the downstairs bedrooms are. There is clearly a pecking order to the quality of the bedrooms because of size, bedding, and the bathroom issue. One of the downstairs bedrooms has two twin beds pushed close to each other to give the appearance of a king bed, but they clearly have separate bedding. The Dearly Beloved is thin so she would fall through the crack on one of her nocturnal heat seeking missions. In the master suite, there's no door to the bathroom, it's pretty much open. That is a little off-putting for those moments when a person may need a little private time in the old WC. When the sun comes up, it's bright in the master bedroom since there are only very sheer curtains on the windows. I woke up every morning at 5:45 to 6:00 because of the combination of "needing" to get up (problematic if the need is related to a nature call (see note regarding the bathroom door) and the sun coming through the windows. Also, the chairs in the MBR can't be used for reading because there's no light other than the overhead lights and the bedside lamps. The bedside lamps are too dim for reading without the overhead lights on (that only works if both people want to read), and you have to get out of bed to turn those lights off.

The furniture in the living area has its appeal, but comfort is not it. Spending any time in the living area sitting would be very uncomfortable, but it's hot enough in there that you don't want to sit anyway.

A few days after we arrived, I discovered that there is a downstairs apartment to the villa that someone is living in. It would have been nice to know that in advance, but the only time I saw the residents was one morning as they were pulling out of their separate driveway.

There’s really no view from the pool or the deck, but it is very private, assuming the folks from downstairs don't pop in for a peek at what's going on around the pool.

The owner, Veronique Giraud, was very helpful. She left a few items in the fridge for our arrival and some snacks. She accommodated our request for timing of the daily housekeeping arrival, and provided beach gear and a U.S. adapter for the electrical outlets upon request.

Overall, I give the villa a B- for two persons. If more than two were using it, I wouldn't venture higher than a C-, but for the two of us it worked very nicely. We've stayed at Eden Rock twice (what's up with that place?) and the Manapany once. After our experience with a villa this time, we do not expect to stay at a hotel on the island again. There are too many advantages to the villa, even if there are a few items that are not perfect. We enjoyed the villa very much.

If anyone wants to know more, please send me a PM.

--------------------
Doing nothing on vacation is highly under-rated.