My wife and I got back yesterday from our first, and certainly not last, vacation to St. Barts. After all the help I received from this forum while planning the trip I felt I owed you a trip report so here goes...
Flew out of Newark on Continental and arrived on St. Martin ahead of schedule. Based on advise from the forum, and much to my wife's uneasiness, we flew on to St. Barts on Winair. After 15 minutes we landed (and my wife breathed again.) Not bad... Rented a car from Odile at Gumps and we were very pleased we did. Odile was extremely friendly and the car we rented was in great shape and even had a GPS which was a Godsend the first few days. Followed the St. Barth Properties representative (didn't get her name) out to Villa Royal Palm. Once we stepped onto the pool deck and saw the view we knew we were hooked.
Our luggage didn't make the second leg with us so we drove around exploring the island and went to Marche to get some food and drink. We had dinner our first night at Andy's Hideaway and it was fantastic, great service and food.
The first morning we looked out our bedroom slider to this magnificient view.
Then we started our daily ritual... I would go to the L'Orient Boulangerie for fresh baked croissants while my wife made the coffee. I also picked up sandwiches there for our lunch at the beach each day.
Our favorite beaches were Gouvenour, Flammands, and Saline and we enjoyed watching the planes come and go from St. Jean. Most of the time the beaches were mostly deserted like these pictures of Saline and Flammands
Our favorite restaurants were Andy’s Hideaway (ate there twice it was so good), K’fe Massa (food, service, and ambiance were very good), and On the Rocks (good food and service but pricey). But what we really enjoyed doing for dinner was sitting on the pool deck sipping cocktails and wine and eating brie and a nice baguette and watching the spectacular sunsets.
Last impressions… The island is beautiful, the people were all very friendly (except the drivers), and the villa we rented could not have been better for us. We are already trying to figure out when we can go back next spring and we will certainly rent the same villa. All the people we dealt with at St. Barth Properties were great (Thanks Julie and Anne and the very nice lady who brought us to the villa). The only slight negative was that there was a lot still closed on the island. The one evening we went into Gustavia to shop, most of the stores were closed and it was only about 6:00PM. We will definitely be back but not in October.
On the final day this beautiful island even gave us a near perfect rainbow!! What a vacation!!
Thanks again so much for all of your help. We'll be back!!
Joe and Ellen
Flew out of Newark on Continental and arrived on St. Martin ahead of schedule. Based on advise from the forum, and much to my wife's uneasiness, we flew on to St. Barts on Winair. After 15 minutes we landed (and my wife breathed again.) Not bad... Rented a car from Odile at Gumps and we were very pleased we did. Odile was extremely friendly and the car we rented was in great shape and even had a GPS which was a Godsend the first few days. Followed the St. Barth Properties representative (didn't get her name) out to Villa Royal Palm. Once we stepped onto the pool deck and saw the view we knew we were hooked.
Our luggage didn't make the second leg with us so we drove around exploring the island and went to Marche to get some food and drink. We had dinner our first night at Andy's Hideaway and it was fantastic, great service and food.
The first morning we looked out our bedroom slider to this magnificient view.
Then we started our daily ritual... I would go to the L'Orient Boulangerie for fresh baked croissants while my wife made the coffee. I also picked up sandwiches there for our lunch at the beach each day.
Our favorite beaches were Gouvenour, Flammands, and Saline and we enjoyed watching the planes come and go from St. Jean. Most of the time the beaches were mostly deserted like these pictures of Saline and Flammands
Our favorite restaurants were Andy’s Hideaway (ate there twice it was so good), K’fe Massa (food, service, and ambiance were very good), and On the Rocks (good food and service but pricey). But what we really enjoyed doing for dinner was sitting on the pool deck sipping cocktails and wine and eating brie and a nice baguette and watching the spectacular sunsets.
Last impressions… The island is beautiful, the people were all very friendly (except the drivers), and the villa we rented could not have been better for us. We are already trying to figure out when we can go back next spring and we will certainly rent the same villa. All the people we dealt with at St. Barth Properties were great (Thanks Julie and Anne and the very nice lady who brought us to the villa). The only slight negative was that there was a lot still closed on the island. The one evening we went into Gustavia to shop, most of the stores were closed and it was only about 6:00PM. We will definitely be back but not in October.
On the final day this beautiful island even gave us a near perfect rainbow!! What a vacation!!
Thanks again so much for all of your help. We'll be back!!
Joe and Ellen
