St. Barths Is Open for the Holidays

St. Barths has made significant progress repairing villas and reopening restaurants as it moves forward with recovery after Hurricane Irma struck. The French-speaking Caribbean island is ready to welcome holiday travelers.

All commercial ports and airports reopened, and cruise ships returned as of Oct. 31, according to the Tourist Board. Tradewind, Win-Air, and St. Barth Commuter resumed daily flights into St. Barths in early October from San Juan and St. Martin respectively.

The beaches, too, have been swept and cleaned, and were officially reopened on Oct. 6.

Events such as the St. Barths Music Festival in January will take place as planned, and the catamaran race St. Barth Cata Cup will kick off Nov. 13.

Known for its high-end restaurants and active nightlife, a majority of the island’s hotspots will be open for the winter season, from Le Ti to Isola to Bar L’Oubli. A few others are slated to reopen by Christmas, including the popular La Plage, Bagatelle, La Guerite, and Hideaway. In the capital of Gustavia, nearly 50 restaurants are expected to be open in time for the holidays.

Although some of St. Barth’s leading hotels will remain closed for the rest of the year, a number of properties will be ready in time for the holidays, including St Jean’s Le Village, Les Ilets de la Plage, and Tom Beach, among others.

The island’s flagship luxury hotel, the Oetker Collection’s Eden Rock St Barths, plans to welcome guests to its private villas in December and to its hotel in the summer of 2018, after it completes extensive rebuilding to its 34 rooms, suites and houses.

“St. Barths 2.0 is underway,” the hotel reassured in a statement.

Five-star Le Barthélemy Hotel & Spa, which opened last fall as this destination’s newest hotel, said it plans to reopen as soon as possible in 2018.

A large number of villas are available for travelers if their hotel of choice is closed. WIMCO, which represents 375 villas in St. Barths, said a good number of its villas have confirmed reopening in time for the holidays, with an increasing number available each week. Some of its properties that are available for the holidays include a three-bedroom villa in Lurin and a newly built three-bedroom house with views of Corossol Beach and Gustavia Harbor.