My family is looking to go to St. Barts towards the end of May and we need a recommendation on where to stay. We're thinking of a hotel or renting a villa. We need four bedrooms and, if at a hotel, one of the rooms needs to be a suite with a living room or we need some other private room to conduct some meetings.

Does anyone have recommendations on:
--Hotels
--Villas
--Villa rental agencies
--Parts of the island to stay on/avoid
--Great restaurants
--Fabulous shopping
--Things not to be missed
--Any other particularly helpful information

Thanks!

One last thing, just out of curiosity, does anyone know if there is wireless coverage on St. Barts? Is it GSM?

[This message has been edited by Dudster (edited 03-09-2001).]

St. Barts is one of my favorite islands. The flight path in is world famous! I will dig up some of my St. Barts travel files and get back with you. Have a great trip!

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MRKEY

I haven't been to St. Barth's in a while, but I used to go there with my parents every year, so I do have some insights.

The following web sites seem quite good--> check it:
http://www.st-barths.com/ http://www.cieux.com/stb.html http://www.stbarth.com/ http://www.frenchcaribbean.com/StBar...Caribbean.html http://www.st-barth-wm.com/

As far as hotels are concerned, Guanahani is a consensus favorite, but is more than a bit pricy. If I were to stay at a hotel, I'd probably go for Eden Rock, which has risen greatly in appeal since the big storm (Hurricaine Luis?) a few years ago (because it has a nice, sandy beach now). We almost always stayed at FIT, an exremely popular 3 bedroom villa on the top of the hill, with a cascading pool, and views of the airport and St. Jean Bay.

The restaurant scene there is constantly evolving. Fortunately, it's really hard to go wrong (aside from the fact that some places are incredibly expensive). Send me an email if you want specific recs, and I'll be sure to ask my father next time I talk to him.

For nightlife, I've always had fun at the places along St. Jean Beach and at Cheeseburger in Paradise (and I don't like Jimmy Buffet at all).

Be sure not to miss: Governor's Beach (on the ocean side); try to get a boat for at least one day, even if you don't scuba dive; actually, all of the major beaches are worth checking out; rental cars are very useful -- go for the Moke, if you want to get a real feel for the place.

That's all I can think of for now. Have fun! St. Barth's is an amazing place.



[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 03-11-2001).]