Gustavia Harbour
Colombier Bay
Anse du Gouverneur
Anse de Grand Saline
Île Fourchue
Hike the Colombier Trail
Snorkel at Île Fourchue
Shop Rue de la République
Lunch at Nikki Beach St Barth
Visit Corossol Fishing Village
Gustavia
St Jean
Lorient
Colombier
Corossol
December through April is high season, with dry, breezy weather in the mid-to-high 20s Celsius and January and February typically the driest months. Hurricane season runs June to November, and the island has been hit directly in the past, most notably by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, so most charter guests still favor the December-to-April window. May and early December offer a useful shoulder period: fewer boats on the water and comparable weather.
St Barts’ own Gustaf III Airport has a short runway on a hillside that only small aircraft and helicopters can use, so there are no direct scheduled flights from the US or Europe. Most guests fly into Sint Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) and connect via a ten-minute hop or a fast ferry of roughly forty-five minutes to Gustavia. Private yachts typically clear customs directly into Gustavia harbour, which doubles as the island’s only real port.
Colombier tops most lists: a protected cove inside the island’s nature reserve, reachable only by boat or on foot, where turtles graze in shallow, clear water. Anse du Gouverneur offers a dramatic backdrop below steep cliffs and, on clear days, views toward St Kitts. Gustavia harbour itself is worth a night at anchor for the restaurants and boutiques a short dinghy ride away, and Île Fourchue, a short hop north, is the pick for a quieter lunch stop with good snorkeling.
Three to four days lets you cover the island properly: a night or two in Gustavia, an afternoon at Colombier, and time to explore St Jean and Lorient. Most charter guests combine St Barts with neighbouring islands rather than treating it as a standalone week, since it’s a short hop from both St Martin and Anguilla. A week-long itinerary that starts or ends in St Barts and threads through those two islands is a common and easy route.
Yes, significantly. The St Barths Bucket Regatta, held over four days each March (17-21 March in 2027), brings 30 to 40 of the world’s largest sailing superyachts into Gustavia harbour for a series of round-the-buoys races and a busy social calendar ashore. Marina berths and villas book out months in advance, and charter rates rise accordingly, so guests wanting a quieter visit are better served by late spring or the December start of the season.
