These are the best places to travel this summer

St-Barthélemy

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025

Shop

Get even more with a Lonely Planet guide.

Shop Book
Harbor view Gustavia, St. Barthelemy (St. Barts), French West Indies

Getty Images/Gallo Images

Plan your trip with Guide, an AI travel planner!

Create a personalized trip itinerary in seconds using artificial intelligence.

Create a trip

Overview

In the treasure-packed Caribbean, St-Barthélemy (or, as it's locally known, St-Barth) is a multifaceted jewel. This exquisite island blends French sophistication with an undulating tropical landscape of isolated stretches of sun-soaked and silky sands, windswept cliffs, scrubby green hills, flowering gardens filled with bougainvillea, hibiscus and fragrant frangipanis, and turquoise bays dotted with yachts.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Colombier, Saint Barthelemy

    Plage de Colombier

    St-Barthélemy

    This is the tropical paradise you've daydreamed about: a dazzling, secluded white-sand carpet lapped by turquoise waters and backed by undulating hills…

  • Remote and private Gouverneur Beach on the French Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy (St Barts.).

    Plage de Gouverneur

    St-Barthélemy

    Cradled by high cliffs and untouched nature, Gouverneur is a gorgeous, broad, secluded sandy beach fringing a U-shaped bay. It’s splendid for sunbathing…

  • Plage de Saline

    Plage de Saline

    St-Barthélemy

    Secluded Plage de Saline is the most photogenic and serene of all St-Barth's beaches. Bookended by rocky hillside, this sweep of golden sand is ideal for…

  • St Bartholomew's Anglican Church

    St Bartholomew's Anglican Church

    St-Barthélemy

    Completed in 1855 from French bricks and limestone, local stone and Sint Eustatius volcanic black rock, white-painted St Bartholomew's has an open-sided…

  • Plage des Flamands

    Plage des Flamands

    St-Barthélemy

    The widest beach on the island, Flamands' clear waters seduce beachgoers and surfers when the swell's up. Most of its shadeless sweep is backed by private…

  • Plage de Grand Cul-de-Sac

    Plage de Grand Cul-de-Sac

    St-Barthélemy

    Count the shades of blue and turquoise while chilling on the gleaming sands of this dreamy lagoon, where you can wade through knee- or thigh-deep water…

  • Fort Gustave

    Fort Gustave

    St-Barthélemy

    Built in 1787 by the Swedish as one of three forts to protect the harbor, this site today has the remains of a vaguely bottle-shaped lighthouse along with…

  • Shell Beach

    Shell Beach

    St-Barthélemy

    In case you're tired of getting powdery-white sand everywhere, take the five-minute saunter from the harbor to this midsize beach awash with tiny crunched…

in partnership with getyourguide

Book popular activities in St-Barthélemy