St Barthelemy arrival

Plane: St. Barthélemy is served by the following airlines within the Caribbean:

• Winair (Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, St Martin / Sint Maarten, St. Kitts, Sint Eustatius, Tortola)
• Air Caribes (Fort-de-France, Havana, Marie-Galante, Panama City, Paris, Pointe-à-Pitre, Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, St Martin / Sint Maarten, San José, St. Lucia),
• Air Antilles Express (to Fort-de-Franc, Pointe-à-Pitre, St-Martin / Sint Maarten)
• St Barth Commuter (St Martin / Sint Maarten, also charter flights throughout the Caribbean).

Besides that to fly the charter airlines Inter Island Express and Carib Aviation.

Airport: the only airport on the island, Aeroport de St-Barthélemy (SBH) is located near the town of St-Jean. It has the second shortest airstrip in the world (the shortest is on the island of Saba, Netherlands Antilles). Only small ones can do this herePlanes land, mass tourism is also not possible on St Barthélemy for this reason.

Ferry: two Voyager fast ferries operate between Gustavia on St Barthélemy and Marigot on St Martin. The journey takes about 1.5 hours. The ferry service between St-Barthélemy and St Martin is often very busy – it is a good idea to bring seasickness medication with you. On Sundays and Wednesdays there is a ferry from Captain Oliver’s Marina in Oyster Pond to St Martin, the journey takes only 40 minutes.

Gustavia is also connected to Simpsons Bay on Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles) daily by the Edge catamaran, the journey time is around 45 minutes.

Yacht: If you arrive by yacht, you can do the immigration procedures in the port office on the east side of the port of Gustavia.

St Barthelemy – entry requirements, passport and visa

At Barthelemy is a French overseas department, here similar entry regulations apply as for France.

A passport
is not required for EU citizens to enter St Barthelemy. An identity card is also sufficient. The passport or identity card must be valid upon entry.

Visa
Citizens of EU countries and Switzerland do not need a visa for a stay of a maximum of 3 months on St Barthelemy. This applies to bothTouristsas well as for business travelers.

Entry with children
For accompanying children, the same visa requirements apply as for their parents.

Germany: You need your own passport for children. Child ID cards are no longer issued in Germany, existing child ID cards remain valid until the expiry date.

Austria: Children need their own passport.

Switzerland: Children need their own passport.

St Barthelemy – Traveling in the Country

Bus: There is no bus system on St-Barthelemy.

Car: There are only two petrol stations on the island – in St Jean and Lorient – and both are closed on Sundays. During the week they are open during the day (with the mandatory two-hour lunch break from 12 noon to 2 p.m.). If you urgently need petrol, you can have a gas pump at the airport to use. Only credit cards are accepted here, but not from all companies.

Car rental
There are plenty of car and scooter rental agencies across the island (including Avis, Barth’Loc, Chez Beranger, Dufau, Gumbs Rental, Meca Moto, Soleil Caraibes, Tropic All Rent), most of which are located in the airport terminal in St-Jean. There are also several rental companies around Gustavia. Scooters and motorcycles are not much cheaper than cars. In addition, many of the streets on St Barthelemy are quite steep, so that one usually opts for a car. The prices between December and April are around € 60 for cars, in the low season the prices drop to € 35 to € 40 per day.

Taxis are very expensive on St Barthelemy so renting a car is often worthwhile. A surcharge of 50% is usually added at night. From Gustavia to the airport it costs € 10, from Gustavia to Petit Cul-de-Sac about € 25. From the airport it costs € 10 to St-Jean and about 12 € to Lorient.
Taxis can be ordered by phone and there is also a taxi rank in Gustavia.

Bicycle: Cycling on St Barthelemy can be very strenuous due to the steep roads.

St Barth climate

St Barthélemy has two seasons: a dry season (caréme) and the hurricane season (hivernage), from July to November when heavy rains are expected.

Best time to go to St Barthelemy

The high season in Saint-Barthélemy, as in the entire Eastern Caribbean, extends from mid-December to mid-April. In the low season during the rest of the year, hotels and flight tickets are cheaper, beaches are almost deserted, and the atmosphere is generally more relaxed.

In the summer it can be very humid as there are no trade winds, and there is also a (not too great) possibility of hurricanes.
November and the beginning of December are a good time to visit Saint-Barthélemy: the hotels have just dressed up, the crowds haven’t come and the prices aren’t too high yet. During the Christmas season, accommodations are extremely expensive so this can be a time to avoid visits.