THE approach to St Barths from the air is not for the timorous, with the tiny silver Tradewind aircraft dropping from the sky in front of the Eden Rock hotel, bohemian Gyp Sea Beach Club and busy Saint-Jean beach, banking steeply, wing tip almost touching the water, before coming to a pulse-racing halt in front of an ominous slab of rock at the end of the runway. It might not be the glamorous arrival you tally with this fabled Caribbean isle, but little about St Barths ever really adheres to expectations.
Plenty are put off visiting by the crowds that descend over Christmas and New Year, but talk to anyone who’s been there and they’ll tell you that, if you travel at any other time (most recommend the end of January onwards), you’ll discover a quieter, wilder paradise. This is a place that people in the know talk about with misty, wide-eyed reverence.
