Emeraude Plage. TEL (590) 27 64 78. Expensive hotel with cottages and studio apartments right on the beach. However, a two minute stroll across the road and up the hill will bring you to the delights of the Tropical Hotel TEL (590) 27 64 87. FAX (590) 27 81 74. A small 20-room, picture-postcard inn, trimmed in gingerbread and pastels. The rooms, nicely-appointed, have four poster beds. The hotel features a pool, small leafy courtyard, a bar and a relaxing restaurant for breakfast or lunch.
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS:
1) Lunch at the Carl Gustaf. In the elegant setting of the Hotel Carl Gustaf, deluxe and tres expensive, one can afford the prix-fixe of lunchtime. With a lovely setting overlooking the port of Gustavia, lunch is affordable, the ambiance splendid and the food superb. (A night here costs between $500-$1000.) TEL (590) 27 82 83. 2) Gustavia harbor is one of the most picturesque towns in the Caribbean, following St. George's in Grenada, Soufriere in St. Lucia and Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
ACCESS TO BEACH:
St. Jean beach is open to the public with many access areas.
QUALITY OF BEACH:
The beach is small, serene, relaxing. No hype, vendors, or watersports. Local people bring their kids here for a swim after school.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Le Pelican Restaurant leans out over St. Jean Beach with a French menu that is inventive, most tasty and more reasonably priced than most other comparable restaurants in St. Barts. Landing at the airport is a definite thrill - not for the faint of heart ! With the very open sea waiting at one end of the runway and an unmovable mini-mountain on the other, only small planes dare attempt the landing.
