TRAVEL
n February 2017, Senator Mitch McConnell unknowingly
coined the year’s motto: “Nevertheless, she persisted.” He
was referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren, but the phrase
could just as easily apply to this month’s travel destination,
the former French commune of St. Barthélemy (colloquially,
St. Barts), which would need Warren’s fighting spirit when
Hurricane Irma devastated the region just seven months
later. When an island’s main industry is tourism, as it is for St. Barts,
tropical storms both pose an immediate danger and threaten a commu-
nity’s ability to sustain itself in an increasingly volatile future. But two
years out, St. Barts is back in business despite (or perhaps in the face of )
its existential threat.
“St. Barts provides the essentials of escapist travel, with its topograph-
ic beauty and extreme privacy,” says ELLE’s editor-in-chief, Nina Garcia,
who visited with her family in March. The island’s high season starts in
late fall, ushered in by the sixth annual St. Barts Gourmet Festival (No-
vember 6 to 10) and the Cata-Cup regatta (November 20 to 24), the firstPlan your wintertime escape, pronto. The Caribbean island, known as a warm-weather getaway for the
elite, has rebounded from the 2017 hurricane (and roughly $1.1 billion in damage). By Brianna Kovanin a series of yachting events that span the winter months. By late April,
most jet-setters have returned north.
Located due east of Puerto Rico, the 9.6-square-mile island got its
name from Christopher Columbus, who in 1493 landed on its white-sand
beach and dedicated his “finding” to his brother Bartoloméo. But while
the pillaging explorer’s stock has fallen, St. Barts’ has done the opposite.
Take the Eden Rock resort, which will officially reopen in November.
Now owned by Pippa Middleton’s in-laws, Jane and David Matthews, the
1950s destination has housed many a celebrity, and provided a record-
ing studio for artists such as Jimmy Buffett. Other hotels, like the inland
Villa Marie Saint-Barth (pictured above), have been running for about a
year. “Villa Marie embodies the island’s laid-back luxury without com-
promising on excellent service and comfort,” says Garcia of the five-star
resort, which sits on the island’s northwest hills. Enjoy the internationally
sourced decor, such as vintage rattan furniture and eccentric bird sculp-
tures, and don’t miss the on-site restaurant, François Plantation, which
offers the French favorites of sole meunière and a Grand Marnier soufflé.ST. BARTS
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