exclusive review: cheval blanc st barth isle de france

1/19/2015
Cheval Blanc St­Barth Isle de France | Hotel review (Condé Nast Traveller)
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E X C L U S I V E R E V I E W : C HE V A L B L A N C S
BARTH ISLE DE FRANCE
Secret Deals
The top hotel on St Barth's is beach-fit after an intriguing
makeover
wo rds by V A S S I C H A M B E R L A I N
33 Log In
I A LW A Y S T H A N K the good fortune that took me to
NEELESHWAR
HERMITAGE
St Barth's one Christmas 12 years ago, when a friend
neeleshwarhermitage.com
invited my family to stay. We've been back every year
H Osince,
TELS
Read
more&onHotel in
Paradise
Resort
Topic
Kerala Luxury beachfront
Location
cottages
Tw eet
and
I S L Awhen
N D S I'm away I hanker for it like a lovesick
teenager.
ST BARTS
That first year I fell in love with the beauty of St
Barth's, a perfectly sized, immaculate and hilly island
where there are no Barbados Versailles-like follies or
Mustique Taj Mahals. It's French territory, so gendarmes walk the streets wearing kepi
hats, the supermarkets sell Vacherin and fond de veau and the restaurants (Maya's,
Bonito and L'Esprit Saline are the holy trinity) are better than in the South of France.
In Gustavia (the main harbour where everyone takes a walk at six o'clock each evening
The hotel entrance on Flamands beach
to check out the super-yachts, have a cocktail in the Carré d'Or square and see who's
arrived), the Hermès, Cartier and Louis Vuitton boutiques are always packed, but it's
the kooky shops that I love so much - Calypso for beautiful boho kaftans, or Poupette
for pretty dresses and hessian clutches. The beaches, where everyone is topless, are
perfection, unspoilt by restaurants, shops or ridiculous lunchtime discos. Even Diane
von Furstenberg and Stephanie Seymour lie on towels on the sand, their drinks in
plastic coolers. There is a Nikki Beach, but it's a sorry little spot where the uninitiated
go on their first trip.
The biggest attraction is the people, an extraordinary mix not shy to show their
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1/5
1/19/2015
Cheval Blanc St­Barth Isle de France | Hotel review (Condé Nast Traveller)
plumage, rich and not so rich, beautiful and interesting-looking, extravagant, creative
but most of all excited and hungry for life. It makes me laugh when people tell me
they've heard the social side of St Barth's is too hectic, like St Tropez. The truth is
there's a lot going on, but it's all very chilled and last-minute, with no pretension.
That first year a friend of a friend invited us to a party hosted by Russell Simmons, the
co-founder of Def Jam records. Puff Daddy was there, and Anthony Kiedis of the Red
Hot Chili Peppers and Mary J Blige. The DJ played hip hop and R'n'B; we didn't dare
dance but we felt young and happy. There was a tropical storm as we left, but we kept
the top down on the Jeep and sang in the rain all the way home. Another time we
went to a party on Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's 415ft yacht Octopus, where Jon
Bon Jovi sang.
As in all the best places, there is a grand old lady who has the social scene clutched to
her bosom. The Côte d'Azur has the Hôtel du Cap; here it's the Cheval Blanc St-Barth
Isle de France. Until last year she was just called the St-Barth Isle de France, but she
recently married into the LVMH family which owns the Cheval Blanc hotel trio (
Courchevel and the Maldives are the other two), a union that many old-timers, despite
the newcomer's excellent pedigree, were nervous about.
I had never actually stayed (I'd had sleepovers in friends' bungalows and room service
more nights than I can remember) but because I know many who have, she felt like an
old friend. I've spent many days hanging out drinking rum punches on the beach,
spying Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the restaurant, Marc Jacobs canoodling with a new
boyfriend and Ryan Seacrest turning the music up while the staff weren't looking. The
low-built hotel sits on the perfect arc of Flamands beach, where a few billionaires also
live in discreet houses along the sand. They leave their villas at lunchtime and head for
the hotel, strolling down the beach five-abreast with their important guests like
penguins migrating to the next ice floe.
At first glance, nothing has changed, particularly the
hotel's heart and soul, the staff. They were always young,
charming and professional, only now they're dressed in
cute seersucker uniforms - from Damien on the beach to
Cristelle the manager. The decor (whitewashed French
country furniture and pretty fabrics) has been upgraded
with touches of the palest salmon-pink on everything
from glasses to beach towels. It's a lovely shade that was
meticulously researched and has been used with
restraint, lighting everything up like a young girl's
bedroom.
There are rooms and suites on the beach and bungalows
in the garden at the back. All have huge, modern
bathrooms, and the beds are fluffy and cosy like the kind
you find in a ski resort. Every night a treat was delivered
to our room - an infusion of garden flowers, a beach
bag and flip-flops, a pareo embroidered with my name. It
sounds ridiculously luxurious, and it is; but there's
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2/5
1/19/2015
Cheval Blanc St­Barth Isle de France | Hotel review (Condé Nast Traveller)
lad with fresh tuna
Cre di t: Pi e rre Carre au
something very décontracté about it, like a person who
has been rich for a very long time and no longer needs
to show off about it.
I visited just before Thanksgiving, when the exacting New York crowd was starting to
arrive, and you could see everyone breathe a sigh of relief. All was as it had been, or
even a little bit better. The food in the two restaurants (La Case de l'Isle in the main
part of the hotel by the pool, and La Cabane de l'Isle on the beach) has always been
excellent, and the perfect balance remains unchanged. There is still the same mix of
gazpacho, salmon tartare, the best frites in the world (no exaggeration) and sole
meunière. It's a feat of restraint on the part of LVMH to have understood how good
the product they inherited already was. The old lady of St Barth's has had a little work
done, but she still reigns supreme.
Carrier (+44 161 492 1354; www.carrier.co.uk) offers seven nights at Cheval Blanc St-Barth
Isle de France from £2,355 per person, based on two sharing a Garden Room, including
breakfast, return World Traveller flights with British Airways from Gatwick to Antigua,
onward flights with Tradewind to St Barth's and transfers
This feature first appeared in Condé Nast Traveller February 2015
P u bl i s h ed 1 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5
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3/5
1/19/2015
Cheval Blanc St­Barth Isle de France | Hotel review (Condé Nast Traveller)
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4/5
1/19/2015
Cheval Blanc St­Barth Isle de France | Hotel review (Condé Nast Traveller)
© Condé Nast UK 2015
http://www.cntraveller.com/recommended/hotels/cheval­blanc­st­barths
5/5