Time is measured here in the romantic hum of a prop plane.
It’s so quiet here, so serene, that the only indicator of the hours of the day is the periodic arrival and departure of the tiny planes that are the gateway to St Barth.
It’s easy to get lulled by the calm, abundant beauty, the shake of the palm trees, the indulgent absence of the busy and the frantic.
And even on the endlessly glamorous island of St Barth, where there’s always action and energy, this place is a sanctuary.
Les Ilets de la Plage is hidden away behind Remy de Haenen airport.
You make a right at the St Jean roundabout, enter a code on the keypad and head down a winding gravel road, green fields on your left, the airport on your right.
And when you get here, you discover a tree-covered oasis — the best-kept secret on the island of St Barth.
There are just 11 villas here, some one-bedroom bungalows right on the beach, others multiple-bedrooms tucked in the hills, all just steps from the white sands of St Jean and all impossibly charming.
They’re all equipped with kitchens, Nespresso machines, fridges and everything you need to enjoy what remains one of St Barth’s greatest experiences: visiting the Super U and taking back the ultimate French delicacies right to your villa.
There’s a simple, wonderful routine here: mornings with a book on the sand; strolls alongside the runway; ti’ punches just before twilight; dips in the palm-lined pool; evenings with fresh fish and baguettes and marvelous cheeses.
And the comfort means you feel like you live here, no matter how long you’re staying, temporarily weaving yourself into the tapestry of the French West Indies.
It’s a place that even for most on St Barth remains something of a secret, a place many know about but just as many have never actually seen, one that draws travelers back year after year as their part-time St Barth retreat.
It’s St Barth as it once was, and as it still is.
But the best amenity is that feeling you get, peering out at St Jean, that you’ve found someplace very, very special.
And for a few days, or a week, or a month, it’s yours.
For more, visit Les Ilets de la Plage.