Eden Rock - St Barths

A single rock juts into the bay of Saint-Jean, with the runway of Gustaf III airport at one end of the beach and the reef at the other. On that rock in the 1950s Rémy de Haenen built the house that became Eden Rock - St Barths, the first hotel on an island that then had no electricity grid and few roads. The hotel still occupies the promontory, with its rooms running down both sides of the rock to the sand.

History

Rémy de Haenen was a Dutch-born pilot and trader who, in 1945, made the first landing of an aircraft on St Barths, on the grassy strip at Saint-Jean that became the airport. He bought the rock in the bay and built a house on it, opened it to paying guests in the early 1950s, and went on to serve as mayor of the island from 1962 to 1977. Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes were among the early visitors. In 1995 the British couple David and Jane Matthews bought the property and rebuilt it as a hotel of real standing, adding villas and an art collection. Eden Rock joined Oetker Collection in 2014. On 6 September 2017 Hurricane Irma, a category 5 storm, destroyed most of the hotel; it closed for two years, was rebuilt almost entirely, and reopened in November 2019.

Architecture and design

The buildings follow the rock. The original house crowns it, with the restaurant and bar on the terrace below; rooms and suites step down to the beach on either side, in white render and timber with red or grey roofs. Interiors mix the Matthews family's collection of modern art and photographs with teak, white linen and sea views from almost every bed. The post-Irma rebuild kept the layout and raised the standard of construction against future storms.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 37 rooms, suites and villas. The rooms on the rock itself look straight down into the water; the beach suites open onto the sand of Saint-Jean. Villa Rockstar, a six-bedroom house at the end of the beach with its own recording studio, and Villa Nina, with a private pool and direct beach access, are the largest houses. Most suites have terraces or private plunge pools.

Dining

Sand Bar, on the beach, is a collaboration with the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and serves lunch and dinner with a wood-fired oven, grilled fish and raw plates. Rémy, named after the founder, is the restaurant and bar on the rock, with a terrace facing the sunset over the bay. The hotel's cellar is one of the deepest on the island. Breakfast is served on the terrace above the water.

Wellness

The spa uses products from Ligne St Barth, the island's own botanical skincare house, in treatment rooms and on request in the villas. Guests swim and snorkel from the beach, and the hotel arranges boats for the day to Colombier or the islets off Gustavia. There is a fitness room, and the beach at Saint-Jean is the island's gentlest for swimming.

Weddings and events

Eden Rock hosts weddings on the beach and on the rock terrace, with Sand Bar and the villas taking the dinner and the wedding party. The whole hotel can be booked for a private celebration, and Villa Rockstar is the usual base for a family taking over the beach end. Meetings are informal and small; there is no dedicated conference room.

Location

The hotel sits on the bay of Saint-Jean on the north coast of St Barths, two minutes from Gustaf III airport, whose short runway is served by small aircraft from St Maarten and Guadeloupe. Gustavia, the capital and harbour, is ten minutes by car. The island's shops and restaurants cluster around the beach of Saint-Jean, within walking distance of the rock. For a luxury hotel in Saint-Jean, the airport next door is less of a nuisance than it sounds: the planes are small and the runway closes at sunset.