THE ST. BARTHS NEW YEAR

The St. Barths New Year is the last week of the year at Gustavia, the capital and harbour of St. Barthélemy in the French West Indies, when the yachts of the Caribbean season fill the port and the roads outside it: no one organises it, but by custom a regatta goes round the island on the 31st, and at midnight fireworks go up over Fort Oscar. The island was Swedish for nearly a century, and its capital still carries a Swedish king’s name.

At midnight every yacht in the roads sounds its horn at once.

The Swedish Port

In 1784 Louis XVI traded the island to Sweden, for trading privileges in Gothenburg. The Swedes named its town Gustavia, after King Gustav III, and made it a free port. It is the only island in the Caribbean that was a Swedish colony for any length of time.

It stayed Swedish for nearly a century. After a referendum in 1877 it returned to France, and Sweden sold it back in 1878. The three crowns of the Swedish arms are still in the island’s coat of arms, and it is still a free port.

The airport bears Gustav III’s name too, and since 2015 that of Rémy de Haenen, the aviation pioneer who became mayor. Its runway is very short and its approach steep, over a traffic circle on the top of a hill; a television series once ranked it the third most dangerous airport in the world, and departing aircraft pass low over the bathers on St Jean beach.

Hurricane Irma struck the island in September 2017, and it had recovered by early 2018. It is an overseas collectivity of France, and since 1 January 2012 an overseas territory of the European Union.

The Last Night

The island fills for the last week of the year. Each December, the yacht press says, St Barts becomes the centre of the superyacht world; the season’s yachts lie in the port of Gustavia and in the anchorages around it through the New Year.

On the 31st there is a regatta, which the port describes as one “organised by some sailing enthusiasts each year end, on 31 December, around the island”. In the channel the speed limit is three knots.

At midnight the sky over Fort Oscar is lit with fireworks, and the superyachts moored off the island sound their horns in unison. The parties are private. The island’s largest landowner has had the Black Eyed Peas and Jon Bon Jovi perform for his guests, and Beyoncé and Mariah Carey have sung at Nikki Beach.

On 31 December 2025 a record 226 superyachts gathered in Gustavia Bay, among them Rising Sun, 138 metres, built by Lürssen. In 2026 there is no programme, as there never is; the regatta and the fireworks are expected on 31 December by custom.

What to Know

It is the last week of December, and the night that matters is the 31st. No one publishes dates for it, in 2026 or in 2027.

There are no tickets; what is needed is a berth or a bed.

Yachting attire. Nothing is published; it is a harbour of yachts, and for a dinner ashore the host’s code applies.

The island is reached by small aircraft. Winair flies from Philipsburg, on Sint Maarten, with recent fares of $134 to $374; the aircraft that use the runway, Twin Otters, Pilatus PC-12s, Cessna Grand Caravans and Islanders, mostly carry fewer than twenty passengers.

The mistake is to book late. For the last week of the year the island is full, and those who know it advise booking at least a year in advance.

The Court

The St. Barths New Year is not the Court’s own. A berth, a villa or rooms for the week are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay on the island, and the table afterward. Les Voiles de Saint-Barth brings the island’s sailing back in April.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.