Hotel Guanahani & Spa, Saint-Barthelemy

“Where you guys headed?” a friendly American asked, as my husband and I queued to check-in at the airport. “St. Barth,” I replied, with a gigantic smile on my face. “Ah, St. Barth,” he said, a dreamy look slowly spreading on his face. “I say that’s where God goes on vacation. The beaches, the food, the beautiful people!”

Where God goes on vacation? To be sure, the island of St. Barthelemy, a heavenly island in the middle of the Caribbean, is replete with picture perfect beaches, refined cuisine, and of course, beautiful people. It’s also full of small surprises. To enjoy them all, The Hotel Guanahani & Spa, an award-winning hotel managed by the expert hotelier Marc Theze, is an idyllic place to stay.

Check-in to this small luxury hotel, which lies on a private 16-acre peninsula on the northeast side of the island, was a breeze. We were led through a dense tropical garden, scattered with bougainvilleas, hibiscus, and coconut trees, to one of the 68 candy-colored bungalows. After a long travel day of taxis, planes and ferries, we were thrilled to be able to plunge straight into our private pool. Afterwards, we watched the sunset from a pair of chaise lounge chairs on our pool deck. As we swatted away mosquitoes with one hand and sipped from a cold glass of Chablis with the other, my husband spotted something hovering on the deck. It was a turtle about the size of my laptop, munching on a flower petal.

Our comfortable and modern room, Suite No. 20, was situated between the ocean and one of the two tennis courts. I fell sleep to the mild roar of the sea until the ‘ttok’ of tennis balls awoke us around 7:00 AM (the ‘ttok’, and the spirited grunting of tennis enthusiasts, can continue until the flood lights goes off in the courts each night, around 8:00 PM.) No matter, breakfast was on its way! The Continental breakfast at Le Guanahani is generous and wonderful. We couldn’t finish everything on our tray if we tried: dense pastries and a chewy baguette, soft-boiled eggs with rich yolks, yogurt, fruit salad flecked with mango, and a simple cheese plate not unlike the one you might find on a business class flight on Air France.

The spa at Le Guanahani, under the direction of Clarins for body treatments, and a Frederic Fekkai hair salon, is definitely worth a visit, even if you don’t book a treatment (although you absolutely should. Everything about my massage was divine). The spa is an exceptionally peaceful place, teeming with exotic birds around a koi pond.

The two beaches are also peaceful; one with full service on a calm, reef-protected lagoon, perfect for children; the other with dramatic views facing Marigot Bay. There were many, many American families on holiday: dads in Villebrequin swimming trunks tossing squishy footballs to their young sons, and hot moms lounging in gorgeous cover-ups over their designer bikinis. It was tranquil – the din of a few splashes, an occasional giggle here and there, and a French instructor teaching a kid how to windsurf -- until the fashion show started. Beautiful women strutted up and down the beach in beaded cover-ups and flirty floral dresses, winking at my husband. Afterwards, all of the women in the “audience” made a mad dash for the Guanahani Boutique, a surprisingly reasonably priced boutique situated near the Beach Bar, and walked away with bulging shopping bags.

Speaking of bulging, the portions at both restaurants at Le Guanahani are huge. Lunch at Indigo, the more casual of the two, offers a typical afternoon at a top resort – couples cooing after a bottle of rose (or two), unusually well-behaved children fueling their afternoons with chicken fingers or pizza, and adorable French waiters chasing after the not-so-well-behaved children, who were full of salt and sand. My club sandwich, stuffed with smoked turkey, sliced eggs, dressed romaine and tomatoes, was stacked so high that I had to disassemble a layer to take a bite. Dinner at Bar T’O is more formal. The progressive French cuisine, prepared by Executive Chef Philippe Masseglia and French celebrity Chef Guy Martin (as part of the Annual Food Festival hosted by the hotel) was local, seasonal, and superb.

I’d skipped dessert at lunch. Later, back in my room, craving something sweet, I called room service for two scoops of glace rhum raisin. “Fifteen minutes, Madame,” a sleepy Frenchman informed at the other end of the line. A few minutes later, an iguana, the size of, say, a 5-lb chicken, showed up on our pool deck. We were so busy taking pictures of our visitor that we forgot about the ice cream, which simply never arrived. No call, either.

In addition to the turtle and the iguana, there is a house cat named Roussette at the hotel. Generally speaking, Le Guanahani has all the services of a big hotel but general the feeling of a charming small hotel. Or maybe that’s vice versa. Nevertheless, the service itself at the Guanahani can be a bit distracted. For instance, maid service might leave an unemptied bathroom wastebasket perched in front of the TV (which didn’t work during our entire stay. Neither did the wireless Internet in our room). These minor foibles tended to humanize the heavenly environs, rather than make us unhappy. God forgives everything, of course.

One other thing: there’s no point in trying to be on a budget on St. Barth. Le Guanahani is very expensive, starting at 595 EUR per night. You’ll be so relaxed, that the path of least resistance is to order another bottle of rose and forget about it.