The harbor of Gustavia on St. Barthelemy is without a doubt one of the prettiest and best-maintained in the Caribbean. The island was the region's sole Swedish colony for almost a century, and the port was named after the 18th-century king Gustavus III. While a few Swedish architectural accents can still be spotted, today the town is thoroughly French in character.  

St. Barths (as the island is best known) has several beaches with little or no construction lining the sand. Anse du Gouverneur is reached by an improbably steep road, or by swimming ashore from a yacht.  

On the terrace of Le Toiny, one of the island's top hotels, a quintet of bottles filled with rum and fruit steep in the afternoon sun. They'll make a fine elixir to be served following an evening of gourmet cuisine at the hotel's acclaimed restaurant.  

Although St. Barths is known for its refined dining, uber-hip Nikki Beach Club draws crowds for sushi, tall drinks, beach-side tables, and a deejay who keeps the venue bubbling through the afternoon.  

The port of Gustavia is a superb natural harbor, and in winter—especially during the Christmas season—the bay fills with mega-yachts of the rich and/or famous.  

The beach at Grand Cul-de-Sac is slender, so the chic hotel Le Sereno rolls out daybeds to take in sea views, usually punctuated by toned wake boarders who speed effortlessly through the breezy bay.  

Wild and blissfully undeveloped, Anse de Grand Saline serves a beach-lover's most sybaritic dreams, with bouncing waves and a gently percolating social scene. It's also St Barth's semi-official nude beach, though there are subsections within—following the short path past the salt ponds, hip/gay tend to swing left, newcomers usually head right.  

St. Jean Bay is the island's de facto hub, an arc of sand defined on one end by St. Barth's abrupt airstrip and on the other by Eden Rock, the outcrop topped by the island's oldest hotel.  

The restaurant La Langouste, owned by an island original, Annie Ange, is the place to try the Caribbean's spiny lobster. The crustaceans are secured from local fishermen and served simply, Creole style, alongside the dreamy beach Flamands.  

Eden Rock is the island's scene stealer, a hotel that opened in the 1950s and drew St. Barth's first celebrities, loners like Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes. The English couple David and Jane Matthews acquired the rock in 1995 and lavished many euros upgrading the facilities and adding two superb restaurants, while maintaining its quirky character. The result is one of the most distinguished hotels in the Caribbean.  

Take in the sunset from the harbor's edge at Gustavia.