When the calendar turns to late December, a long list of the world’s most rich and famous people congregate on a tiny island in the Caribbean. St. Barts, also known as St. Barths and Saint Barthelemy, has become the premier holiday destination for royalty, billionaires, and A-list celebrities who want to celebrate the season in the tropics. My video above shows yachts encircling the island days before Christmas as my plane nears the runway at the capital of Gustavia.
St. Barts is an overseas collectivity of France; it was named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 for his brother. The capital, meanwhile, got its name from the Swedish king Gustav III in the 18th century following the sale of the island by the French to the monarch’s country. France bought it back during the following century.
Due to its small size, St. Barts’ doesn’t have many residents: It presently has a permanent population of around 7,000 people, the majority of whom live in Gustavia. St. Barts is part of the Leeward Islands and is southeast of Saint Martin and Anguilla.
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