Without question, St Barth is one of the world’s most romantic destinations. Soft white sand beaches. Bright blue water. Shady palm trees. The island’s natural treasures alone make it a perfect escape with a loved one. Add some exotic hotels, and you have a serious romantic getaway. Caribbean Lounge rated St Barth’s most romantic accomodations. What are you waiting for? Go check it out and book a trip for you and your parter today.

Billy Joel is a regular to lovely St Barth. Like many celebrities, Joel has spent many-a-holiday relaxing in the beautiful Caribbean paradise. However, as he tells Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph, sometimes he takes off to St Barth to escape the troubles of home. He shared with them a nice little St Barth anecdote.

“It was on this little island, St Barts, and I was going through a divorce, and sitting in this little bar playing the piano I looked up and there’s Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley and Whitney Houston. I looked back down at the piano and said, ‘Thank you, thank you so much. I love you, man.’ It’s (the piano) been my best friend.”

Tough crowd, bud. Despite the divorce, looking out at Elle, Christie and Whitney has to have a guy feeling pretty good about his future prospects. The Piano Man actually went on to marry Christie Brinkley (the subject of his hit, Uptown Girl), although they too later divorced. Gotta love St Barth: the home to celebrity romance and impromptu dive bar Billy Joel concerts.

The Eden Rock Hotel’s Villa Nina suite was named to Elite Traveler’s 2008 list of the 101 Top Hotel/Resort Suites in the world. (Check out the full list here). With a price tag of $76,100 for a week, the Villa Nina is one of twenty-nine suites on the list commanding $10,000/night. Expensive? Absolutely. But Villa Nina’s not quite in the same league as the list’s priciest accomodation, the Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, which can be yours for a mere $52,000 a night.

The 6,000 square foot, oceanfront Villa Nina features two pools, an art gallery, home theater, personal chef and butler service. You can also use the Villa Nina’s own Mini Cooper to zip around St. Barth. Check out more pics after the jump.

Monaco…Cote D’Azur…Ft. Lauderdale. These three locations are quite possibly the worlds most prominent yachting destinations in the world. This is where the players play and it is never a shock to come to port and see twenty 150 footers nestled neatly together, all of which adorn beautiful womens names or clever hints to which captain of industry is aboard. It seems that St. Barths is picking up some steam in the battle to become the worlds premier yachting destination.

We uncovered these revealing photographs of the “mysterious” Rockefeller Estate in Columbier. The property is filled with rumors and “make-it-up” theories about who currently lives there, who has owned the property in the past and the Rockefeller’s stake years ago in the island.

Sources say that the estate was completed in the early 1960’s by a design team who kept their field office in St. Maarten. The Rockefeller’s were also rumored to own close to one-third of the land on St. Barths at one point. This rumor is constantly disputed and the fact of the matter is that no one knows the true identity of the owner of the mass quantity of land.

In the mid-1990’s it was heavily rumored that Sylvester Stallone himself snatched up the peninsula estate. However, he did not hang on to it for too long.  The talk is that Harrison Ford took ownership of the uniquely designed property earlier this year. Perhaps Ford, if he is indeed the current owner, will hang onto this private waterfront sanctuary a little longer than Stallone did.

A very interesting piece of this property is that odd structure to the right of the main house in the image above. It appears to be a modified pyramid shape. This was constructed along with the house to be a private art studio. Views like that are sure to inspire.

The 20^th Annual Reader’s Choice Awards from the Conde Nast Traveler are in! Conde revealed the results and polling data to the public in their November issue of the popular travel magazine. The size of the sampled population was huge this year, in fact the largest ever, at 28,000 readers. Conde Nast threw a gala on Wednesday, October 10^th in NYC at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum to celebrate and announce the results to insiders and guests.

In the category “Top Islands – Caribbean / Atlantic”, St. Bathelemy was recognized as the third favorite by the readers. Second place was secured by St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, while the pink sand beaches and the shorts, knee sock and blazer outfits of Bermuda won over the readers hearts for first place. We are not upset at our Third Place finish though because we all know sample data may get skewed. An example is in the case of Jet Blue taking home the first place for the “Domestic Route Airlines” category even after their disastrous past year in the United States. Don’t worry St. Barths, you are number one to us!

We recently recieved a PR from Nils and Susanna documenting the grand opening plans for their new boutique style shop in St. Barths. Branded “The Swedish Design Center of St. Barthelemy”, the shop will feature unique design accessories, home furnishings, jewelry and other art inspired items from Sweeden. The Grand Opening is scheduled for the end of November and will be opening in Les Almandiers, St. Jean.

Nils and Susanna are the only establishers of a shop on the island that allows guests to purchase unique Swedish goods and will also be the exclusive sales center for established and up-and-coming artists. Unique products such as glass ware, home furnishings, jewelry, furniture and more will be available for purchase by clientele.  Nils and Susanna have a great knowledge of traditional Swedish culture and style and their connections with Swedish designers will ensure a unique store to say the least. If you would like to contact Nils and/or Susanna feel free to send them off an email at: sbhse22@yahoo.fr. Remember, the shop opens the end of November…we can’t wait to see the unique goods Nils and Susanna will be offering.

In the late years, the traditional wedding has dramatically changed. Having ones wedding local has become boring and dull, so to spice things up Brides and Grooms are now flying themselves and guests to exotic locations to undertake the ceremonies of marriage. Rolling hills, breaking waves and tropical foliage are just some of the many attractions that draw those in love to exotic destinations around the world for their very special day.

If those who are engaged are drawn to exotic beauty, it is no surprise that St. Barts is an area that will clearly attract attention. The amount of persons wed in the island has dramatically increased and having the ceremony on the island has gotten so popular that local consultants, such as Premium IV, have even surfaced to assist foreigners of the island through the process of ceremonial marriage. Premium IV is the islands premier wedding consultants with over 120 contracted partners and also offers 450 services.

The legal issues of a St. Barts wedding is unique and much different from one in The States of in Europe. A wedding in St. Barts is considered a spiritual ceremony. This is in direct contrast of most other counties where the wedding is viewed as a legal ceremony. If one is considering planning a memorable St. Barts wedding it is highly recommended to check local and foreign laws as well as use a consultant on the island such as Premium IV.

Flying to and from St. Barth is quite the adventure. Very small aircraft, a very small runway combined with the unique runway positioning makes for breathtaking take-offs and landings. The runway is positioned in such a way between a hill and the beautiful ocean, no matter which way the landing takes place it will be an experience.