Anse des Cayes Beach is a north coast beach and one of the most famous beach for surfing. There are plenty of big waves to catch for a full day of surfing. The beach also has a nice stretch of white sand for lounging and watching the surfers. While the water is swimmable, there are far too many coral rocks for my liking, so swim at your own risk!

Anse des Cayes is one of the older, more residential neighborhoods in St. Barth. There are few commercial establishments in the area, with the largest being Hotel Manapany, which has a restaurant and bar. There’s also a small grocery store in the area. The beach here is rocky and windy, making it a popular spot with surfers, who love riding the exposed reef break. As Anse des Cayes is off the beaten path, the beach is never crowded and its untamed beauty is worth exploring. Defined by large, jagged rocks on one end of the beach, Anse des Cayes is the cove to explore if you want to discover the wild, undeveloped side of St. Barth.

St. Barthélemy, or St. Barth, is a small island of volcanic rock, just eight square miles big, in the Caribbean. But this tiny island, with its 14 public beaches, is one of the world’s most luxurious getaways that also manages to feel completely down to earth. An overseas collectivity of France, St. Barth was sparsely populated and rarely visited by outsiders until the 1950s. In the mid-1950s, David Rockefeller, who had spied St. Barth from his sailboat, bought and built his clifftop estate. In 1953, Rémy de Haenen, a Dutch-French adventurer, opened the Eden Rock hotel, and with that, the island was off to the races. In a place where no building is higher than a palm tree and the celebrities blend into the sea, St. Barth has managed to remain unspoiled and genuine. It’s an island where superyachts dock but also where giant turtles swim in secret swimming holes and goats rule the cliffs, all part of the magic of St. Barth.