Le Select Bar St Barts: History, Drinks & Why Everyone Goes
Le Select Bar St Barts: History, Drinks & Why Everyone Goes
Open since 1949. The oldest bar on the island. The place where local fishermen and visiting billionaires have always sat at the same tables, drunk the same beers, and watched the same street. Le Select is the most important place to have a drink on St. Barts — and it costs less than five euros.
The History of Le Select
Le Select opened in 1949, making it the island’s oldest continuously operating bar. It was there before the superyachts, before the boutiques, before the famous visitors — when St. Barts was a poor, isolated French outpost where fishing and subsistence farming were the main activities. In those years, Le Select was where the islanders came to drink, talk, and watch whatever passed on the street.
That function hasn’t changed. The bar is still an open-air terrace on Rue de la France in central Gustavia. The chairs are still simple. The menu is still beer, rum cocktails, and basic snacks. The difference is that the people watching now includes some of the wealthiest individuals in the world — and the bar treats everyone identically. That is Le Select’s whole charm.
The Jimmy Buffett Connection
Le Select has an unlikely cultural footnote: Jimmy Buffett reportedly wrote “Cheeseburger in Paradise” inspired by a meal at Le Select — or at least by the general energy of the bar and the food. The connection is celebrated with mild pride on the island. Whether the origin story is entirely accurate is less important than the fact that it has made Le Select one of the few bars in the world with a song named for its ambiance.
What to Order
- Local Lorraine beer: The island’s local brew. Cold, light, unremarkable, perfect. €4–5.
- Ti-punch: The Caribbean classic — local rum, lime, cane sugar, drunk fast. The correct local drink order.
- Planter’s punch: For those who want something longer and more tropical.
- The food: Simple snack bar menu — burgers, sandwiches, basic French café fare. Honest and appropriate for what Le Select is.
When to Go
Le Select works at any time of day but is at its best in the late afternoon — from around 5pm when the island’s working day is ending, the light is softening, and the street traffic is at its most interesting. The mix of locals finishing work, sailors from the harbour, villa staff on their evening off, and visiting guests fresh from the beach creates the atmosphere that Le Select has always had. Go. Order a beer. Sit outside. Watch. This is the island at its most honest.
Don’t be in a hurry. Le Select is not a bar you drink at for efficiency. It is a bar you sit at. Order another round when the first is done. There is nothing you need to do next that is more important than this.
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