Harbour Island or St. Barts? Please help me choose...
 

[This is really long, I apologize in advance!!] Okay, after hours of research I’ve finally narrowed where DH and I are going to go on our first Caribbean trip down to two places – Harbour Island or St. Barts. Now I just can’t decide which is better – I keep going back and forth, DH can’t decide either and I’d like to get things booked soon (we’re going in Nov. over Thanksgiving). Here are the details . . . Coming from ATL, traveling in late Nov., it will be just the two of us, and we’ll probably stay five nights.

If we go to Harbour Island:
- fly from ATL to NAS ($387 each) and 2 hour ferry to Harbour Island ($110 each round trip)
- we will stay at the Landing ($215/night) or Coral Sands ($260/night)
- pluses – 1) affordable air fare, 2) beautiful beach, 3) nice luxurious hotel
- minuses – 1) maybe not enough to do on the island for 5 days, 2) expensive restaurants seem great but are there any affordable but good food options?, 3) flat island so none of those beautiful vistas from the hillside and no hiking

If we go to St. Barts:
- either fly ATL – CLT – SXM – SBH ($814) or fly ATL – CLT – SXM ($708) and fast ferry to SBH ($110 each round trip plus taxi from airport to dock)
- we will stay at Le Village St. Jean ($136/night)
- pluses – 1) love the charm/French culture factor, 2) like that it is not just a flat island (great views from those hills, we can do a little moderate hiking) but does have great beaches, 3) even if we’re budgeting it seems like we can have good food options (little pastry and grocery shops for bread, cheese, wine; creperies, sandwich shops, etc.)
- minuses – 1) pain in the butt to get from ATL to SBH (from SXM to SBH have to do either a horrible flight in a tiny plane or a ferry everyone warns me about getting seasick on), 2) expensive to get to SBH means less $$ to spend on the island which means a cheaper, non-luxurious hotel

Any advice?? I just can’t decide . . . although I suppose I shouldn’t complain, there are worse choices to have to make than which tropical island you want to go to!!

I've been to St. Bart's and would not go back. I thought the island was lovely but not very friendly. There were lots of food options but I thought the food VERY expensive $35 for hamburger and fries and a coke.

You have to rent a car to see anything and that is also expensive.

Harbour Island, is also beautiful, amazing beach alot of places to eat at reasonable prices and some even cheap good food.

There is a bit of shopping and some of the most friendly people you could ever hope to meet.

The Landing is on the bay side and more of a B&B, there is no pool there. You also might look into The Rock House (www.rockhousebahamas.com), very good restaurant there, and alovely pool overlooking the harbour side of the island, and right next door to The Landing.

Hope this helps a little, have a great time.

I LOVE Harbour Island, I'm also not a big fan of St. Bart's.
They are completely different from each other.
Harbour Island is tiny (3 miles long?) and flat. The town is gorgeous, probably the prettiest in the Caribbean. The beach is stunning, one of the best in the world. It's very laid back, yet upscale. All the resort/hotels and B&B's are nice. You can take day trips to Eleuthera for even more stunning beaches, and a cool bridge.
St. Bart's is hilly, also tiny, actually dramatic looking. Very high end shopping, very upscale places to stay, very expensive island. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I found the people, while not rude, not to be warm or helpful. The food was good, (some restaurants were excellent) but the beaches don't even come close to HI's beaches. Getting to SB is even more adventure than HI. The water can be rough with the ferry. BUT landing in an airplane can give your heart a jolt too! The plane "dips" when it lands, it's quite a feeling!

Late November?
I love the Bahamas, but I would not go in November because it may be too cool for real beach weather, especially by the end of the month.