Nightlife

Most visitors consider a sunset aperitif followed by a French Creole dinner under the stars enough of a nocturnal adventure. Beyond that, the lounge and live music scenes have exploded, enlivening the once quiet evenings.

In Gustavia, one of the most popular gathering places is Le Select, rue de la France (tel. 590/27-86-87), a 50-year-old institution named after its more famous granddaddy in the Montparnasse section of Paris. It's utterly simple: vaguely nautical decor inside the glorified shanty, though most patrons congregate at tables in the open-air garden (called "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" in homage to honorary St. Barthian Jimmy Buffett), where a game of dominoes might be under way as you walk in. You never know who might show up here -- perhaps Mick Jagger. The place is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 10pm, and Friday to Saturday 10am to 11pm. There's live entertainment weekly, but the schedule is erratic; expect anyone, including Mr. Parrothead himself. Locals adore this classic dive where many a rumor is started on its speedy path around the island.

Bar de l'Oubli, 5 rue de la République (tel. 590/27-70-06), occupies Gustavia's most prominent corner (opposite Le Select), at the intersection that most locals simply term "Centre-Ville." The setting is hip, the color scheme marine blue and white, and the background music might be the Rolling Stones. It's open daily from 7am, when breakfast -- croque monsieurs -- is served to patrons puffing Gauloises while recovering from various stages of their hangovers, to midnight or later, depending on business.

Former French tennis star and singer/performer Yannick Noah is one of the owners of Do Brazil (tel. 590/29-06-66; www.dobrazil.com), right on the Plage de Shell Beach. This bar and café is a great place to hang out after a swim on Shell Beach. It serves a "Zen" menu (French-Thai) as well as French-Brazilian cuisine.

Casa Nikki (Nikki Beach), Baie de St-Jean (tel. 590/27-64-64; www.nikkibeach.com), may well be the notoriously exclusive chain's most decadent outpost. The anything-goes ambience (think runway show-meets-frat party) starts with staffers arguably even more gorgeous than the celeb crowd. They float around in white tees and diaphanous pants by day (changing to less potentially revealing black at night since they often end up in the water). Expect the Hilton girls, Sean Combs, Ivanka Trump, and Mariah Carey competing over who can buy the most champagne to shower fellow guests and recruiting other glam folk to table dance.

Ex-Swedish model Alex Dumas defected from Nikki Beach to supervise proceedings at the Guanahani's sizzling Bar'Tô Lounge, Grand Cul-de-Sac (tel. 590/27-66-60), a virtual U.N. of sights, sounds, and tastes (the latter courtesy of supper menus and desserts from the Bar'tó restaurant next door). Taïno Lounge in the Christopher, Pointe Milou (tel. 590/27-63-63), headlines chanteuse Nilce and pianist Philippe Nardone. Oh, how the sultry Brazilian Nilce smokily wraps her throat around classics from Aznavour to Astrud Gilberto.

Le Bête à Z'Ailes (also known as the Baz Bar) on the harbor in Gustavia (tel. 590/92-74-09) is a happening live music club, where an eclectic assortment of bands play soul, jazz, blues, urban folk, and indie tunes, accompanied by excellent sushi and creative cocktails.

Draped in red, Le Ti St. Barth (Pointe Milou; tel. 590/27-97-71; www.ksplaces.com) calls itself a Caribbean tavern, and the setting, in a pitched-roof Creole-style cottage, manages to be both unthreateningly charming and terrifically sexy at once. DJ Francky spins the tunes, and the theme parties are legendary.

Le Ti St. Barth's Carole Gruson transformed the Yacht Club, 6 Rue Jeanne d'Arc (tel. 590/27-86-39; www.ksplaces.com), into the dawn patrol's favored haunt, with breathtaking harbor views through billowing white drapes, and competitive dressing.