This hotel, tucked down a narrow road just beyond Le Guanahani, is St.Barth's 'downtown' resort. It was designed by Christian Liagre, and reflects his slightly pensive sleek and streamlined tone. If you're at home at the Mercer or its bretheren, you'll be at home here.
The restaurant is cast in a similar mold, with a slimmed down menu that would be at home in Paris or New York: salad, tartare and carpaccio, pasta (homemade and very good), seafood, and steak. Culinary bonus: Two great beach-shack restaurants, O’Corail and La Gloriette within flip-flop walking distance.
Le Sereno is on a shallow bay (above, an overview)--a quarter mile off the beach the water is just knee-level--courtesy of a reef across its mouth. The resort beach is narrow and short, but Liagre came up with a deft solution: a 20-meter-long lap pool surrounded by an expansive lounging deck and ranks of palms, in effect a piazza (below). What the lagoon does have is wind--this side of the island is a wind- and kite-surfer's paradise.
The rooms to get are one of the 15 Grand Suites Plage (above, numbers 20-35, 700 sq. ft./70 sq. m.). They are open-plan, with a bedroom (four-poster) raised two steps above the living room and with an outdoor lounging area that is private enough (high hedges on either side and not visible from the beach) to allow anxiety-free naked lounging (below). The higher the room number, the farther out is the room on the lagoon. There are also three deluxe suites (own pool, butler, large communal spaces, three bedrooms), in effect, your own compound.
The rest of the room categories are a bit air-brushed in THD's opinion. The five Grand Suites Plage Sud (400 sq. ft. are not really suites but rather doubles in the style of the Grand Suites Plage. They face the resort water-sports area.
The 12 Bungalows Piscine (rooms 7 to 18), the basic category (350 sq. ft./35 sq. m.), are double rooms in the garden with some jazzy touches (large bathrooms with rain-head showers).
The resort's casual, come-as-you-are approach appeals to European families, judging by the number of them staying at Le Sereno in July. This is a luxury property that sees travel as mentality trumping nationality.
