How Much Does a Taxi Cost in St. Barth?
No Uber, no Lyft, no apps. Forty-nine licensed drivers, a price list set by the Collectivité, and a few local habits worth knowing before you arrive. Here is what we actually pay around the island.
We get this question more than any other. People land at SBH, see the taxi stand, and want to know what they are about to pay. The honest answer is that almost any ride on the island lands somewhere between 30 and 65 euros during the day. St. Barth is small enough that the longest run from one corner to the other rarely tops 25 minutes. Add 5 euros after 6:30pm, on Sundays and on holidays. Add 10 euros between midnight and 6am. That is most of what you need to know.
The rest of this page is the detail. We list the most common routes from the airport and from Gustavia, explain how standby works for evenings, and share a few habits we have picked up living here. The full regulated table is on our St. Barth taxi rates page, and you can browse drivers by area on the complete taxi directory.
What we pay during the day (6am to 6:30pm)
For day rides we count around 30 euros for the short hops out of the airport, 35 to 45 for the popular beaches, and 50 to 55 for the far corners like Toiny. The table below covers the routes we book most often. Numbers are reference prices for a standard taxi carrying one to four passengers.
| From | To | Daytime fare |
|---|---|---|
| SBH Airport | Gustavia | ~30 EUR |
| SBH Airport | St-Jean | ~30 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Lorient | ~35 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Flamands | ~40 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Colombier | ~45 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Saline | ~45 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Gouverneur | ~45 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Grand Cul-de-Sac | ~50 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Pointe Milou | ~50 EUR |
| SBH Airport | Toiny | ~55 EUR |
| Gustavia | Saline beach | ~35 EUR |
| Gustavia | Gouverneur beach | ~35 EUR |
| Gustavia | Flamands | ~35 EUR |
| Gustavia | Grand Cul-de-Sac | ~45 EUR |
| Gustavia | Toiny | ~50 EUR |
These rates come from the 2024 Collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy fare grid, the most recent published version. Drivers may adjust slightly depending on vehicle type, season, and how busy the day has been.
If you are five or more, ask for a van when you book. The bigger vehicles run a small premium, but it saves splitting your group across two cars. One small thing worth knowing: if you see taxis lined up at the airport when you land, do not assume they are free. Most are already waiting for someone with a pre-booked transfer. Always ask the driver before getting in. Same logic at the Gustavia ferry dock when boats from St. Martin or St. Kitts arrive.
After 6:30pm: the evening 5 euros
From 6:30pm onwards, every fare goes up by a flat 5 euros. The Gustavia to Saline run that cost 35 euros at 5pm becomes 40 euros at dinner time. Same for Sundays and French holidays, even when they fall in broad daylight. Sundays are quieter than weekdays. Fewer drivers work, and the ones who do still add the surcharge.
This is when standby starts to matter. After 6:30pm most cars switch over to restaurant work, picking up a couple at their villa, dropping them at Bonito or Le Tamarin, then waiting in the lot until the meal is over. The street stand in Gustavia thins out fast. If you ride with a driver during the day and like them, save their number. Calling someone you have already met is faster than going through the stand at 11pm. A WhatsApp message with pickup, destination and time is easier for a driver to confirm than a voice call between two other rides.
+5 EUR Evening, Sundays, holidays
Flat 5 euros on top of the daytime fare. Applies any time after 6:30pm and all day on Sundays and public holidays.
Midnight to 6am: a thinner night
After midnight the surcharge climbs to 10 euros, but the bigger issue is supply. Most drivers stop around 1am or 2am once restaurants close. Between then and sunrise, only a handful are available, mostly the ones who have arranged a pickup in advance. If you are flying out on the early SXM connection at 7am, do not assume a taxi will be sitting at your hotel. Pre-book the night before, or sort it through your hotel concierge the day before.
For early-morning airport runs we usually arrange the same driver who dropped us off the previous evening. It is the cleanest way to lock it in. Otherwise send us a WhatsApp message the day before and we will match you with someone who covers the night slot.
+10 EUR Night (midnight to 6am)
Few cars on the road. Pre-booking is not optional, it is the system.
Reference numbers from the official 2024 Collectivité grid. On the ground, expect a few euros up or down based on the driver, the car, and the time of year.
High season changes everything
December through April is intense. Christmas and New Year week are the peak: hotel transfers get pre-booked weeks ahead, restaurant standby slots disappear, and walk-up rides at the stand become a real gamble after 7pm. We pre-book everything during this stretch. During Bucket and Voiles de Saint-Barth in March and April, the island fills up again with crews and owners, and taxi waits double across the board.
Be honest with yourself about the festive weeks. From just before Christmas through early January there are basically no taxis free at all. On New Year's Eve it is close to impossible to find a ride if you have not booked ahead. Fares climb too, often 30 to 50 percent above the normal rate, simply because demand far outstrips the number of cars on the island. If you are visiting during these weeks and do not have a rental car, sort out your transport well before you fly. The Bucket Regatta in March brings the same crunch.
If you are staying at one of the hotels, use them. Most keep their own WhatsApp group with trusted drivers. The Eden Rock concierge can usually get a car to your villa faster than the public stand. Same goes for Cheval Blanc, Le Toiny and Le Sereno. Restaurants in Gustavia, Saline and Lurin keep a few drivers on call for their guests too. When we book a dinner at Bonito or Eddy's, we just ask if they can arrange the return ride. Saves a lot of stress at 11pm.
Standby: the evening default
Standby is genuinely the easiest way to do dinner. You book a driver for a block, usually two to four hours. They pick you up at the villa, drop you at the restaurant, park nearby and wait. You text when dessert is done. No taxi-hunting in the dark, no surprise wait, no calls into voicemail.
Pricing tracks the season, but it never drops below 200 euros per hour. In the slower months from May to October, count on around 200 euros per hour. Through November and early December, and again after Easter, expect 220 to 250 euros per hour. Mid-December through April is the high band, 250 to 300 euros and up, with the very top rates landing on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and the busiest February weeks.
It makes sense most often for dinners at the far-flung places like Le Toiny, Santa Fe, or O'Corail in Grand Cul-de-Sac, and any time you are four or more, when split across the table the cost stops feeling extravagant. To set one up, call a driver from our directory or message us and we will line one up for the night.
Why the prices are fixed in the first place
Forty-nine licensed drivers serve an island that sees hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. Without regulation the math would get ugly fast, especially during peak weeks at the airport. The Collectivité sets a price for each route, and the price holds whether you flag a car at the stand, ask the front desk to book one, or call the driver yourself.
There are no meters in the cars. The official tariff sheet lives in the glove compartment, and any driver will pull it out if you ask. This same licensing setup is the reason Uber will not appear here any time soon. For the wider picture on transport, our getting around guide covers it.
About tipping
Tipping is not part of the system here, which surprises a lot of American visitors. The fare is the fare, and it includes what the driver takes home. You will not get a sour look for paying the exact amount. That said, two to five euros is a polite gesture when a driver hauls four big suitcases out of the trunk, waits longer than booked during a standby, gives you genuinely good restaurant tips on the ride, or takes a small detour to drop someone off first. Anything over that and you are over-tipping.
Paying the driver
Cash in euros works everywhere. Most drivers prefer it and some only accept it. A growing number carry mobile card terminals, but coverage is patchy and we would not bet a late-night ride on it. If paying by card matters, mention it when you book so the dispatcher sends a driver who is set up for it.
For cash, the airport ATMs are convenient on arrival. In Gustavia you have BNP Paribas, Banque Populaire and Crédit Agricole within a few blocks of the harbor, and the Marche U supermarket in St-Jean has a machine in the parking lot. US dollars are sometimes accepted but at conversion rates that quietly hurt. Stick to euros. And try not to pay a 30-euro ride with a 200-euro note. Drivers carry change for 50s but anything bigger is a hassle.
Specific transfers we wrote about
If you want the full breakdown for a particular route, with timing and a few notes about the area:
Frequently asked questions
Ready to book a taxi?
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