Most of the nightlife starts around the bars at Bay Saint Jean. Locals spend most evenings at Le Select for drinks and chatting. Sometimes there’s live music. Several nightclubs are open for dancing and drinks. Le Petit Club, in Gustavia, and Feeling, in Lurin, offer loud music and a dance floor. The hotels also sponsor Cabaret performances throughout the week in the wintertime.

There is no real cinema, however the locals gather on Saturday nights at the tennis court in Lorient to watch a movie projected onto a painted, concrete wall.

August proves to be the month of festivity. The Festival of Gustavia is August 20 and features dragnet fishing contests, dances and parties. On August 24, the island rejoices over their patron. There are regattas, fireworks and a public ball. On August 25, the Feast of St. Louis is celebrated in the village of Corossol, with a fishing festival, dancing and fireworks. All of which come with the inevitable late night celebrations.

A music festival is held annually in January with two weeks of classical, folk, jazz music and ballet performed by local school children, guest artists and musicians from abroad. Musicians usually come out at night to showcase their talents at the local hot spots.

On the last weekend in April, the St. Bart Festival of Caribbean Cinema, a small, informal festival for filmmakers throughout the Caribbean, shows films in their original language with French subtitles.