St Lucia is a 238 square mile island near Martinique where the official language is English. About 150,000 people make their home on St. Lucia. Overall, St. Lucia is a stunningly beautiful island. There are two towering volcanic cones on the southwest coast, called the Pitons, that are navigational landmarks. St. Lucia has beautiful tropical flora along with awesome snorkeling and diving.

Villa Beach Cottages

We highly recommend the Villa Beach Cottages! The units are located directly on Rodney Bay. 

The personal service was wonderful. When we arrived at the airport, Austin greeted us with our jeep. He drove us to the facility, checked us in, and carried our bags to the villa. Colin, the owner, gave us personal suggestions on things to do and places to eat. We can't say enough about this facility.

We rented the "honeymoon suite". It is a new two story unit. 

The downstairs sitting area looked directly out over the ocean.

The kitchen was well appointed with appliances, dishes, pots, etc. 

It was very convenient having a full kitchen at our disposal.

The upstairs master bedroom has a balcony which looks over the sea. 

It is also air conditioned and contains a safe for valuables. It was very relaxing sitting on the balcony and watching the sunset.

The beach on the property is great for swimming. (Not for snorkeling) 

Most of the good snorkeling exists on the south side of the island.

Ladera, St. Lucia

We also highly recommend Ladera for short stays. Ladera is a magical place. 

It is perched on a cliff overlooking the Pitons. Each unit has a plunge pool and an open wall to the wonderful view. 

It is like staying in an elegant tree house. We spent two nights at Ladera and had a great time.

We were in Suite "O". It was located in the middle of the property. The rooms are all located on a ridge that overlook the Pitons. 

As you can see, the king size bed was elevated and very beautiful.

We enjoyed the plunge pool. Nice refreshing dip with a spectacular view.

(There is no better way to drink a Piton beer than to be in the plunge pool overseeing the Pitons!)

The shower was open to the sky. 

Even though you are missing a wall, each room is completely private.

You will see lots of wildlife at Ladera. 

Because of the missing wall, you will see birds and lizards in your room. 

At night we even saw some glowing bugs. 

Each bed has a mosquito net for comfort. 

We didn't find bugs to be much of a problem

The Ladera resort taken from the restaurant.

Taken from Dasheene restaurant at Ladera. We had breakfast and dinner at Dasheene. 

The dinner was great, the breakfast was over-rated. If you are near Ladera you need to at least stop and have a drink at Dasheene. The view is awesome.

Sunset from our room

Our favorite overall beach was at Anse Chastanet. Great swimming, snorkeling, and food. To get to Anse Chastanet you have to drive down a dirt road to the resort. 

But the resort itself is very beautiful. It was one of our favorite places.

Anse Chastanet has a marine reserve to the left of the bay. The snorkeling was very good. We used one of the hotel's chair's for our stuff, but we did have lunch and buy drinks at the resort.

Our favorite snorkeling beach was Anse Cochon. It is located directly in front of the Ti Kaye resort. 

There is a marine reserve to the right of the bay.

Some coral at Anse Cochon

Another decent snorkel site is Anse des Pitons. This is located directly to the right of the Hilton beach. It is a deep snorkel because you are directly up against the Petit Piton. 

There is a very quick drop off from the shore, but there is still some wildlife to see.

St. Lucia is loaded with beautiful flowers. 

Most of these were taken in the southern part of the island.

We visited the The Toraille Falls Botanical Garden. It was a nice little park with beautiful plants. 

We hired a "guide" to walk us through the park. I believe it was only about $2 or $3 and he was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Where should I stay? North or South?

This is a very important question because there is an hour's drive between the Castries and Soufriere areas. In short, the Castries area has almost all of the commerce. Castries has numerous accommodations, shopping centers, beaches, and restaurants. The Soufriere area has the good snorkeling, tourist attractions, and beauty. If you stay in Castries and spend a lot of time in Soufriere then you will be spending at least two hours a day commuting. But if you stay in Soufriere then you are VERY limited on your accommodations and restaurants. (very rural) Our advice is to stay on both parts of the island. If we had to choose between the two, we would pick the Castries area. 

The People

St. Lucia is a very economically depressed island. Recently their banana market has dried up, depriving a lot of islanders of their livelihood. Most people were very friendly and cordial. It seemed that the further south we went the more people approached us for money. Most of the tourist spots have islanders selling items or offering their advice for a donation. We were never harassed. A firm NO sufficed.

Should I rent a jeep?

If you plan on traveling between the north and south you will definitely need a jeep. If you plan on lying by the pool and taking some organized tours, then you might not need one. We love renting jeeps because it gives us freedom to explore the island. The steering wheels are on the RIGHT and the driving is on the LEFT. It was pretty awkward at first, but after a day or so I was used to it. Overall the roads were in very good shape.

What is there to do?

Most of the "tourist" attractions are in the south. There are botanical gardens, waterfalls, sulphur springs, rain forests, snorkeling, diving, shopping, plantations and relaxing on the beach. We particularly liked the Torallie Waterfall park. It was only $2 for entry and was very nice. We did not get to the sulphur springs or rainforest due to time. 

(there is just so much to see) 

What airport should I use?

The airport at Vieux Fort is on the south side of the island. If you fly into Vieux Fort and are staying in Castries, then you can expect an hour and a half drive to your accommodations. 

We flew into SLU (Castries) and it was located within a mile or so of town. It is a little over an hour from the Castries airport to Soufriere.

Where are some good places to eat?

Our favorite place for dinner was Dasheene at Ladera. It has a spectacular view, the food was excellent, and the service was great. 

We also liked the Old Courthouse in Soufriere. It is located on the beach in downtown Soufriere and the food was good and reasonable. 

In Castries we liked Key Largo and Spinnakers. We do NOT recommend The Wharf, next to Villa Beach Cottages. We had such bad service that we walked out.

This is a view of the city of Castries.

The beach to the left is the beach at the Hilton. Around the corner from the beach is a place called "Bang". Very cool little place on the water. Can't really explain the charm. You will have to experience it for yourself.