Saint Lucia
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Saint Lucia - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Saint Lucia - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
In front of the resort of the same name and Jade Mountain, this palm-studded, dark-sand beach just north of Soufrière Bay has a backdrop of green mountains, brightly painted fishing skiffs bobbing at anchor, calm waters for swimming, and some of the island's best reefs for snorkeling and diving right from shore. Anse Chastanet Resort's gazebos are among the palms; its dive shop, restaurant, and bar are on the beach and open to the public. The mile-long dirt road from Soufrière, though, is a challenge even for taxi drivers, given its (by design) state of disrepair. Amenities: food and drink; parking (no fee); toilets; water sports. Best for: snorkeling; sunset; swimming.
This dark-sand beach in front of Ti Kaye Resort & Spa is accessible by boat or by jeep via Ti Kaye's mile-long, tire-crunching access road—and then 166 steps down to the beach. The calm water and adjacent reefs, part of the National Marine Reserve, are superb for swimming, diving, and snorkeling. Most catamaran cruises to Soufrière stop here on the northbound leg so that day-trippers can take a quick swim. Moorings are free, and boaters and swimmers can enjoy refreshments at Ti Kaye's beach bar. Snorkeling equipment is available at the dive shop on the beach. Amenities: food and drink; toilets; water sports. Best for: snorkeling; swimming.
The white sand on this crescent beach, snuggled between the Pitons, was imported years ago and spread over the natural black sand. Accessible through the Viceroy resort, or by boat, Anse des Pitons (aka Sugar Beach, Jalousie Beach) offers crystal-clear water for swimming, excellent snorkeling and diving, and breathtaking scenery—you're swimming right between the Pitons, after all. The underwater area here is protected as part of the National Marine Reserve. Neighboring resorts provide shuttle service to the beach for their guests, but if you're not staying nearby, prepare to pay a hefty fee. Amenities: food and drink; toilets; water sports. Best for: snorkeling; sunset; swimming.
Under a brilliant orange roof, this bustling market is at its liveliest on Saturday morning, when farmers bring their produce and spices to town, as they have for more than a century. (It's closed Sunday.) Next door to the produce market is the Craft Market, where you can buy pottery, wood carvings, handwoven straw articles, and innumerable souvenirs, trinkets, and gewgaws. At the Vendors' Arcade, across Peynier Street from the Craft Market, you'll find still more handicrafts and souvenirs.
These splendid gardens are part of Soufrière Estate, a 2,000-acre land grant presented by King Louis XIV in 1713 to three Devaux brothers from Normandy in recognition of their services to France. The estate is still owned by their descendants; Joan Du Boulay Devaux maintains the gardens. Bushes and shrubs bursting with brilliant flowers grow beneath towering trees and line pathways that lead to a natural gorge. Water bubbling to the surface from underground sulfur springs streams downhill in rivulets to become Diamond Waterfall, deep within the botanical gardens. Through the centuries, the rocks over which the cascade spills have become encrusted with minerals tinted yellow, green, and purple. Near the falls, mineral baths are fed by the underground springs. King Louis XVI of France provided funds in 1784 for the construction of a building with a dozen large stone baths to fortify his troops against the Saint Lucian climate. It's claimed that the future Joséphine Bonaparte bathed here as a young girl while visiting her father's plantation nearby. During the Brigand's War, just after the French Revolution, the bathhouse was destroyed. In 1930 André Du Boulay had the site excavated, and two of the original stone baths were restored for his use. Outside baths were added later. For a small fee, you can slip into your swimsuit and soak for 30 minutes in one of the outside pools; a private bath costs slightly more.
One of the earliest French estates established by land grants (1745 and 1764), this plantation still produces cocoa, citrus, bananas, coconuts, and vegetables on 135 hilly acres within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Soufrière. The restored 1864 plantation house is still in use, as well. A 90-minute guided walking tour begins at the cocoa fermentary, and takes you through the chocolate-making process. You then follow a lushly-planted nature trail, where a guide points out various fruit- or spice-bearing trees, tropical flowers, and indigenous birds (and their unique songs). Additional trails lead to old military ruins, a religious shrine, and a vantage point for viewing the spectacular Pitons. Cool drinks and an optional Creole buffet lunch are served after the tour. Souvenirs, including freshly-made chocolate sticks, are sold at the boutique.
On the site of an 18th-century estate, a 250-acre land grant in 1713 by Louis XIV of France, the original plantation house has been rebuilt and a farmworkers' village has been re-created. Both do a good job of showing what life was like for both the owners (a single family owned the land until 1960) and those who did all the hard labor over the centuries producing cotton, coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa. Cocoa, coffee, coconuts, and tropical fruits are still grown on the estate using traditional agricultural methods. On the 30-minute Historical Estate Tour, guides show how coconuts are de-husked and dried for use in a variety of products. On the cocoa side, a guide will cut open a cocoa pod, offering samples of cocoa beans, and demonstrate how cocoa is fermented, dried, polished (by dancing on the beans), and transformed into chocolate sticks. They also offer a 40-minute Rum & Chocolate Tour. The grounds are lovely for walking or hiking, with spellbinding views of mountains and Soufrière Bay. More adventurous visitors will enjoy ziplining beneath Petit Piton and through the adjacent rain forest.
Many feel that Reduit (pronounced red-WEE) is the island's finest beach. The long stretch of golden sand that frames Rodney Bay is within walking distance of many hotels and restaurants in Rodney Bay Village. Bay Gardens Beach Resort and Mystique St. Lucia by Royalton face the beachfront; Harmony Suites is across the road. At Mystique's water-sports center, you can rent sports equipment and beach chairs and take windsurfing or waterskiing lessons. Kids (and adults alike) love Splash Island Water Park, an open-water inflatable playground near Bay Gardens Beach Resort with a trampoline, climbing wall, swing, slide, and more. Amenities: food and drink; toilets; water sports. Best for: snorkeling; sunset; swimming; walking; windsurfing.
The Eastern Caribbean's first open-water-sports park, installed just off Reduit Beach a dozen or so yards from the sand in front of Bay Gardens Beach Resort, thrills kids and adults alike—but mostly kids. They spend hours on the colorful, inflatable, modular features, which include a trampoline, climbing wall, swing, slide, hurdles, and water volleyball net. Children must be at least six, and everyone must wear a life vest. A team of lifeguards is on duty when the park is open.
As you approach Sulphur Springs Park and the crater of the "drive-in volcano," your nose will pick up a strong scent emanating from more than 20 belching pools of murky water, crusty sulfur deposits, and other multicolor minerals baking and steaming on the surface. You don't actually drive all the way in. Rather, you drive within a few hundred feet of the gurgling, steaming mass and then walk behind your guide (whose service is included in the admission price) around a fault in the substratum rock. (Don't worry ... the volcano hasn't erupted since the 1700s, probably because it continues to let off steam.) Following the fascinating, educational half-hour tour, you're welcome to take a quick dip in the nearby hot, mineral-rich bathing pools—they can also be pretty stinky on a hot day, but your skin (and joints) will thank you! You can rinse off under the waterfall.
Rising precipitously from the cobalt-blue Caribbean just south of Soufrière Bay, these two unusual mountains—named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004—have become the iconic symbol of Saint Lucia. Covered with thick tropical vegetation, the massive outcroppings were formed by a volcanic eruption 30 to 40 million years ago. They are not identical twins, since 2,619-foot Gros Piton is taller and 2,461-foot Petit Piton is broader. It's possible to climb the Pitons, but it's a strenuous trek. Gros Piton is the easier climb and takes about four hours round-trip. Either climb requires permission and a guide; register at the base of Gros Piton.
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