St Lucia – The Caribbean Destination with West Indian Life

The mountainous island of St. Lucia surely captures your heart and attracts your mind for the most memorable vacation tour on the Caribbean. Oh! Here, I am not referring to only the Caribbean style beaches, because that’s a wrong impression to think as the only worthy attraction on a Caribbean holiday. What add to its glory are the rainforest interior for hiking; undulating hills of volcanic mountains, rising Pitons from the waves, national park for walks and sandy beach, glorious reggae, good diving and sailing, and much more.

My experience says that there is a beach and hotel according to each visitor’s choice and that you can easily spot yours.

St. Lucia Tourist Attractions

Castries

This is the capital with a harbor and a crater of a dead volcano. Filled by new steel buildings, the architectural visits are hardly here due to the damage to the French and Victorian look of the old buildings in fires.

• Public Market
  This is among the most alluring people-watching site filled with hustle and bustle every day except Sunday among which it is most active on Friday and Saturday mornings. Watch out the market stalls stretching from Columbus Square along Peynier Street until toward the water. See the local women in traditional dress with cotton headdresses on which the number of tangled dots on top tells about their marital status.
• Do buy a kind of bananas from among the varieties, which ripe on the tree giving you a different taste as compared with those pulled green in the United States. If you wish, take home some St. Lucian handicrafts such as baskets and non-finish pottery.
• Derek Walcott Square
  This is an imposing rectangle flanked with the public library and the most visible Catholic Church, the Cathedral. Named after Derek Walcott who was born here in 1930 and obtained a Nobel Prize for literature, the park has dedicated plaques.

  

• Another plaque is dedicated to another island star, Sir William Arthur Lewis (1915-1979) who won a Nobel Prize for economics and now appears on some of the nation’s EC$100 bills. The plaques lie within the shade of a 500-year-old Simontree, a regional name for the regional species.
• Cathedral
  Located at the edge of the park, this is a French religious building built in the 19th century from wrought iron, cast iron, and stone. West Indian iconography can be noticed here along with a remarkable wall of the frescoes marking the Martyrs of Uganda who were slayed by the army of the dictator Idi Amin.
• Morne Fortune
  Literally meaning the Hill of Good Luck, this place has, in contrast, witnessed Caribbean battles between the French and the British in the 18th century.
• For the visitors, there is a military cemetery, a museum, the ancient powder magazine, the Four Apostles Battery, and the Government House of Victorian architecture. Further, explore the private beautiful gardens with red and purple bougainvillea, a most picturesque perch, and a panoramic view from the north to Pigeon Island or south to the Pitons or even the island of Martinique on clear times. Reach here by taking the east on Bridge Street.
• Pigeon Island National Historic Park
  This is the first national park on the island connected by a land bridge. With two white sand beaches on its west, the park offers a restaurant, Jambe de Bois. Pigeon Island, occupying only 18 hectares, obtained the so-called name from the red-neck pigeon, the ramier that were present in huge numbers. Today, it is the home of a Sandals Hotel and offer attractive views.

Soufriere

This is the second largest town in St. Lucia holding two famous sharp hills named Petit Piton and Gros Piton, also called the volcanic cones. Emerging to 738 m and 696 m respectively from the sea, they are so famous that form the emblem of the island. These were once the active volcanoes made from lava and rock, but now sheltered in lush foliage. Because their location in the sea, they form an attractive sight evident for miles with surf colliding at their bases. Try climbing these 40-million-year-old hills for the best views in the southern Caribbean. However, try this only on Gros Piton and that needs permission of the Forest and Lands Department and a guide.

Next, we headed towards the popular volcano, Mount Soufriere, which is a rugged lunar site full of fizzy mud and millions-of-years-old sulphur craters. We reached here by driving along a twisting forested road. After parking at the parking lot, we walked uphill along an observed trail sprinkled with rangers and observation sites for the view of the close by sulfur springs and steams. Among the steams, the most evident is the Gabriel’s Pool named after a tour guide, Gabriel, of 1960s who collapsed on the dusty surface of the mud near the hot springs. Since then, visitors are not allowed to go too close to the depths. Admission fee to the crater and pools costs $2.60 including the guide service. Timings are daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

Marigot Bay

Located 13 km south of Castries, this is the yachters’ retreat on the west coast along with some most beautiful background shots. Considered as one of the most wonderful bay in the Caribbean, the palm-fringed shore was once the land of the Carib soldiers prior to 400 years ago. It is an unspoiled coast ideal for picnic where the two sides of bays are linked via any time ferry service.

Rainforest Sky Ride

This is the best scenic ride in form of a Rainforest Aerial Tram on the island. Sit in an open-air Gondola along with a guide and safely fly over the trees of the rainforest, dense vegetation, flowers such as lavender stars, orange bursts, and white magnolias. The fees are $72 for adults and $62 for children under 15. This is one among the other rainforest pleasure trips offered by Rainforest Sky Rides.

Best Time to Visit St. Lucia

In winter from December to March

St. Lucia Accommodation

• Almond Morgan Bay – Standard
• Anse Chastanet – Budget
• Auberge Seraphine – Budget
• Bay Gardens Beach Resort – Budget
• Bay Gardens Hotel – Budget
• Jade Mountain Resort at Anse Chastenet – High end
• Sandals Regency La Toc Golf Resort & Spa – High end