We have absolutely enjoyed our stay here. We felt very safe. Locals are very friendly and welcoming.4/19/2018
Bri + Lisa (Mother + Daughter from the US)
Hello all!! We have absolutely enjoyed our stay here. We felt very safe. Locals are very friendly and welcoming. We enjoyed getting rum punches down at Pier 28 while making new friends at night and exploring the many natural attractions during the day. Day 1- Flew in, got settled in here and walked down to get some dinner at Petit Peak. Pretty yummy food, opens late, pretty good prices, friendly staff, pretty views of the sea+ Piton. Day 2- Walked down to Humming Bird Beach + met someone with a water taxi. He brought us to Sugar Beach. We haggled the prices down, don’t be afraid to do that. Once we got there we snagged 2 free beach chairs and got some tropical fresh fruit Pina Colados. Don’t miss out!! Sugar Beach Is beautiful. Day 3-, We climbed Gros Piton! It was challenging but a fun experience overall!! After that we went to Stone Yard for some food then to the beach to chill out! Day 4- Went to the Botanical Gardens and a few waterfalls, oh and to the Sulphur Springs to do the mud bath (go early to the Sulphur springs it gets crowded and the pools are small) The buffet right outside the Botanical Garden is delicious and decently pricedat$US15. Day 5- Simon Says Tours brought us on a custom tour to check the rest of our Soufriere checklist, Jerusalem Falls, Tet Paul Trail, Hotel Chocolat for lunch (lunch is yummy but very expensive) and Anse Mamin Beach. highly recommend the Tet Paul Trail it is very easy to hike and the views are incredible. Plus, you see a lot of the plant life that you see at the Botanical Gardens there. Don’t miss Tet Paul!! Day 6- Today packing up + heading to Gros Islet. We love this Villa and this island. Thank you for everything!! HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!!
NICK & ALISSA …. *CHARLOTTEVILLE, VA* DAY 1…. MARCH 17, SAT. We arrived @ UVF around 1:30pm (Saturday) and our Chauffeurs waiting for us. The drive to Soufriere was windy as everybody stated. He stopped at Massy Grocery Store for us which was a bit overwhelming & my only regret was we didn’t get enough. Picked up some oatmeal, chips, rum, juice and some pretzels for about 145 EC. $54 US figure the exchange. Our driver was nice and knowledgeable. There is not a lot of water options so far. Just the 5- liter jugs @ little markets in town. We ended day one with some local rum drinks on our balcony. Best view & quiet place. WIFI works great, no phone in room may present a challenge. DAY 2…. MARCH 18, SUN. Went to (ZAKA’S) near the main dock for coffee and smoothies. COFFEE IS BOMB!! All the reviews were right. GO THERE! After coffee/ breakfast we walked near the sea and got a water taxi for $50 US roundtrip. His name was Noah. He took us to Anse Chastenet & Anse Mamin beach. It's free we laid our towels on the beach. Not crowded at all, drinks were pricey and not very tasty. We ate at Anse Mamin and walked back down the path to Chastanet. We stopped at the dock in-between and saw some jelly fish, so cool. Food was good vegetarian options too. I got the fig and saltfish burger. It was good piton beer was way cheaper than the cocktails. DAY 3…. MARCH 19, MON Had breakfast at Zaka’s again. Popular tourist spot. We decided to buy the coffee $18 US for making at home and bought the cream they used at the supermarket. Perfect! We had a tour planned through St. Lucia Tropical Adventures.com and went to the botanical gardens, Sulphur bath and Piton falls. Didn’t pay for the Sulphur tour just the bath. I hear it wasn’t worth it. You can ask the tour guides questions. The smell wasn’t to bad and our skin is so soft. I had a pimple on my chin and it went down tremendously after having it on my face for a while. The driver charged us $50 US for most of the day taking us all over. Great company we ate a great lunch at De Belle View near Zaka’s. Restaurant is upstairs. Local prices cheap drinks. The more crowded the longer you wait. Try to time it better than we did (1:30pm) Afterwards we went by the supermarket for 5-liter water. We buy about two every other day. Once again, we love ending the day on our porch on the balcony. DAY 4…. MARCH 20, TUE Had breakfast at Petite Peak restaurant. After breakfast we then went to hike Volga Trail through Stuela Tropical Adventures.com. And the trail was early. $1 US per person. Great Trail. Not too difficult. Great Guide, his name was Danny. Family owns land. He climbed a tree to get us mangoes, so awesome. We went to Sugar Beach for the day. Paid $100 US to get us down but can be used as vouchers for drinks/food. Worth it. A nice guy gave us a suspended bed for the day near the volley ball court outdoor. Very nice and relaxing. Drinks were good! Sugar beach punch= cheapest but really tasty! White sand was beautiful. Very nice beach, great view too. They had a huge floater in the ocean for people to lay on. The jelly fish (clear with black spots) don’t sting. Kids were picking them up we had no idea. We ate lunch/dinner at sugar beach and spent about $211 US for the day. $50 US for driver to take us there and come pick us up. Don’t recommend walking steep and long walk. DAY 5…. MARCH 21, WED Today was our chill day. We went into town to get groceries and did some Soufriere Shopping. It rained most of the day. I know we still could of done whatever but we chose to relax at home, most of the day. We made BLT’s here. Walked down to Ruby’s Pizzeria & Grille for late dinner. Got a veggie and Nick had an Americano. We ordered the rum punch; our waitress was very nice and spoke well. Good Convo 😊. DAY 6…. MARCH 22, THURS We decided to go back to Anse Chastenet and Anse Mamin today. BEACH DAY! is the best. Mamin beach is our fav. We laid on the chairs this time. $16.50 US for 2! Great deal compared to Sugar Beach. The Pina Coladas are really good. So is the banana maguari. YUM! We laid there all day. Got a water taxi for $50 US round trip. Ate at the beach. Overall great day. DAY 7…. MARCH 23, FRI It was another chill day for us. We slept in and relaxed at our home away from home. We did walk into town and bought our third bag of ground coffee from Zaka’s, along with some art for our family / friends. We bought some local chocolate as well to try. Once we were done exploring we headed back to the apartment to freshen up and decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at Orlando’s (near cemetery). 2 menus to choose from, one with fish & vegetarian. Nick got the meat menu and I got the other. You can also substitute on both menus. There were like 5 courses. Great view. We didn’t make a reservation but got there right 6:00 when the chef arrives & we were the first ones there. We skipped drinks and got ice water. Our bill was $132 US. Tip gratuity is included in price. For your information, yes it was a little pricey, but the food was amazing, taste of home & on point, lovely. Tomorrow is our last full day ☹. DAY 8…. MARCH 24, SAT Our last day in St. Lucia what better way to end our trip than a beach day. We went back to Anse Mamin beach for $45 US round trip. It rained for 30-45mins but cleared. We will miss you St. Lucia. Thank you to Janus and Fabian for their hospitality & food😊 NICK & ALISSA Hanna + Tim (from Boston, MA)
- Simon arranged a water taxi for us to and from Anse Chastenet around 3pm (pickup at 9pm after dinner). We drunk at the bar hut by the dock for about an hour, met some locals which was nice. Rented chairs which was $11 USD/pp and sat under an awning (usually first come first serve but empty since it was later in the day) until our dinner reservation @ Aspara at7:00pm. Recommended banana daquiri’s from the bar while at the beach. - Walked over to Aspara restaurant (night on the beach) at 6:30pm (when they opened) to see if they’d seat us early. They didn’t have our reservation but seated us anyways, got our pick of any table, so we sat right on the water. Ended up spending $100 USD/pp after 2 apps, 2 entrees, + 2 cocktail (wouldn’t recommend either*signature cocktail*) But the food was outstanding (Indian-Lucian fusion) that + the view = best dinner of our trip Thanks to Janus for a great Air Bnb experience. Being able to walk to town provided a more local experience than a resort. Hope everyone enjoys their trip to St. Lucia! Hanna + Tim We have had a wonderful stay in this very beautiful apartment. Thank you so much Janus! We are off to Martinique by ferry tomorrow and then coming back here for another 4 days which will be a brilliant way of ending our holiday.
This book proved invaluable and we have followed many of the recommendations. (and are savaging a few for when we return!). We went to Sugar Beach on our first day but were a bit shocked to find they have a new system in place - you have to pay US$50 pp at the gate before they will shuttle you up and down to/from the beach. This is then deducted from the bill for any food and drink ( but doesn’t entitle you to a sunlounger for which you would pay another US$50.00 PP!!) There are free one at the far end of the beach however, it is the most beautiful beach, so not sorry we went although it was an expensive day out! Our favorite beaches have been Anse Mamin (very relaxed and beautiful, sunbeds US$16 PP. Amazing jerk chicken and lunch), and Anse Chastanet where the snorkeling was fantastic on the public end of the beach over the reef. Beautiful fish and so many of them. As others have said the Tet Paul Trail is a must – wonderful panoramic views and very much a community project. We also went to the drive-in volcano which was extraordinary. Both the above can get crowded after 11am as the cruise ships arrive at Castries early and then bus loads of tourist down – so it’s good to get there early-ish The hummingbird beach resort is a very relaxed and friendly place for lunch. Overall we had a wonderful time here and it will be lovely to come back! So the roads look a bit scary but everyone drives very slowly and gives way to each other so it is fine. Thank you so much again Janus! See you again on the 20th Feb….. Sue & Vyv Too busy to write! Should have booked more time.
Alison & Darren If only we had found this place sooner!! WOW! Love the apartment, love the village! We are only passing through St. Lucia, on our way to Dominica but we love Soufriere and might stay for a few more days on our way back in March! If this place had been available longer, we would have done it. We originally thought we would stay a couple days and then head north-but have instead decided to stay in Soufriere a few more days 😊
Couple Helpful things: We did Ruby’s one night for dinner- unfortunately pizza is only on Thurs-Sun and we went on Wed. so we were a little disappointed…however they have the BEST burger we have ever had and the pasta was good to- more $$$ than what we would normally spend but WORTH IT!!! Thurs. Night we went to try Fedos but it’s only open during the day☹ We looked out. We decided to stop at the bar next door for a piton and figured out the next plan & the amazing people there had just had a birthday dinner for their mom and shared their wonderful buffet with us!!! Keep in mind everything is negotiable Price wise, and yes we are all tourists-if the locals can make an extra couple bucks off of us they will 😊 Thank you to Janus and team for this amazing little space 😊 Amy & Robin – Huntsville, Ontario Canada Hello!!!
We did a lot of activities already listed in the guide, so in an effort to save time I’ll just list some tips that you may find helpful
Driving: driving around the island is fun, challenging and essential if you want to be on your own schedule to visit the attractions. If you’ve just arrived and didn’t rent a car, we recommend getting one at least for a couple of days. Text Janus to help organize. Keep in mind that many activities, like waterfalls and hikes have pretty cheap entrance fees. You can actually save money by avoiding organized tour costs. Honking here isn’t rude. Its your way of communicating with other drivers. Honk when going around blind corners to let other know you are coming and put your flashers on if you want the person behind you to pass. You will get passed-local drivers fast on curvy roads Summary We love St. Lucia!!! It is beautiful here and we’ll be back someday. Olivia & Tom Janus is the best host ever and St. Lucia is absolutely amazing!
Sugar Beach – white sand, blue water, perfect spot to relax bring you towels and a cooler and relax on the beach. There is guest parking up the hill and they shuttle you down for free. Marigot Bay – About a 45 minute drive north but so beautiful the views during he drive make it worth it alone. Take a boat taxi to the beach and there are restaurants, party boats, rope swings. Zakas Coffee shop – Zaka and his family are amazing and so hospitable. The coffee and smoothies are soo good and we met some great people. Petit Piton – This hike was intense but so worth it! You can get a guide at the bottom near the entrance of sugar beach and they are so nice and informative. There are rope and some challenging inclines. So not for the faint of hear but I would recommend trying. Soufriere is the most beautiful spot on the island and the people are very nice and helpful. Sunshine nail and spa – gives great massages and ladies are all great. Perfect after a couple of long days in the sun or after a hike. Just be open to suggestions and have fun and you can’t do St. Lucia wrong. Enjoy Thank you Janus!!! Anthony Thanks a lot Janus, we really enjoyed our stay in Soufriere
Food in Soufriere Avoid Pitit Peak for lunch or dinner. It is perfect to have a drink with the Beautiful View but not to eat! Our Favorites: 1. Ruby’s Pizzaria & Grill 2. Fedos 3. Hummingbird for a lunch with special lion fish burger! Ask the chef! 4. Belle View Restaurant And also try the special smoothie at Zaka’s Café Activities 1. Diving with Chester (Action Adventure Divers) 2. Sugar Beach 3. Tet Paul Nature Trail 4. Anse Mamin (Just after Anse Chastanet) 5. Sulphur Springs (early in the morning to avoid the crowd) We have a whole day relaxing at Anse Mamin and we enjoyed it a lot , it’s a beautiful and quiet beach. Try the fish burger! (Chair renting is US$33 for 2) We went by car, road is not good but ok! Diving with Chester US$115 for 2 divers Sophie & Romain France (Scotland /Finland but living in Germany)
Reading that diary, it’s obvious that everybody was pleased with the place and stay. We can happily agree with you all. Thanks to all for the tips concerning the entry prices. We also enjoyed Ruby’s, Fedos and Pitit Peak. Although the best creole chicken dish was at our first accommodation La Haut Resort up on the Hill on the way to Castries. They only serve Lunch though. We enjoyed very good coffee at the Art and craft café opposite Pitit Peak. That place was the most colorful and the owner a nice guy -We miss his coffee mixture – roasting it himself. Excellent coffee also at the view point overlooking the farming village. Dennery. Unfortunately, we did the things as most of you have done. Except we found a beach for ourselves!!! It is Anse L’ivorgne near Choiseul. One of the Gros Piton Hikes starts from there. It is really in the midst of Nowhere. You have to walk about in rein downhill to get there but it was a lovely beach and it was tidy and well taken-care of. One viewing in watched and beyond description, amazing sunset by waterfront. Pity I can’t glue a photo here of it. We were pleasantly surprised at the Super Lunch One day. We arrived there rather hungry but really didn’t want to eat a big meal. So, we ordered from the bar Mini burgers expecting a little burger, but thr portion including 2 small burgers + French fries. Not bad for 18 us in the place. Well, tomorrow we leave this lovely island with many memories and although it is unlikely that we ever come back- NEVER SAY NEVER! Happy days to the next occupant and thank you Janus |
WEATHER IN SAINT LUCIA
While most places in the world have four well-defined seasons, its proximity to the equator means that this is not really the case for the island of St. Lucia. Archives
March 2020
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