Thank you (tons!) Janus, our trip to St. Lucia was amazing. The Villa was “over the top”, cannot beat the view, the pool – felt like home.
Highlights of our trip; mud baths (must go early to beat the crowds – opens at 8am). Then go to the Piton waterfall to clean off in mineral water; sugar beach “swim with the view” snorkel; relaxing at the villa pool; walk into town the locals are wonderful people; we did not hike up the Pitons but did a smaller hike (45mins) Tet Paul Nature Trail. Beautiful views and excellent tour guide; Botanical garden with water fall (no swimming in falls) and mineral baths. Again go early for private experience. Opens at 10am; small motor boat trip up the north coast. Nice views and good way to see the island. Food choices – for a nice dinner go to Boucan; farmers market in town for fresh local fruit; Zaki for coffee, smoothies and energy herbs. Now we cannot say enough things about Janus and his staff. Private excursions anywhere on the island you only need to plan 1 hour in advance. We went on an excursion all morning, then came back to the Villa relaxed and someone picked us up for dinner and returned us back to the villa. Personal local experience drivers and tour guides. We have traveled many places and the care we go from Janus was “unexpected” off the planet “top rate”, “Fantastic”. And so much more. We learned so much about St. Lucia, relaxed and had a perfect vacation. Thank you Janus & Staff Lori and Nancy So many of the recommendations in the book are great and we would echo them! A few highlights are below.
Our favorite beach was Anse Mamin. The road isn’t that terrible, just one lane but totally doable. It was worth it to us to rent chairs & an umbrella ($33)and we loved the burger there $25 but we split it for lunch. We brought quite a bit of food so we didn’t eat out for every meal but we loved Fedos for lunch. Very cheap (~ $20 for 2) and awesome food! Martha’s was also great. From a rec in this book we also did a Mystic Man sunset cruise. This was worth the $ ($135) with an open bar + decent finger foods. We had a ton of fun and it was a highlight. OUR BIGGEST RECOMMENDATION!!! Use the free WiFi to download the Google maps app. Once downloaded you can download a St. Lucia map. The best part is once you have the map you can use the app to navigate in the car/walking when you don’t have data. It doesn’t use “current location” so you just need to have a general idea of where to drop the pin for the villa. Or use a landmark like Cool Breeze/Botanical Gardens to get back in the night vicinity. Janus, thank you so much for everything you did! We loved our time here and are so glad we came to St. Lucia! Rich and Leah (Ann Arbor, MI) Thank you Janus, Marz & Elma for your wonderful hospitality! We had a GREAT time and very much enjoyed your home, pool, views, fruit and fresh bread!
Some things we enjoyed during our stay:
- Spending the day at Sugar Beach – Nice place for lunch/drinks, although expensive and small portions. A small lunch for 4 people with 1-2 drnks each cost $250.00 US. There is always 10% tax and 10% resort service charge. With tip, we paid › $50 US over our bill. We were told that the service charge does not include tip and that only ~ 29% of it is given to employees. Per Janus’ advice, we would tip $5-10 US cash to our wait staff after meals. We found it more economical to have lunch in town prior to the big resort beaches.
Thank you Janus, Elma & Marz! We appreciate you and we will be back! -Sarah, Zack, Marc & Deb (Montana, USA) Thank you Janus & Marz & Elma for a lovely stay at your “new development” as your friend Kester (Copperhead) called the villa. We were blown away with the hospitality… fresh fruit and homemade bread from your mother’s stone bricked oven… too kind. It was truly relaxing and much needed by Kevin and I. The infinity pool was the perfect temperature and we took you up on the walk in the forest collecting mangoes behind the villa. It was so nice to see little Marz come along with his dad who always come over with a special treat. We will definitely recommend your place Janus. Book early people because this place is extremely popular and you will see why! P.S. – It was nice to have a few staples in the cupboard so we didn’t have to buy everything. We tried to replenish what we used. Tina and Kevin Our stay was brief (3 nights) but we could not have asked for a better visit. We were able to hike Gros Piton on day one. Quite the adventure and more challenging than I realized going in. Well worth the effort though. The views from the Tet Paul were remarkable. I highly recommend taking this informative, service and leisurely tour. Diamond waterfall was very beautiful but the entire visit to walk the park was brief. Maybe 45 minutes. The highlight of the trip, as others have said, was walking around town. The local residents were incredibly friendly and helpful. Orlando’s was delicious but pricey. Petit Peak was very good and reasonably priced. As was Belle View. We followed the recommendations in this book and also ate at Fedos. Great food at a great price. Last but certainly not least, the hospitality shown by Janus blew us away. He truly goes out of his way to make sure you enjoy your stay. Thank you Janus!! Jason and Kristin Thank you for the best, and by far, the most unique vacation we’ve had to date. From the moment we walked into the house, we truly felt at “home”. We will be back Janus! To the lucky future guests: First things first, get out into town ASAP! This made our entire trip – Meeting all the locals will help you get your foot in the door at the hidden treasures of the town.
-The North Carolinian Clan (Winston -Salem, Chapel Hill N.C.) A really relaxing stay enjoying the terrace, plunge pool and beautiful views. Thank you Janus for your excellent hospitality, all the amazing fruit and all your help and assistant during our stay. Highlights of our stay were:
Definitely worth renting a car (Janus will assist). A FANTASTIC, RELAXING HOLIDAY ON A BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. THANK YOU JANUS Cornwall Thank you Janus for being the perfect host and for spoiling us with all the delicious fruit! This vacation has been an absolute dream!
Our first piece of advice is; don’t be intimidated by the walk into town! Just get out there and do it. There are a lot of great places within walking distance – Fedo’s, Big Yard, Ruby’s Diamond Botanical Gardens, Petit Peak, Hummingbird Restaurant, and Many more. Others before have mentioned getting a small plate at Ladera to avoid the cover charge, but we just showed up early for our dinner reservations. When we got there, they showed us to the bar area (absolutely breathtaking view!) and we enjoyed some drinks before dinner without paying a cover charge. Martha’s Table is AMAZING! Be sure to stop for lunch on your way to Sugar Beach. Sugar Beach is also amazing! I wish we would have taken the advice given earlier in this book about telling them that you’ll eat from their restaurant so they will but you down to the beach. It Is a long, STEEP walk otherwise. Hotel Chocolat was our favorite high end dinner. Beautiful views and the food was to die for! As for more affordable restaurants, we loved Martha’s Table and Fedo’s Best! We loved everything we did and at while here, but I think our top would be narrowed down to : • Mud bath at the Sulphur Springs • Dinner at Hotel Chocolat • Martha’s Table • Sugar Beach • Fedo’s Enjoy your stay! We can’t wait to come back! Derek and Julie Oh! I almost forgot! Torn Dollar Bills are not accepted in St. Lucia, so make sure you have enough neat bills when you leave the Villa! P.S Hi Shay! Thanks Janus, we had an awesome experience, highlights of our trip was.
Remember to have fun and explore. Ryan Janus! What an incredible stay we had !!! This place exceeded our expectations and you were amazing. Thank you for the bread and fruit and all your help and kindness. We will definitely be back. Things we loved.
Thanks Again Janus! Jim and Deb |
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
October 2021
Best Things to Do in St. Lucia According to Our Guests and Locals
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