Planning a trip to St Lucia? Check out my Best of St Lucia Travel Guide for my favorite spots for adventure AND relaxation!
What’s your perfect vacation?
I don’t know about you, but I love a mix of adventure + sightseeing + chill out time!!!
ADVENTURE + SIGHTSEEING + CHILL OUT TIME = THE PERFECT VACATION
Happily, our recent family trip to St Lucia {and NYC} was EXACTLY that.
Truly, Mr. Spicy, the kids and I, are so blessed to be able to share these adventures with our parents/grandparents {it helps that we are both only children & our parents really like each other!}, and I can’t think of a better gift to give to my kids, than the {almost yearly} family trips we take together.
Last year, SiSi chose Europe {hopefully one day soon, I’ll finally get around to posting those pictures too :-)}
Of course, it was a FABULOUS trip, but was sorely lacking in “chill out time”.
Like gazing at this *private* beach just steps from our villa…
So, this year Big Tex chose “somewhere tropical” where there would be lots of fun adventures, PLUS chill time as well.
St Lucia totally fit the bill!
BEST OF ST LUCIA TRAVEL GUIDE
TAKE A HIKE…
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I LOVE to hike. So, naturally no trip to St Lucia would be complete without a proper rock scramble to check out some fantastic views!
HIKING ON PIGEON ISLAND
If you’re staying towards the North part of St Lucia, you’ll get a good workout while taking in some gorgeous views on top of Pigeon Island National Park. Bonus: If you’re short on time, this hike is only ~2 miles round-trip. If you’re with kids, head on over to nearby Splash Island Water Park afterwards to cool off and grab a drink or some lunch!
MORE HIKING ON ST LUCIA
I’m not gonna’ lie…If we had been staying closer to Soufriere, I would have dragged Mr. Spicy and the kids all the way to the top of Gros Piton, or we would have hiked the Enbas Saut Waterfall Trail which gets great reviews too. Guess this means I just need to make a trip back one day soon. Don’t ya’ think?!!!
DIVE DOWN UNDER: SCUBA DIVING + SNORKELING
I can’t believe I waited 40+ years to try scuba diving, but thanks to my kids who’ve been wanting to get certified ever since we did snuba in Key West, I finally did it! And, I’m officially hooked!
SCUBA DIVING
I highly recommend Steve’s Scuba Diving St Lucia! If you’ve never been scuba diving before you can sign up for their 1/2 Day Dive Today PADI Discover Scuba Diving Experience which includes 2 ocean dives, one of which you can apply to to becoming a PADI Open Water Diver at a later date. The instructors were great, and the under water life was spectacular at 30 feet under!
SNORKELING
If scuba’s not your thing, there are lots of great options for snorkeling too. My father-in-law snorkeled around the Anse Chastanet Reef while we went scuba diving, and really enjoyed it, plus we snorkeled in a pretty bay along the West coast of the Island. Also, the snorkeling was pretty incredible right off the beach by our house~lots of colorful fish, coral, and even a school of squid~so cool!
SEE THE RAINFOREST IN STYLE: ZIP LINING + CANOPY TOUR
This was my 3rd time zip lining, and I have to say, I’m getting to be quite the pro! This was a fun adventure for the whole family because you have an option to go zip lining {myself, Mr. Spicy, my father-in-law, and the kids} or have a more mellow adventure learning about the rainforest while riding a gondola {my mom and dad and my mother-in-law}.
Not only was the zip lining {and tree swinging!} a lot of fun, we also learned a lot about the rainforest from our fabulous guides. See that orange thing above? It’s a cashew nut on top! How cool is that??? I highly recommend a Zip Line and Aerial Tram Tour with Rainforest Adventures!
HEAD SOUTH {WEST}: SOUFRIERE + THE PITONS + DIAMOND FALLS + MUD BATHS
Although I LOVED staying at our villa on the North part of St Lucia, there is lots to be seen near the Southwestern part of the Island in Soufriere. One of my most memorable meals was the Caribbean style lunch we had at The Beacon Restaurant overlooking the gorgeous Pitons {pictured above}. Other fun spots we visited on our trip down south included:
- Sulfur Springs Mud Baths ~ Hot and muddy, but fun, and your skin will be SO smooth afterwards. A great way to get rid of any aches and pains too! Just try not to go on a day when a cruise ship is in like we did, or you will be bathing in hot stinky mud with ALOT of people!!! #youvebeenwarned
- Botanical Gardens and Diamond Falls ~ So pretty! Of course my family made fun of me for taking so many pictures of flowers, but #whothehellcares !!!
CHILL OUT: BEACH LIFE + ISLAND LIFE = AHHH….
And, last but not least, lots of relaxation time around at our gorgeous home for the week, Villa C’est la Vie. If you’re traveling with a large group, I can not recommend C’est la Vie highly enough! Oshea and the rest of the amazing staff spoiled us rotten with delicious food {gluten free for me!}, drink {another rum punch, please!!!} and home comforts galore.
The grounds were beyond gorgeous, complete with a hive of honeybees for St Lucian honey, a refreshing pool and waterfall for swimming, a snorkeling beach behind the house, and lots of shaded areas for reading a book. Or sleeping…
Oh, and did I mention that amazing rum punch???
Oh, yeah. I think I did 🙂
Outside of the Villa we were able to use the beach at the nearby Windjammer Landing resort {where my dad, who rarely drinks, drank his weight in Pina Coladas!}, plus pretty and secluded Trouya Beach was within walking distance for a quick dip in the ocean.
Dining in Rodney Bay…
When we weren’t eating at the villa, we enjoyed eating at La Terrasse, Big Chef Steak House, Buzz, and Blue Olive Restaurant and Wine Bar.
I hope you enjoyed my St Lucia Travel Guide. All in all, the people of St Lucia are incredibly friendly and proud of their beautiful Island. If you are looking for your next perfect vacation, start planning your trip to St Lucia. ASAP!
[Tweet “Best of St Lucia #Travel Guide + 3 Perfect Days in NYC #Adventure”]
Before I go, here are some more family photos from our “pre-trip” to New York, en route to St Lucia. Enjoy!
3 PERFECT DAYS IN NYC
TOP: Spices at Grand Central Station Market; Sailing Boats in Central Park; Jersey Boys was so much fun!
MIDDLE: There are no words to describe the feeling you will have visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Bittersweet, but a must visit.
BOTTOM: View of NYC at sunset from our hotel room in the Grand Hyatt; Walking The High Line Park was fun. Big thanks to Lauren from Foodtrainers for recommending this!; Our first ever Yankees Game. Mr. Spicy, a die-hard San Diego Padres fan, had fun, but refused to cheer for the Yankees. The kids were most impressed with the “entertaining” Yankees fan on the subway ride back to our hotel room. And, they thought their dad and Grandpa Gil could curse. Ha!
P.S. If you enjoyed my travel post, check out these other fun travel adventures…
- Loving Lisbon
- 5 Perfect Days Walking The Camino de Santiago
- Food, Fun, and Adventure on The Big Island of Hawaii
- The Ultimate Grand Canyon Adventure Vacation
- New Zealand Top Ten Travel Guide
- Idaho River Rafting Adventure
- Mole, Mezcal, and a Mexican Wedding in Oaxaca
Let’s chat!
- Have you been to St Lucia before?
- What’s your idea of a “perfect” vacation?
- Have you been traveling this summer? Where?
- Where should we go on our next trip???
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8 comments
Wow what a wonderful vacation! family vacations are the absolute best. I’ve never been to St. Lucia, but I think now I need to add it to my travel bucket list!
I love reading about your advertures! Such beautiful photos!
What a wonderful trip! Looks like you guys had amazing time filled with a perfect combination of relaxation and action packed adventure! You really took full adventure of everything the island has to offer, and I love that you were able to capture so many fabulous shots of the family 🙂
Thanks so much Sonali! It really was a fabulous trip, and, I am pretty much the official photographer of the family 🙂
I am armchair traveling to St Lucia! What a trip it’s been. I’m feeling relaxed and well. These photos took me all the way there! Rum punch! Haha…I’ll try to avoid the stinky mud with A LOT of people….now that’s a funny thought that makes me smile!
Ha, ha! So glad I got to take you on a little trip Serena 🙂 All that rum punch totally made up for the stinky mud bath!!
Wow – amazing pictures from an amazing vacation! I’ve been to St. Lucia twice – back in my teens we went to the Club Med there on the southern part of the island (if memory serves me correct). We did TONS of scuba diving and just loved it. Sadly I didn’t get to explore much else of the island but I do hope to go back one day with my children. And rum punch! Love it! We honeymooned on Barbados and it was definitely a staple drink for us there.
Thanks so much Ann! And, how fun that you’ve been to St Lucia twice! It’s definitely a place I would go back too, not only to get those hikes in, but also to chill out and drink more rum punch 🙂 I have been to Barbados once too-another beautiful Caribbean Island!