TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Southern Caribbean St. Lucia question

Hello

Would like to visit St. Lucia stay at a hotel with a nice white beach not to far from UVF airport and near attractions in Soufriere where I heard have restaurants and shops so we can go to dinner we will not have a car. We were thinking of staying at Hideaway at Royalton but heard it’s a 2 hour drive from airport don’t want to go that far. Any help is appreciated
Thanks Dolores

The only white sand beach is at Sugar Beach, they imported the sand for the beach there form another island, it is very expensive however. Coconut Bay is near the airport but on the Atlantic side so the water can be rough but there is a section protected by a breakwall, it will still require a taxi or bus and about an hour ride to get to Soufriere. The Hummingbird Hotel and Still Beach House are on a nice small in Soufriere with snorkeling right from shore, they recently opened a tourist center with shops, restaurants, bars and chairs for rent at the beach. The Downtown Hotel is in the middle of town just a short walk from the beach, but not many amenities.
Most of the other hotels are up in the hills surrounding the town and would require a car or taxi to make regular visits to the many restaurants in town. Take a look at La Haute, I believe they offer a shuttle to Soufriere and Anse Chasenet (sp.) during the day.
Royalton is in the north and not really near anything and the buses don't go up that far. There are plenty of hotels in the Rodney Bay area Coco Palm is one of our favorites with many restaurants and bars within a 10 minute walk, however it's almost $200 round trip to get to the nature attractions in the Soufriere area by taxi.

Anse Chastanet is about an hour from the airport but last half hour of the drive is down a very bumpy track. Food there is excellent but recommend staying there rather than venturing out to eat due to the road. Beautiful sandy beach with some of the best snorkeling of the Caribbean and excellent dive operation to hand. Fabulous views of the pitons.

Just got back from a cruise that stopped in St. Lucia (Castries, which is on the northwestern side of the island. Got a pretty good rental car rate at Hertz, which is about a 5-minute walk from the cruise port. They charge a EC30.00 fee for a St. Lucia driver's permit (about USD11.00) in addition to the rental car fees. Drove some of the most twisted roads I've ever been on, mostly in pretty good shape but WATCH OUT FOR POTHOLES. Took the 2km drive from the main road to Anse Chastenet for lunch $55 plus tip for two burgers and plantain chips for two, with tap water to drink.

As noted above, this is a black/grey sand beach, but the main think to know is the pretty harrowing drive to the resort from the main road. See this video for a good idea of what you're looking for in the drive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrtKmNzQtHo

If you meet another vehicle coming toward you, one of you will have to either back up or pull over to let the other one pass.

I asked about having lunch at the Jungle restaurant (famous for burgers), but the only way to get there was to walk about 10 minutes along the beach from the Anse Chastenet restaurant. Since it was raining, we opted to eat at the first outdoor restaurant there.