Enjoy incredible views of Saint Lucia's pitons from a beautiful resort set among the rainforest before heading to the north coast of the island for a relaxing week at an elegant beach resort.
What's Included:
3 nights Saint Lucia Pitons, including breakfast; 7 nights Cap Maison, including breakfast. Includes flights and transfers.
12 days from £4,160pp
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On the beach - 7 days
Cap Maison
Old school charm, personal service and incredible attention to detail are key features at Cap Maison, a luxurious Spanish Caribbean-style hotel set on a clifftop offering some of the most memorable views in Saint Lucia.
The cluster of whitewashed buildings with terracotta tiles and wooden jalousie shutters at Cap Maison is surrounded by courtyard gardens, fountains, colonnaded verandas and vaulted passageways, giving the whole place a wonderfully romantic character. Set on a former sugar plantation above secluded Smugglers Cove, the hotel is ideally positioned in a dramatic but tranquil spot just minutes from the shops, bars and restaurants of lively Rodney Bay. Superb French-West Indian dishes are served at the gourmet Cliff at Cap restaurant which also offers sublime sunset views out to Pigeon Island and distant Martinique. The small beach cove is reached down a series of steps where you'll also find the more casual Naked Fisherman bar and grill, and a variety of water sports including kayaking and windsurfing. There's excellent diving on the house reef, golf and kitesurfing nearby, and cruises on the resort's own motor yacht.
The 49 stylish rooms here have cedar doors and windows, hand-painted Mexican tiles, warm wood furnishings and rich fabrics. The larger suites and villas offer self-catering facilities as well as private Jacuzzis or pool and possibly a rooftop terrace.
Before the beach - 4 days
The Pitons
Saint Lucia's Pitons make the island one of the most picturesque in the Caribbean. Two towering volcanic spires blanketed in lush vegetation, they rise dramatically from the turquoise sea. A climb to the top is rewarded with superb views but there are also many other trails through this rich area as well as excellent diving at their base. Bubbling natural hot springs can be seen at Sulphur Springs Park, an extinct volcano, while healing baths originally built by King Louis XVI of France can be tried at the Diamond Falls where there is also a beautiful, mineral-rich waterfall and botanical gardens.
Impossibly romantic, Ladera perches high on a ridge with majestic piton and sea views. The 32 elegantly rustic suites are beautifully styled with handcrafted furnishings and come with private plunge pools and spectacular sunsets.
Cap Maison
49 rooms, 2 restaurants, 2 pools
Description
This elegant, boutique hotel enjoys an enviable position on the northern headland of Saint Lucia, with dramatic coastline and fabulous views from the hotel’s position on the bluff.
Set on the site of a former sugar plantation, Cap Maison perches above secluded Smugglers Cove beach looking out to Pigeon Island and Martinique in the distance. This intimate retreat offers sophisticated luxury with Spanish Caribbean architecture, a contemporary French-West Indian menu at Cliff At Cap, and spacious accommodation.
The resort is particularly renowned for its dining and offers one of the leading restaurants on the island with regular guest chefs from overseas.
The Gobat family, Caribbean hoteliers for over 40 years, have invested a great deal of personal attention in creating Cap Maison and the result is an elegant charm with uncompromising levels of personal service.
For families
Children of all ages are very welcome, although no children under 12 years will be allocated upper floor suites. The kids' club is only available from July to mid-September, but babysitting is available at a local charge year round.
Location
Set in the northwest of the island, Cap Maison is set among beautiful gardens overlooking the sea. Next to the resort, a small, pretty beach cove is framed by steep cliffs and rocks and although only small is certainly charming and secluded. The 92 steps down to the beach mean this resort isn’t suitable for those less mobile but there are facilities down at the beach including a restaurant.
Although the location feels very secluded and private, Cap Maison is actually just ten minutes’ drive from the shops, bars and restaurants of lively Rodney Bay, as well as the St Lucia Golf & Country Club. The fishing village of Gros Islet is only ten minutes’ drive away.
Our opinion
This luxurious boutique retreat offers impeccable service and attention to detail. It’s especially good for honeymooners or for those looking for somewhere romantic. The location is fabulous, as although it feels quite secluded, there is much within easy reach.
Rooms
The 49 stylishly appointed rooms, junior suites and one, two and three bedroom villa suites are furnished with hand painted tiles and designed in a classic, Spanish Caribbean style. They all have a ceiling fan, air conditioning, flat-screen TV, BOSE iPod docking stations, DVD and music centre, tea and coffee maker and minibar.
The two and three bedroom suites combine the one bedroom suites of the same category with adjoining Garden View rooms and Junior Suites.
Garden View Room
The Garden View Rooms are a spacious 46 sq m with a sitting area and either a small balcony or outside furnished space with garden views.
Junior Suite
The open-plan Junior Suites are 50 sq m and include a sitting/dining area, furnished terrace with partial-ocean, tropical garden and Spanish courtyard views.
One Bedroom Villa Suite
The spacious, 200 sq m One Bedroom Villa Suites feature a separate bedroom, sitting room and dining area, fully equipped kitchen, and partial ocean views. They are located in an attractive Spanish style courtyard reached through an archway with brick barrel-vaulted ceilings and hanging lanterns.
One Bedroom Ocean View Villa Suite with Jacuzzi
These split-level villa suites have a separate sitting room and dining area, fully equipped kitchen, and a private Jacuzzi on the first floor leading from the bedroom. All have sea views, located right at the cliff’s edge overlooking Smugglers Cove, providing a massive 240 sq m of space.
One Bedroom Ocean View Villa Suite with Pool
These suites are located on the ground floor with separate sitting room and dining area, fully equipped kitchen, and a private pool, all with direct sea views and 250 sq m in size.
Pictures of the rooms
Activities, diving & excursions
There are two small pools; an infinity pool overlooking the sea with a Jacuzzi and another situated in a relaxing courtyard area. Down on the beach there is a range of complimentary non-motorised water sports available, including kayaking, Hobie Cat sailing, snorkelling on the house reef and windsurfing.
Tennis is available at a nearby hotel or at the National Tennis Centre, both just five minutes' drive away, and concessions are also available for Cap Maison guests at the St Lucia Golf & Country Club, an 18-hole championship golf course.
The hotel has a well-equipped gym and if you enjoy hiking or running outdoors, the Cap Maison Running and Hiking Club can offer you a guided remote beach hike or a trail run on Saint Lucia’s dramatic Atlantic coast, just ten minutes away.
There is no dive centre on site, but the resort has teamed up with a local dive operator who offer a wide range of packages and single dives to the numerous dive sites on Saint Lucia.
There are some excellent diving opportunities on the island, and if you’re staying at Cap Maison you don’t have to go far as their house reef at Smugglers Cove is ideal for a beginners dive. Further out and if diving from the boat, there are lots of trenches and shelves that are home to Flying Gurnard, Lobster and large Trumpet Fish.
Food & drink
The gourmet Cliff at Cap restaurant is one of the best fine dining experiences on the island, where the emphasis is on using fresh seasonal produce with a French-Caribbean influence. The service is excellent without being over the top, and you’ll also be treated to stunning sea views toward Martinique and beautiful sunsets. The chef has worked at European Michelin starred restaurants and they regularly invite guest chefs to the island.
For more casual dining, The Naked Fisherman Beach Bar & Grill is an informal thatched roof venue on the beach offering casual grills, chilled drinks and a laid back Caribbean vibe.
Cap Maison also boasts an impressive wine cellar with over 1,500 bottles of French, Chilean and Californian wines, which also doubles up as an intimate private dining venue. There are also two bars to choose from as well as the novel ‘Rock Maison’, a private dining wooden deck surrounded by the sea on three sides, where drinks are delivered by zip-line.
Spa Facilities
Cap Maison has three treatment rooms offering a full menu of spa services using products from Sothys. Spa services are also available in guest rooms.
The Pitons
Location: Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an intriguing blend of cultures originating from the island’s first Amerindian inhabitants as well as French and British colonists who bought African slaves to the island during the slave trade. Although English is the main language, most islanders still speak Kweyol, similar to French.
The southwest coast, characterised by silvery-black volcanic sands and steep hills blanketed in rainforest, is also where you’ll find Saint Lucia’s second city, Soufrière, and the twin Piton mountains, the island’s most iconic natural wonder. The coastline in this part of the island is punctuated by hidden coves and colourful reefs that offer incredible snorkelling and diving, while the wilder Atlantic coast to the east has barely been touched by tourism.
The northwest is home to the charming capital, Castries, along with the majority of the resorts. The beaches in this part of the island tend toward the Caribbean idyll of sweeping golden beaches and swaying palms, and nightlife centres around the characterful restaurants and buzzing bars of Rodney Bay Village.
The mountainous interior is still home to many banana and cocoa plantations, once the mainstay of the island’s economy, and it’s also ideal terrain for hiking, climbing, birdwatching or zip-lining through the jungle canopy. It’s not all about high octane adventure though; Saint Lucia is also one of the most romantic destinations in the Caribbean, equally suited to relaxation and luxurious indulgence.
Ladera
Accommodation: Ladera
Offering unique accommodation in a privileged position overlooking the pitons, this beautiful resort is a peaceful hideaway.
Ladera was once part of Rabot Estate, one of Soufrière's oldest and most famous cocoa plantations, but in 1982 it was transformed into this stunning resort, taking full advantage of its natural surroundings. The stunning views over the pitons, rainforest and the Caribbean Sea are exceptional and the resort has a luxuriously rustic, Caribbean charm.
Its 37 suites all feature a private plunge pool and overlook the pitons, the Caribbean Sea and the Soufrière valley.
Itinerary
Day by day
Day 1
On arrival you will be met and driven to the beautiful Ladera for the first 3 nights of your stay.
Day 2
Enjoy many of the walking trails in the Pitons from the perfectly positioned Ladera hotel.
Day 3
You may like to enjoy the healing baths at Sulphur Springs Park nearby or simply relax and enjoy the piton views from the resort.
Day 4
Today you will be transferred to the Cap Maison in the north of the island.
Day 5
Perhaps spend the day snorkelling or diving, or take a boat trip to spot whales and dolphins.
Day 6
Why not explore nearby Pigeon Island, a fascinating mix of historic sites and beautiful scenery, including 2 beaches.
Day 7
A scenic helicopter tour is an excellent way of viewing the island and there are a variety to choose from.
Days 8 - 10
At leisure.
Day 11
You will be transferred to the International Airport for your flight home.
Day 12
Arrive back home.
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Tailoring your trip
This itinerary is designed to give you a flavour of what is possible.
We can tailor this trip to suit your specific requirements
Any aspect of the itinerary can be altered, from excursions to accommodation
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