Discover the dramatic scenery of southwest Saint Lucia with the volcanic spires of the pitons rising majestically from the sea and the lush rainforest of the interior, then head over to relax on the beautiful island paradise of Petit St Vincent.
What's Included:
3 nights Saint Lucia including breakfast; 7 nights Petit St Vincent including full board. Includes flights and transfers.
11 days from £9,995pp
who's been there
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On the beach - 8 days
Petit St Vincent
Gloriously laid-back with effortlessly chic cottages, Petit St Vincent is understated yet exceptionally refined. It's the kind of place where the attentive but low-key service ensures you'll want for nothing yet feel totally at home.
A small private island with guests who return year after year, Petit St Vincent is the ultimate Caribbean escape. Beautiful cottages equipped with luxurious facilities nestle in secluded locations on hillsides, cliffs and beachfronts. Lovely coves with golden sand beaches alternate with rocky headlands and forest. Everything here is done in a luxurious but very tasteful, restrained fashion. Service is impeccable with staff roaming the island and a discreet flag system to let them know if you require their services or wish to be left alone. There are no phones, TVs or internet except in the main lodge so you switch off entirely and enjoy the sea breeze and panoramic views.
Alternatively you can join a yoga class or test the fitness trail, go snorkelling off the beach or try diving, sailing or kayaking. The food here is sublime with ingredients from the organic garden and two restaurants to choose from, although many guests choose to dine in their beautiful cottages.
There are 22 open-plan cottages scattered around the island, each out of sight of the next. Built from native stone and wood with floor-to-ceiling sliding windows, soft colour schemes and contemporary decor, they offer complete peace and tranquillity.
Before the beach - 3 days
Saint Lucia Pitons
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the famous volcanic spires known as the Pitons rise dramatically out of the ocean and offer great opportunities for hiking and climbing. The lush, rainforest of the southwest is home to a range of exotic flora and fauna and the area is also home to historic cocoa plantations and chocolate factories.
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.
Petit St Vincent
28 rooms, 2 restaurants
Description
The furthest south of the Grenadines chain of islands, the private island resort of Petit Saint Vincent is a lush dot in the ocean with Union Island to the north. Twenty-two understatedly luxurious cottages are scattered over the 113 acre jungle covered island, leading down to white sand coves and turquoise water.
Built with local hand-quarried stone, the resort excludes a stylish, yet rustic feel, with thatched roofs and local artwork. Cottages are freestanding, set discreetly amidst the foliage providing the perfect secluded escape.
The service is tailored to each guest, with all the efficiency you would expect from a private island retreat. With only a handful of guests, the island has a laid-back ambience — true barefoot luxury at its best.
There are no TVs, Wi-Fi or phones in the rooms, encouraging guests to embrace the beautiful surroundings, and switch off from everyday life.
For families
Families are welcome, with the two bedroom beach villas being particularly suitable with twin beds available in the second bedroom. There is no specific children’s menu but the chefs are on hand to create individually tailored meals.
Location
The resort is in the east of the island with views of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The highest point, the tree-covered Marni Hill, dominates the northwest of the island, with walking trails meandering to the peak. The island is almost completely surrounded by sand with a 2.4 km stretch of uninterrupted beach and numerous hidden coves.
A large horseshoe reef protects the long stretch of eastern beach, and smaller reefs encircle the rest of the island. Turtles and graceful rays can be spotted among the vibrant coral.
As a private island, there is nothing on the island other than the resort, but Union Island is a 20-minute boat ride away with shops and a variety of restaurants.
Our opinion
This is an ideal escape to experience true desert-island luxury. The spacious cottages soon feel like home and ordering breakfast to be served on your private terrace is a wonderful way to start the day. With coral reefs, palm trees and pearly sand beaches, it has everything you would expect from a top island retreat and a warm level of service to match. It’s easy to see why so many guests revisit every year.
With no TVs, Wi-Fi or phones in the rooms, this is for couples and families looking to switch off and explore the tranquil tropical island.
Rooms
The 22 private cottages are designed to blend with the environment, each one carefully placed to nestle into its surroundings.
Built from local bluebitch stone, the cottages have airy vaulted ceilings with floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening onto a private veranda. Each cottage has air conditioning, Italian linens, iPod dock and contemporary teak furnishings.
With no telephones in to the rooms, guests can hoist a flag to request room service.
One Bedroom Cottage
The 16 one bedroom cottages are open plan with a lounge area, bedroom and en suite bathroom with walk-in rain shower. At 75 sq m they are a spacious couples retreat, including an outdoor dining area and large wooden sun deck. The accompanying hammock is an ideal spot to relax in the midday sun.
Some are on the hillside, others are located right on the beach. Each has a unique view, overlooking the entire island or looking to the sea — and some are angled just right for the perfect sunset.
Two Bedroom Cottage
The 140 sq m two bedroom beach villas lie right on the beach, with uninterrupted ocean views. The villa’s two separate bedrooms come with their own spacious marble bathrooms. A central lounge pavilion joins the two, leading on to a large private sun deck and tree-hugging hammocks.
Pictures of the rooms
Activities, diving & excursions
The water sports centre makes the most of the calm waters surrounding the island with an array of complimentary equipment including paddleboards, kayaks and windsurfers. There are numerous snorkelling sites accessible from the beaches.
On land, you can follow the hiking trails across the island to discover hidden coves or climb Marni Hill. The tennis course is floodlit, allowing for matches in the cool evening, and there are two open-air yoga pavilions. The island also has a 20 station outdoor gym circuit nestled within the natural woodland running along the west end beach.
The Jean-Michel Cousteau dive centre offers PADI courses and more challenging diving excursions for those who are already certified.
Food & drink
The Pavilion is the hotel’s main restaurant, open for à la carte dining from breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu changes daily, incorporating fresh produce from the organic garden and eggs from the island’s free-range chickens. Locally caught seafood is a speciality.
The Beach Restaurant hosts tables set under a traditional thatched roof, providing à la carte lunch and dinner menus. Cuisine ranges from pizza to Caribbean barbecued chicken. During lobster season, guests can pick lobsters from the live lobster pool.
Goatie's Bar is next door, affectionately named after the most senior member of the island’s staff. Serving an array of rum cocktails, it’s the ideal place to finish the day.
Barbecues are regularly held on the beach, serving fresh caught fish. Private dining is also available, from portable lunchtime picnics to dinner served in your cottage.
The hotel’s wine cellar holds a collection of more than 4,500 wines, and a rare Champagne collection. The island’s sommelier is on hand to assist in the perfect choice. The resort also runs special events throughout the year including wine tasting and specialist rum talks.
Spa Facilities
The island’s Hillside Spa has four open-air treatment rooms made from local timber, set among trees at the base of Marni Hill. The Balinese staff offer an extensive range of treatments including herbal facials and hot stone massage.
Saint Lucia 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 into Saint Lucia you will be met by our representatives and transferred by private vehicle to the stunning Ladera.
The journey will take approximately an hour as your vehicles winds round the hills to bring you to the lush rainforest of the southwest of the island. The stunning views of the famous pitons of St Lucia from your room form an incredible welcome.
Day 2
You might like to spend the day at leisure today soaking up the tranquil atmosphere and beautiful setting high on the rainforested hillside. The open fourth wall of your room welcomes the outside in and offers great views of the pitons. Relax at your plunge pool or enjoy the view from the restaurant.
Nearby Boucan Hotel by Hotel Chocolat is worth a visit to explore the chocolate making process and try the cocoa inspired dishes on their menu.
Day 3
Ladera is in the perfect position to explore. Get closer to the magnificent pitons with a guided Gros Piton hike or take a guided tour through the rainforest to discover the local flora and fauna. If you prefer to be on water, you're near one of the best spots on the island for snorkelling and diving.
Day 4
You will have most of the morning to explore or relax as you wish before you have a private transfer back to the airport in time for your flight across to Union Island in the Grenadines.
On arrival you will be met by the hotel and transferred on their boat to the island of Petit St Vincent, your home for the next seven nights. It's only a short boat ride leaving you time to settle in and relax before dinner.
Day 5
The beautiful private island of Petit St Vincent is a tropical paradise with 113 acres of rainforest surrounded by white sand coves and beautiful turquoise water.
Your spacious and luxurious cottage complete with hammock is perfect for relaxation but if you'd like to explore the island simply borrow a bicycle or head out on foot along one of the trails.
Day 6
No visit to the Grenadines is complete without venturing to the Tobago Cays, one of the best snorkelling and diving spots in the Caribbean. These five, uninhabited islands aren't far from Petit St Vincent and the resort arranges its own sailing excursions there.
Day 7
As well as a dive centre at the resort, there is a choice of water sports including paddleboards, kayaks and windsurfs. Try some snorkelling or burn off calories with a game of tennis
Days 8 - 10
At leisure.
Day 11
Today you will take the resort's boat transfer back to Union Island in time for your flight to Barbados. You will be met at the airport and fast tracked through to check in for your light home.
Start planning your trip with Audley
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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