There are two airports in St Lucia, and it’s important to know which one you’re flying in to or you could be stuck with an expensive taxi ride to your hotel. UVF, or Hewanorra International, is the International Airport with the longer runway that all long haul flights will arrive at. It takes 90 minutes on twisty, potholed roads to drive to a lot of the tourist hotels around Rodney Bay and the Castries area. SLU, or George F.L. Charles, is the local airport, very close to Castries, and is for passengers arriving from Caribbean destinations. Puerto Rico seems to be a major hub for a lot of US airlines, and you can get a direct flight from Puerto Rico to St Lucia SLU on American Eagle. Even if it adds a stop or adds price, it might be worth it due to the cost and time of getting a taxi from the international airport.

If you’re staying around the Soufriere area, however, then the international airport is just as good as the local airport in Castries.

After picking up some cash from the ATM in the airport (no problem) we dodged the unofficial taxi drivers offering us “great deals” and headed to the official stand. It cost us $60 USD for the taxi to Rodney Bay. It was an interesting drive, and we’re glad we made it during the day, but we would not have been happy if we’d had to drive it ourselves after a long flight in.  Our taxi driver gave us a good introduction to the island, and even stopped to let us take some photos.

This is where we parted ways with most of the tourists of St Lucia, as we were staying in the small fishing village of Gros Islet, sandwiched in between the Marina, Rodney Bay, and the Sandals and the Landings condo development. Although staying in a small fishing village sounded (more...)

We found the Bay Guesthouse in the Lonely Planet. The guesthouse is located a short walk from the main part of the village, but in some respects is a world away. The bright orange two story building faces the ocean, and once you step inside the gate to the property, it doesn’t (more...)

We had tried to arrange a car rental from home before we left, but at Christmas time cars were hard to come by - at least at the major car rental companies. The best we could find was a Subaru Forester for $150US a day. Ouch. We held on to that reservation, but once there we asked our guesthouse owners if we would be able to do better anywhere else and they set us up at National St Lucia Car Rental. It was only $50 a day, but you definitely get what you pay for. The car had no shocks (every time we tried to turn a corner going downhill it would grind the tire against the underside of the car). It was a class “A” car, (a for Awful?) so maybe we would have had more luck if we’d spent a little more money. We would recommend a better car with more clearance - if you want to go anywhere off the main road - for example, Anse Chastenet, which has supposedly the best snorkeling of the island.

We had read that the most spectacular scenery would be seen driving to Soufriere, so this is where we headed. The road was good for the most part, although there was enough potholes that it made for very tiring driving. The Pitons are spectacular, although we’d been spoiled by seeing Moorea (Tahiti) the year before.   There was lots of places to pull (more...)

From Soufriere, we tried to drive to Anse Chastenet, as we had heard that this was the location of some of the best off-shore snorkeling in St Lucia.  However, it was not meant to be.  The road started out pretty rough, and the non-existent shocks on our car were taking a heavy beating.   What stopped us, however, was when we hit an incline that was steep enough that even flooring it, we weren’t able to drive up the hill.  We finally killed the air conditioning and were able to inch our way to the top. Shortly after we u-turned back to the main road.

We would not recommend trying this drive unless you have a real car, maybe a 4×4  - and perhaps one not rented from St Lucia National Car Rental.   If you do go, leave us a comment and let us know what we missed!

We stopped at the Hummingbird Resort in Soufriere for a quick bite, and to relax for a couple of hours.  Lunch was delicious - although a little expensive, at $20 US per person.  The property seemed a little cramped, but the view of the pitons was beautiful.  The swimming pool wasn’t that big, but had some nice shade.  The hotel is very conveniently located just outside Soufriere.

After a bout of food poisoning, perhaps brought on by chicken from a local stand in Gros Islet or perhaps by homemade ice cream, the only other trip we managed during our (more...)

Despite our wonderful guesthouse, overall, we weren’t that impressed with St Lucia. The Pitons are beautiful, but the hassle of the high prices, rough roads, average beaches, questionable cleanliness levels outside tourist areas, and the local’s indifference to tourists do not make it one of our favorite holiday destinations