First trip to St. Lucia coming in a month or so. Interested to hear from anyone who has been on things to do or to avoid. Staying at Sugar Beach.
Thanks!

Volcano trip is fun. Just be aware it's pretty small when you arrive, but trip there and back is worth it. Also you need to pay cash to enter many of the parks.

If you order chicken pot pie, there will likely be bones in it, that was a real surprise.

Their island beer is awesome, Piton very light and refreshing.

My wife and I honeymooned at the Sandals Grande on the north end of the island. That was 15 years ago, so much has probably changed. It's a very pretty place, but as usual in the Caribbean, be careful when outside of your resort.

We didn't schedule many activities outside of the resort, but we did take a day sail down to Soufriere and toured the volcano. Our days mainly consisted of eating an embarrassing amount of food, sailing Hobie cats, snorkeling, and laying on the beach.

We went to see the teeny tiny volcano, trekked through the rain forest and then had dinner in the forest at an old plantation. When we got back to the tourist boat that had transported us, we found that all of our bags had been gone through. We weren't missing anything,but others lost cash and jewelry.

It was neato to see the beautiful area where they filmed a scene from Dr Doolittle there by the Pitons mountains. On our way back to the ship, we stopped at a beach without sand. I can't remember now, but it has dark gravel or rocks or something similar. Local children marching around in their school uniforms were cute.

We went to a Sandals Resort there about 5 years ago. It was nice.

We chose the one we stayed at due to this one having several restaurants on campus. You could also bounce between the several Sandals resorts on the island.

One thing my wife noted-when we were leaving the airport and crossing the island she saw a white tent labeled UNICEF on the tents...I had to explain to her it was a dole from the UN and usually shows how poor an area really is.

All the employees were from other nations and were SUPER .

I would go back

Most of the island is poor, and outside of the mainstream resorts the sights are difficult to see without a guide or renting a car (crazy expensive). Resorts have the best beaches (imported sand!), most of the rest is rocky shoreline. On the nature side of things, there is a drive up thru the mountains in the national park, and Diamond botanical garden too. If you can arrange a charter for sailing, it is great to see the west side by boat. More that go the less the individual cost. Bring mosquito repellent!!

Sailed out of there.

Hike the Gros Titon. Then go hike Grand Piton in WY. Only mtns names the same

Typical Caribbean island (except Mustique). Watch your 6 and stay on main drags

We honeymooned at the Rendezvous. All inclusive, adult only. We loved it.

If you scuba dive, or plan to, I highly recommend getting your license before you go.

Find out if your resort has sister resorts, so you can bounce between them. You can't spend the night there, but you can use the amenities, and they should have a shuttle service.

As others have said, watch out when you leave the resort, and go in groups. We became friends with a cab (van) driver, and he was the only one we used. He gave us a guided tour of the island.

I highly recommend Big Chef Steakhouse near Rodney Bay on the north end of the island. It's pricey, but it was one of the best meals I've ever had. When I was there, a server walked by with a plate of bruschetta, and I commented to my wife that I wish we had ordered that as an appetizer. One of the staff overheard, and it was brought out to us - no charge.

Pigeon Island Park is a nice little place to visit and get some great pictures. We did a trip into Castries to look around, nothing worth seeing there. Zip lines in the rain forest were fun.

Stayed at Sandals Regency La Toc twice now, wife and I loved it. Keep in mind it's basically a rain forest, so don't worry if it rains every morning for about 20-30 minutes, happens all the time. As others have mentioned, the volcano tour was a lot of fun. We did it as part of a day trip (snorkel, volcano tour, the botanical garden tour, then lunch, then snorkel and booze cruise on the catamaran ride back). Had a great time. The port area is notorious for pick pockets so be forewarned as it is also a tourist area. We thoroughly enjoyed our stays there and would love to go back. Enjoy your trip!

Great advice. Thanks!

About the mosquito repellent: Are they bad on the beaches as well (not enough breeze?) or is that mainly just for when you are away from the resort?

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Originally posted by Salty Dawg:
Great advice. Thanks!

About the mosquito repellent: Are they bad on the beaches as well (not enough breeze?) or is that mainly just for when you are away from the resort?

We didn't stay at resort, it was a VRBO up on a hillside. Cannot speak to the larger resorts with imported beaches. When/if visiting inland you'll need repellent or get bit.

Frankly if I were to just stay at resort, you can visit other islands for far less money or trouble. If you go, go see the primitive side of island, parks, and the rain forest, ect.

Spent 5 nights at Ladera, between the Pitons with only 3 walls as part of my honeymoon many (17!) years ago. It was amazing, great food, and coffee that I’m still trying to match. We did rent a car, a Suzuki Vitara and bounce around the island a couple afternoons. That car was the only I’ve ever driven with a manual choke, was thankful to have had a go-kart growing up so I could get the thing to start! Enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, the volcano, and even learned to like tomatoes there (Tomato, Basil, Mozarella with balsamic vinegar sandwich on a baguette - still not sure why I ordered it, but it was great) at Anne Chastenet (SP?). It’s the thir world, people are very poor, and you can either choose to avoid it, or experience it. The people we met were friendly, even to a pair of 22yo American kids.

Be very careful and lock up your valuables if possible. A friend of mine stopped going there after the house they were renting was burglarized. A month later same house was hit with a home invasion - no one hurt thankfully. He'd been going there for years but never again.