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Hi folks,
Just got some Avios reward flights to St Lucia in May ‘26 so looking for hotel recommendations.
Ideally a nice, tranquil adults only hotel with no 6am sunbed dashes 😂. Preferably by the beach.
We never do All Inclusive but from what I’ve read St Lucia is more of a “stay in your resort” kind of place so it seems to make some sense… but I’m happy to be corrected on that!
Has anybody got any recommendations?
Thank you!
Its been nearly 10 years since I went and I really enjoyed the island. We stayed in one of the quieter Sandals, but personally I wouldn’t stay there again if I had the choice. It was mostly down to budget at the time.
There is a thread of hotel recommendations here that you might want to look through:
There are some excellent restaurants in St Lucia away from the beach resorts like Ladera, Jade Mountain, and Bucan to name a few. Lots of people like the whole volcano tourism and piton hike, but I’ve never done either so can’t comment.
If you don’t mind blowing a budget, Jade Mountain is every bit as good as the hype though avoid the cheapest room category as it does not have an infinity pool. We got a surprisingly good deal from BA with a free night. There is a shuttle to the Anse Chastenet beach which is more convenient than it sounds.
I will offer a disrecommendation for Sugar Beach: the bay is breathtaking, the food in the non-buffet restaurants can be excellent and the rooms with pools superb. But sometimes the food is very poor and despite being allocated a ‘butler’ in our swanky pool cottage the service was just a bit rubbish. Given we paid a similar rate to Jade, it all felt disappointing.
But if you want a fly and flop, the Sandals resorts in St Lucia are the best we’ve experienced of the brand and they run shuttles between them to try different restaurants. Scuba is decent though expect a lot of baby sitting, which is typical of Sandals. Boats are always top class though.
A good compromise is Anse Chastenet in that it’s on the beach, has amazing snorkelling (and scuba), great service and the beach where the burger bar is was quiet when we went. It’s not adults only but since we walked to the burger beach, I’m not sure we ever saw kiddies.
Also excellent, with good food, better wine and good value try Ti Kaye. It’s on a cliff above the beach with a walk down to the beach (or buggy) where there is a black sand beach and great beach bar. Snorkelling is OK (not Anse Chastenet) and the dive shop is good.
Avoid the Royalton adult only hotel. It’s actually just one block of the main hotel with one of the pools designated the adult only pool. Views from your room of a foam party in the main pool etc. The restaurants are plentiful, but the quality ranges from poor to adequate.
Thank you everybody who has offered advice. Thanks especially to masaccio for taking the time to write all of that. Lots to think about there! The flights mean we have 8 nights, so Jade Mountain is a little hard to justify the expenditure, although it looks incredible!
Anse Chastenet could be a winner. Any specific recommendations on room type?
You also mention Sandals. Do you have any thoughts on which of the 3 is the nicest to stay at?
Shuttle sounds good and as someone who hasn’t done Scuba since the early ‘00s, some babysitting would be appreciated! Can novices like me do Scuba or do you need some sort of qualifications from the Uk?
Thanks again
Have a look at Rabot Estate by Hotel Chocolat for one or maybe two nights, plan carefully if you do end up staying at multiple venues because transfers are expensive.
I looked for ages weighing up all the hotels on St Lucia and Sandals La Toc won out owing to it’s good value, beach location and pretty decent reviews. We’re going in January, so will report back. Friends of ours really liked Cap Maison but we thought there wasn’t enough to do there for 12 nights. They only went for 7. Also food options got a bit ‘samey’, apparently. The ability to visit the other Sandals also appealed especially the Halcyon Beach which we visited nearly 30 years ago before it was a Sandals.
Can definitely recommend Ti Kaye resort. We stayed for a week. Food is great – different menu every day. They grow a lot of it themselves. We went for the lunch and dinner add on, as breakfast in included anyway, and the additional cost on top of just adding dinner package was ~$8 each for lunch. We originally thought it was a 2 course lunch included, but turned out to be 3 course. Probably a good job as we would have put on even more weight.
We booked one of the cottages with its own plunge pool. I’m not sure I’d bother again as we didnt use it that much as diving most of the days, and it was too cold in Feb to enjoy it properly.
I’d go again though (although having been to SE Asia where 6 weeks in decent hotels cost the same as 2 weeks in St Lucia, its a difficult call!)
We really enjoyed sugar beach, though we don’t enjoy being assigned a butler, so don’t require much from them. We choose the smallest bungalow with plunge pool. The plunge pool was nothing more than ok, the small bungalow was a good choice. The main pool and the beach were great, the food was good. This was a few years ago, so difficult to know what todays prices compare to.
My favourite hotel mainly because of the location is Sugar Beach – we first stayed there when it was the Jalousie. We’ve stayed a couple of times since in one of the new villas with a plunge pool. It is more my style than say Jade Mountain that looks like a concrete bunker to me – and the beach although I admit with imported sand is white rather than black sand at Anse Chastenet and Jade Mountain. There is a National Marine Park offshore for snorkelling and diving.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned The Body Holiday. We have three sets of friends (well one who single lady) who love it there because of the numerous varied activities.
Anse Chastenet could be a winner. Any specific recommendations on room type?
You also mention Sandals. Do you have any thoughts on which of the 3 is the nicest to stay at?
Shuttle sounds good and as someone who hasn’t done Scuba since the early ‘00s, some babysitting would be appreciated! Can novices like me do Scuba or do you need some sort of qualifications from the Uk?
Me personally, I’d go for a beachside room as I like my AC to sleep and I am a sucker for a room on a beach. OH also has bad knees so it reduces the times you hike up the hill.
I only stayed at Sandals Halcyon Beach which I picked as the cheapest. But much better than others we’ve tried (Barbados, Grenada and Antigua).
Novices can do scuba and if you have tried before you know you are comfortable with it or not. If you have qualified already, then they just give you a refresher. If you are not qualified, you can do a simple Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) course. That’s a couple of hours in a pool and then limited depth (12 metres) though that’s plenty on a reef.
Thanks everybody. Really appreciate the advice. Lots to look into!
Thanks again
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