Taking Luxe to the Next Level on St. Lucia

cap-maison

A private rooftop pool at Cap Maison, at the north end of St. Lucia.

RETURNING to Cap Maison after dinner out one night, we stop by the front of the restaurant and ask whether there might be just one of those chocolate chip shortbreads that had greeted us, warm, when my husband and I arrived in our room a couple of days earlier. “Of course,” the waiter says, smiling, and waving us to the bar, where the bartender pours us glasses of wine while we listen to the waves crashing on the rocks 50 feet below us. Continue Reading

10 Caribbean islands with direct flights

:: The Sunday Times online ::

Whether you’re after family fun, a deserted sandy beach, a sunset or another glass of rum punch

Vincent Crump

Vincent Crump

The Caribbean should be like apple pie and custard - warm, just slightly spicy and utterly undemanding.

Ideally, holidays there involve nothing more strenuous than flying and flopping - and an easy flight, at that. You want to swap grey skies for blue seas in half a day, thanks. You don’t want to spend 18 hours clambering from jumbo jet to seaplane to motorboat to taxi, finally arriving at some tropical hideaway only to find that it’s still a 10-minute trudge from the beach. Continue Reading

A blissful break in the new St Lucia

:: From The Times Online ::

A blissful all-inclusive break in the new St Lucia

Jacqui MacDermott revisits the Caribbean island on an all-inclusive break and finds it almost as she left it 12 years ago

Mention St Lucia and, after the soft white beaches and bath-warm Caribbean, most visitors will name the Pitons, the two lushly forested peaks that are the island’s most famous landmark.

Lounging on a catamaran during a recent trip, 12 years since I last visited, I was happy to admire them again - still beautiful, still guarding the quaint jumble of brightly painted wooden buildings that make up the pretty town of Soufriere. Much has stayed the same on St Lucia. There is the signature laid-back friendliness, the sea is still as clear as glass, and fruit-sellers and rum shops dot the roadsides as they always have. Continue Reading

Prosperity - as storms ravage world housing

The credit crunch has put paid to property booms around the globe, right? No, not quite. While the US, UK and European property markets are in price freefall, the Caribbean, and in particular the holiday island of St Lucia, seems to be holding its own - for the time being at least.

“Property prices have remained robust throughout the financial crisis,” says Allen Chastanet, St Lucia’s minister for tourism. “The key is we didn’t have a boom to begin with, so building levels were at sustainable levels. Therefore, we’re not having a bust.

“The only price softening that has taken place has been reflective of the pound weakening against the dollar,” he adds, with reference to the fact that St Lucian property is priced in dollars. “Sellers have been willing to bend prices a bit for British buyers to reflect this currency shift.” Continue Reading

Overseas property: St Lucia

St Lucia packs a lot into its 238 square miles and has big intentions too. In addition to its beautiful white beaches, banana plantations, coral reefs and tropical rainforest, it has grand plans for regeneration and redevelopment. This looks set to make it even more popular, not least with celebrity fans such as Amy Winehouse and Kelly Brook, both of whom have been spotted frolicking on the island in the last month.

Minister for tourism Allen Chastanet knows that for St Lucia to attract the same crowds and wealth as Barbados and Antigua it needs to protect its natural beauty but not rely on it alone. “As a destination, St Lucia’s done well,” he says, “but there’s a lot of potential for growth.” Which means incentives to encourage more hoteliers and resort developers to come to the island, sleek new marinas, and the replacement of nail-bitingly bad roads. This will do away with the tortuous route from the south of the island and Hewanorra International airport (also to be upgraded), to the north, where some of the most beautiful beaches can be found. Continue Reading