Frequently ignored via Caribbean-bound voyagers, serene St. Lucia excursions has every one of the makings of a tropical heaven: brownish, palm-studded shorelines, protected bays, a rich inside loaded with downpour woodlands and waterfalls, and accommodating local people who appear to be upbeat (if interested) to wave you in the right heading when the thrilling streets fork off in three vertiginous bearings. Be that as it may, St. Lucia's under-the-radar status is changing as a gathering of new extravagance resorts strive for the best view and the most over-the-top enhancements. Still, if the $1,000-a-night, private-dive pool experience doesn't speak to you or your wallet, bargains proliferate, and with them, an opportunity to test the genuine St. Lucia.
Where to Stay
On the island's peaceful southern tip, the Villa Caribbean Dream (Cap Moule à Chique, Vieux Fort; 758-454-68-46; www.caribdreams.net) is a large guesthouse with gingerbread trim roosted high above untouristy Vieux Fort, close to a decent windsurfing shoreline. For $40 (single) or $50 (twofold), you can stay in one of four rooms in a different wing with two shared bathrooms. Two condo, with kitchens and showers, are accessible for $80. All visitors are urged to relax on the deck, which offers a magnificent perspective of ocean and coastline.
At the 33-room Bay Gardens Inn (Rodney Bay; 758-452-82-00; www.baygardensinn.com) on the northwest drift, distributed rates begin at $115, yet scratch beneath the surface and you'll effectively discover under-$100 bargains. A late Expedia look yielded a $72.75 December rate and, on the inn's Web website, a $90 rate turned up as a "supervisor's extraordinary." The rooms are brilliant, with overhangs or porches confronting a tranquil patio and little pool. All have viable, if marginally uproarious aerating and cooling, iceboxes, current bathrooms and attentive additional items like thick shoreline towels. A reward is free access to the bigger pools at both the Bay Gardens Hotel over the road and the higher-end Bay Gardens Beach Resort on adjacent Reduit shoreline.
Where to Eat
With all the roadside stands offering barbecued chicken and pork (beginning at 10 East Caribbean dollars, or about $3.70 at 2.70 E.C. dollars to the U.S. dollar) and shoddy Piton brew, it's anything but difficult to get lunch on the fly. At the sprawling business sector opposite the port in the capital city of Castries, discover your way around tables weighed down with breadfruit and coconuts, to a back street where merchants offer nearby toll like rotis — zesty sheep and chicken curries wrapped in a tortilla-like hotcake (7 E.C. dollars) — and chewy circles of cassava bread, spotted with fruits and nutmeg (5 E.C. dollars). For breakfast, snatch a papaya juice and a coconut turnover for 4 E.C. dollars.
On Rodney Bay's principle strip, local people regularly suggest the Lime (758-452-0761), which serves a filling form of rotis (10 E.C. dollars) and conch sautéed in a Creole sauce (58 E.C. dollars).
However, the feast you'll wait over is at La Haut Plantation (Castries-Soufrière Highway; 758-459-7008; www.lahaut.com). The perspective of the Pitons — two towering, spiky outcrops — is hypnotizing. Lunch, as well, isn't awful, particularly the fish cakes (a seared mixture of cod, flour and peppers for 12 E.C. dollars) and fresh pumpkin fries (15 E.C. dollars). Top it off with cocoa tea, a rich mix of ground cocoa sticks, cinnamon, nutmeg and steamed milk (7 E.C. dollars).
