Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia is a volcanic island of about 616 square kilometres, its interior steep rainforest and its southwest still geothermally active. Britain and France fought over it repeatedly, which is why English is official but a French-based Creole is widely spoken. It has produced two Nobel laureates, Arthur Lewis and Derek Walcott, from a population under 200,000.

Known for the twin Pitons, Sulphur Springs volcano, Kweyol creole, green fig and saltfish and two Nobel laureates.

Highlights

  • Gros Piton, Soufriere: The larger of the two volcanic plugs on the southwest coast, 771 metres high, with a marked trail up from Fond Gens Libre. With Petit Piton it forms the UNESCO-listed Pitons Management Area.
  • Sulphur Springs, Soufriere: A geothermal field inside the collapsed Qualibou caldera, with steaming vents and boiling sulphur pools that vehicles can drive right up to. Hot mineral mud baths sit just downstream of the springs.
  • Pigeon Island National Landmark, Gros Islet: A former offshore island joined to the north coast by a causeway in 1972, topped by the ruins of Fort Rodney. British ships watched the French fleet at Martinique from here in the 1780s.
  • Anse Chastanet, Soufriere: A dark volcanic-sand beach north of Soufriere where reef begins a few metres offshore, inside the Soufriere Marine Management Area. It is one of the island's main diving bases.

Places in Saint Lucia

Getting around

Saint Lucia's minibuses are privately owned but licensed and regulated by the Road Transport Board, a statutory body that reviews routes, stands and fares. Fare changes are negotiated with the National Council on Public Transport, which speaks for twenty-four minibus associations; the fare review begun in 2013 was only adopted in July 2022. L'Express des Îles sails between Castries and Fort-de-France in Martinique, about an hour and a half non-stop.