Travel Guide: Saint Lucia

If you’re recently engaged and planning your honeymoon, or looking for a romantic couples getaway – this Saint Lucia travel guide is for you! I will tell you everything I wish I knew prior to leaving and the fun things you will want to plan!! We just got married in October and although it was during the pandemic, we still had a blast!! I would absolutely do it all over again, but with a few tips!

Where To Stay In Saint Lucia?

Saint Lucia has a few beautiful resorts to choose from. If you’ve seen the bachelor, I’m sure your familiar with the famous Jade Mountian. While that is absolutely a stunning resort, we wanted something all inclusive, and let me tell you, it was just as beautiful and far more affordable! Knowing we didn’t have to stress about food and drink costs was a huge reason we went this route and I am so glad we did!!

We booked with Sandals and stayed at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian. This is the largest Sandals resort in St. Lucia (there are 3). What’s cool is, you can actually hop around to each by boat and hang out, check out their different restaurants, shops, etc. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to do that. Don’t let that discourage you though, it was absolutely still a blast, but I wanted to mention it in case you are planning a trip during COVID. 

Things To Do In Saint Lucia?

There are so many fun things to do! If there is ONE thing you do, please day time snorkel! IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! I am terrified of being in the ocean past my knees, it totally weirds me out not knowing what’s there. I almost didn’t go BUT Im so glad I did it! It was truly the most beautiful and color thing I’ve seen!! All the life down there is so interesting too! Now, we also did a night time snorkel and that I thought personally was creepy as all hell! I won’t be doing that again!! My husband really liked it though, so, to each their own!

Ok, so aside from snorkeling, the resort you stay at should have plenty of activities to choose from. We did the boat trip where it takes you to the mud bath and the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is so gorgeous and much bigger than I expected. There is also a waterfall excursive, but that one wasn’t open due to the pandemic, so we missed out on that one! Keep in mind, these excursions do cost a little extra, but there are free things to do too! 

Complimentary

The Sandals Resort has complimentary sail boats and wake boards that are first come first serve. This is such a fun thing to do and love that it is at no extra charge! Things tend to change with time, I would recommend just checking out their website before booking to ensure you have up to date facts. We traveled to Saint Lucia October of 2020.

Butler Service

Butler Service is where you have a designated person(s) waiting on you during your entire stay with Sandals. They reserve a spot on the beach for you. The seats with the shade coverings and. little tables do tend to get taken up as they are first come, first serve. They are in a sense, like a server. They will bring you drinks from the bar so you don’t have to get up. You can order your lunch through them and they will either deliver to you on the beach or to your room. You are provided with a cell phone so you can reach them at all times. While it is an all inclusive resort and you do not tip anyone, you CAN tip the butlers. I actually really enjoyed the butler service. Another cool thing is they know all the fun things to do and can recommend excursions they have each day. We would have missed out on a lot if we hadn’t had our butler. 

What To Pack

Regardless what time of the year you go, you should count on some rain. We went in October and it only rained a few times, and it didn’t last long. 

You’ll want to pack for the beach, lunch, excursions and dinners. Some of the restaurants have a dress code, so keep that in mind. Also, something to note is the resort does have a little boutique where you can buy sunscreen, razors and they even have cute beachwear. It is a bit overpriced though, so anything you can bring that you have from home will help reduce your costs. We ran out of sunscreen and paid $17 for a bottle. Thats a little pricy in my opinion.

I recommend bringing the following:

• swim suit (make sure you bring a DARK (black preferred) swimsuit if you plan to do the mudbath) – it WILL stain your suit and it will NOT wash out.
• no need for towels and the resorts have you covered here
• sunscreen (be mindful of the airline sizing restrictions)
• shorts
• tanks
• maxi dresses (these are perfect to bring for the nice dinners at night)
• chapstick with sunscreen
• hat/ hair ties & bobby pins
• sunnies
• sandals
• light sweater

My opinion, is you don’t need to bring jeans, it’s just too humid! We never wore them and it just took up a lot of suitcase space.

What To Eat In Saint Lucia?

Don’t be afraid to eat the food here! For the most part, it all seems americanized. The best food we had was on the excursion. We had the “local” food. They have fish, chicken, lentils, and it is really good!! With that said, explore the culture!! One thing we noticed at the resort, is that the food menu seemed to be the same for lunch at all the resort restaurants. Then, at night, the dinner menu was specific to the restaurant. Just a little FYI for you.

Traveling During The Pandemic? READ THIS!

These next few tips are strictly from our experience and to hopefully help avoid you having these unnecessary fees and discomfort. 

My recommendation is to book the airline flight to Miami from the get-go. The reasoning, is we originally had it booked to Florida and that flight was cancelled last minute. As a result, we had to pay an extra $500 for last minute tickets. That was not cool! Turns out MOST o the flights to St Lucia leave from Miami. A handful of the couples we met mentioned the same thing had happened to them. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

Upgrading

We have never booked first class and we don’t usually upgrade seats… but, this is something worth considering. Depending on where your traveling form, this is a long flight. If it’s your honeymoon, I’d recommend splurging a little! We didn’t upgrade on the way there and we were SO uncomfortable. It feels ike the seating got more crammed and it was just too long of a flight to be that uncomfortable. After that, we immediately upgraded for the flight home and it was much more enjoyable. Like I said, if its your honeymoon, I’d encourage it! No reason to start the trip off like that. Especially, if you had the red eye flight like we did!

COVID 

While we had a blast, THIS PART was by far the WORST part of the trip. In order to travel, you MUST get a COVID test 7 days prior to leaving and you must send the Saint Lucia Tourism your results, which then they will grant you with an “Approval Email” BUT BE WARNED – there a a few types of tests (PCR, Rapid Test, In House Test). The place we got the test advised they couldn’t have the results back in 7 days, so they offered us the rapid test and explained that it’s the same test, but results same day. So, not being in the medical field, we thought, yes, do it so we can make our trip!! Well, they ONLY accept PCR tests. I repeat, they ONLY ACCEPT PCR TESTS. This caused us a huge problem and much unneeded stress.

This led to us being stuck in Miami and nearly missing our flight as the airline would not let us on. Luckily this happened to a few other couples so they held the flight. (Shout out to all the other honeymooners on the flight who had to wait for us). Ultimately after they said we would likely miss the flight (and the next flight not be until another few days, WHAT!) They let us on. They called St. Lucia and they said they would look at our results. This was stressful guys, we were so anxious! 

Once We Arrived At The Airport In Saint Lucia 

Once we arrived, we waited in customs for about 2 hours while they looked at the results and had us call the clinic that test us, it was truly a mess! The end result ended us having to re-test at the airport. It cost us an extra $250 and we had to quarantine at the hotel until the test results came back. Luckily, the results came back in less than 2 days. But, lets be honest here, that was long and painful for us being that we were on our honeymoon and wanted to explore the island!! Don’t get me wrong, we still had a blast, and I’d do it all over again just to go back, but I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else as it could have been avoided if we only knew! 

Questions?

If you are planning a trip to Saint Lucia and have any questions, drop a comment below! I’d love to answer them!

Not sure what swimwear to bring on your honeymoon? Here I show you the honeymoon inspired swimsuit I brought to Saint Lucia

XO

Leah