St Lucia: the Pitons, the mud baths and every boat in between.
Which catamaran actually stops at the reef. How long the drive down to Soufriere really takes. Whether an afternoon in the volcano is worth the smell. Every tour on the island, priced and reviewed.
The days St Lucia gets planned around.
A volcano you drive into, two mountains you climb before the heat, and a west coast that only makes sense from the water. These are the days the rest of an itinerary is built around.
Soufriere is why people come to St Lucia.
The Pitons come straight out of the water here, the volcano still steams, and the waterfalls run warm off its flank. It is ninety minutes down the west coast from the north-end hotels, so give it the whole day rather than an afternoon.
Sulphur Springs: the volcano you park inside.
All mud bath tours →
You drive into a collapsed crater, walk a boardwalk over vents that hiss and spit, then lower yourself into a warm grey pool that will stain a swimsuit for good. Bring an old one. These three do it in different orders.
Vents, mud pool, cold rinse
Steam vents first while the ground is still cool, then the mud, then a waterfall to get most of it off again. The version most people book once they are already south.
Mud bath, then falling water
Diamond Falls runs orange and violet with minerals and stays behind a rail; Toraille drops straight onto your shoulders. Most springs tours pair one of them with the pools.
Land and sea in one day
Picked up in the north, down the coast by catamaran, ashore at Soufriere for the mud and lunch, home by road through the fishing villages. Long day, one booking.
What a day out costs in St Lucia.
The whole catalogue, cheapest first. Chartered boats and private drivers sit at the top; several of the island’s best hours cost less than the ride in from the airport.
Waterfall stops, mud baths, rum tastings and the short boat trips out of Rodney Bay.
The island’s standard day out: catamaran down to Soufriere, canopy lines, a guided Piton climb.
- 1St. Lucia Land and Sea Tourfrom $115
- 2ATV Tour in St Luciafrom $107
- 3St Lucia Customize Private Island Tourfrom $130
Private drivers, chartered catamarans and the airport runs that buy back two hours of a short week.
The tours most visitors to St Lucia actually book.
The whole list →One island, one road down each coast. These are the days that fill first, and what each one is really like once you are on it.
1
St. Lucia Land and Sea Tour
Explore St. Lucia by minibus and speedboat, with volcano mud baths, Toraille Waterfall, local lunch, snorkeling, and Pitons views.
From · $115
Read our review →
2
ATV Tour in St Lucia
from $107
3
St Lucia Customize Private Island Tour
from $130
4
St Lucia Full-Day Catamaran Sightseeing Cruise With Snorkeling
from $145
5
St Lucia Diamond Mineral and Mud Baths Plus Waterfall Adventure
from $159
6
Rainforest Hike and Waterfall Safari
from $66
7
Wow Tours St. Lucia (COVID-19 Certified)
from $92
8
Project Chocolat Tree to Bar Tour at Hotel Chocolat Saint Lucia
from $124
Castries, Rodney Bay and the top of the island.
Most hotels sit up here and so does the cruise berth. The market in Castries is loudest on a Saturday morning, Pigeon Island guards the bay above Gros Islet, and the Friday street party at Gros Islet runs until the taxis give up.
All 38 Castries tours →
The three things you can only do in St Lucia.
Reef water and rum punch turn up all over the Caribbean. A volcano with a car park, a mountain you climb before breakfast, and the rum blended in the valley behind the beach belong to this island.
The Drive-In Volcano
Soufriere sits inside a collapsed caldera and the road runs straight into the middle of it. A boardwalk crosses vents that spit and hiss, the smell arrives before the view does, and below them sit the mud pools everyone came for. The minerals really do leave skin soft. The smell leaves with the second shower.
- 1St Lucia Diamond Mineral and Mud Baths Plus Waterfall Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 589 reviews
- 2Saint Lucia Sulphur Springs Rejuvenating Mud Bath Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 320 reviews
- 3Sulphur Springs Mud Bath and Toraille Waterfall Tour with Creole Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 122 reviews
Gros Piton
The taller of the two mountains is a world heritage site and a proper climb, not a walk: roughly two hours up and two back down, with a local guide taken on at the trailhead in Fond Gens Libre. Start at seven, before the heat has any say in it. The top gives you the whole south coast and Petit Piton looking small for once.
- 1Soufriere Volcano Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 486 reviews
- 2Gros Piton Hike with Dannyboy & Co.★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 210 reviews
- 3St Lucia Castries to Pitons Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 136 reviews
The Rum That Never Left
Cane grew in the Roseau Valley long before the bananas did, and the island still blends and ages its rum there, a few miles inland from the beach bars pouring it. A tasting runs through the young white stuff, the pot-still blends and the aged bottles that never reach the duty free at Hewanorra.
- 1St. Lucia Food and Rum Tour – Taste authentic St. Lucian Food and Culture★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 204 reviews
- 2St Lucia ATV Tour : Waterfall, Plantation, Beach and Distillery★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 114 reviews
- 3St Lucia Rum Tasting and Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 91 reviews
St Lucia looks better from a boat.
All boat trips →St Lucia Full-Day Catamaran Sightseeing Cruise With Snorkeling
Read our review →Private Full Day Charter: St Lucia Boat Tour to Soufriere
Read our review →
St Lucia Catamaran Day Sailing and Sightseeing Tour
Read our review →Book these before you land in St Lucia.
Most of the island can wait until you are on it. These cannot. The airport is at the wrong end for the hotels, the big catamarans sail full in season, and the mountain wants a guide arranged before you turn up at the gate.
- 01Ferry Transfer from Hewanorra Airport to Saint Lucia ResortsHewanorra sits at Vieux Fort, ninety minutes from the northern hotels, and the taxi rank thins out fast after the last arrival. Arrange the run with the flight.
- 02St Lucia Full-Day Catamaran Sightseeing Cruise With SnorkelingOne sailing a day, one boat, and in high season the good ones are full before the week starts.
- 03Gros Piton Hike with Dannyboy & Co.The climb goes with a guide taken on at the trailhead, and the sensible starts are early. Places thin out on cruise-ship mornings.
- 04St. Lucia Food and Rum Tour – Taste authentic St. Lucian Food and CultureSmall-group food walks run on fixed days and the kitchens are given a headcount in advance.
Rain in St Lucia lasts an hour, not a day.
The wet season runs June to November and most of it arrives as a hard afternoon shower that stops as suddenly as it started. The rainforest is greener for it and the waterfalls run harder. These are the days that never once look at the sky.
Which corner of St Lucia are you on?
Cap Estate26 tours
Gros Islet14 tours
Rodney Bay8 tours
Choc Bay9 tours
Castries38 tours
Soufriere20 tours- Every corner, every review →
The island end to end: Cap Estate to Soufriere.
The newest St Lucia reviews.
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