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Gros Islet & Rodney Bay holidays
In St Lucia’s northernmost district, Rodney Bay rules the tourist scene, the Cap Estate oozes luxury and Gros Islet village puts on legendary street parties. No wonder the island’s visitors are drawn here like bees to honey: this is some of the Caribbean at its finest.
- Flight time
- 9h
- From London
- Currency
- EC$
- Eastern Caribbean Dollar
- Time zone
- GMT -4h
Package holidays to Gros Islet and Rodney Bay
Getting to Gros Islet and Rodney Bay
The nearest airport is George F. L. Charles Airport (SLU) in Castries, which is a 20-30 minute drive from most hotels and resorts in Gros Islet. It’s an inter-island airport, with connections to Caribbean destinations including Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. Kitts & Nevis.
St Lucia’s other, bigger, airport is Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) down in the southern district of Vieux Fort. Driving to most of Gros Islet’s destinations from here takes around 1.5 hours. Hewanorra has regular non-stop flights from London Gatwick (which take around 9 hours), as well as airports across the USA including Miami, New York and Atlanta. Transfers are often included with a hotel package, but if you need to arrange transport separately there are taxi and car hire companies operating from the airport.
If you prefer to travel by sea, Port Castries is about 30 minutes drive away and has ferry connections to Martinique as well as a huge cruise ship terminal.
Average weather in Gros Islet and Rodney Bay
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Holidays in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Gros Islet’s the life and soul of St Lucia come nightfall and host of the legendary Jump Up street party. Running every Friday (apart from Good Friday), this is a huge open-air celebration where locals barbeque meat and fish, serving rum punch by the gallon with cool boxes brimming with Piton beers. Reggae and soca beats pump out of huge speakers, with St Lucian’s pouring in to eat, drink and dance after work later in the evening.
For the rest of the week, Spinnakers Beach Bar is an awesome place to catch the sunset, with happy hours and excellent cocktails. Try Andy’s famous rum punch and listen to reggae at Irie Bar or head to the island’s only Casino, Treasure Bay. Delirious is good for sophisticated sipping, serving marvellous martinis or, for the more adventurous, the Raspberry Chili Grapefruit Flip (jalapeno, raspberries, grapefruit juice, vodka, Cointreau).
The mix of places to eat here is brilliant – choose between curries at Spice of India, chops at the Big Chef Steakhouse, Tex-Mex at Matthews and much, much more.
If you’re celebrating something special, book a table at Froggie Jaques on the seafront at the far end of Reduit Beach. They do brunch and jazz on Sundays, and the French-Caribbean cuisine comes perfectly presented all week. La Terrasse is another good option, serving artistic French fare, and The Cliff at Cap Maison has an amazing tasting menu. A favourite lunch spot is the Naked Fisherman at Smuggler’s Cove beach – tables are set out on the sand near gently lapping waters, and the menu features fresh seafood and Kobe beef with Creole and Asian flavours.
For live music and good wholesome St Lucian food, check out Buzz, or if you want no-frills but seriously tasty nosh, Wingz n Tingz does good value spicy chicken.
There’s no doubt Rodney Bay has some of the best – if not THE best – shopping on the island. Baywalk Mall is your main hub for bagging a duty-free bargain, with brands including Hugo Boss and a range of perfumes at Duty Free Shoppers Inc. There are also a bunch of restaurants here serving pizza, Chinese, Indian and gelato if you need to refuel. JQ Mall stocks more of the same – shops like Ocean Drive and Kaycee’s selling clothing, food at Massy Stores Supermarket and the usual souvenirs. You’ll find more shops at the Rodney Bay Marina, including the Drop Anchor Boutique which has a nice range of clothes and gifts. Don’t miss the smaller, independent shops either – like Island Mix which sells beautiful products made in St Lucia (including a cracking rum cake!).
Activities in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Watersports
Diving in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Divers have some brilliant sites around the north end of the island – none more northern than Saline Point which you can snorkel or scuba to from the beach. Depths go up to 60 feet here and popular sightings include puffer fish, rays and eels. If you’re diving for the first time, Smugglers Cove is a friendly starting point reaching down to 40ft. You can access it from the beach or by boat, and once you’re there, trenches, shelves and rocks await with all kinds of tropical fish - often the odd octopus and lobster too. There are three stunning reef sites to the north, south and east of Pigeon island, well worth exploring for their big boulders, sea horses, lobsters and eels. La Roche (The Rock - or sometimes ‘Barrel O’ Beef’) is a diddy island off the Rodney Bay Marina with spectacular trenches and valleys to swim amongst. If you want to try night diving, Berger Rock is fitted with a flashing light for guidance, letting you spot eels, trumpet fish and sergeant majors under the moonlight. You’ll find most dive operators – like Dive Saint Lucia, Iyanola Divers and Eastern Caribbean Diving – based around Rodney Bay and providing equipment, instruction and tours.
Surfing in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
St Lucia doesn’t have a huge surfing community like Barbados, but what surfing does happen here, happens around Gros Islet. And it’s dreamy – not too crowded, warm waters, good looking beaches and consistent breaks if you know where to find them. When there’s good NE swell, Pigeon Point’s reef break has decent left and right handers, while the beach break at Commaret Point is brilliant in an ENE swell. For experts, the Windjammer reef break is worth riding if you can negotiate rocks and coral. It’s definitely worth bringing your own surfboard if you want to test out the St Lucian swell – last time we checked there wasn’t anywhere providing hire on the island. The west coast’s gorgeously calm waters are perfect for paddle boarders, who can use their own gear or often borrow boards from the bigger hotels. Paddling over to Pigeon Island is one of our favourite routes, or you can just pootle around the bay as fish and rays swim beneath you.
Windsurfing & kitesurfing in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Gros Islet has one of the main kitesurf and windsurf beaches on the island – Plantation Beach or Cas en Bas, where a reef-protected ‘c’ shaped bay gets consistent trade winds between November and June. This is where the locals ride, and you’ll find companies like Aquaholics and Kitesurfing St Lucia providing equipment, tuition and supervision. On the Atlantic side, the beach is about a 10-minute drive from Rodney Bay.
Sailing in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Rodney Bay Marina is the hub of sailing action on St Lucia, famously the finish point of the ARC Atlantic rally from the Canary Islands. You can book a sailboat racing experience through local companies like First 4 Sail and Jus’ Sail, who also provide lessons for beginners and improvers. If you’ve got sailing experience, it’s possible to join an overnight sail trip to one of the neighbouring Caribbean islands (Martinique and St Vincent are closest). Some of the bigger hotels and resorts have their own Hobie Cats for guests to enjoy too. Or if you’d rather someone else took to the helm, various crewed charters run trips to Pigeon Island, down to Marigot Bay and Soufriere or to the best fishing and whale-watching spots.
Fishing in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Look out for companies like Exodus Boat Charters based around Rodney Bay Marina, who you can join for deep sea fishing trips to the most bountiful spots – sometimes only a mile or so offshore. The game fishing here has tons of potential, with the likes of blue and white marlin, kingfish, sailfish and barracuda among popular catches. The marina here’s the heart of St Lucia sport fishing, hosting the Saint Lucia Billfish Tournament each year, and often your captain and crew will be past winners which puts you in excellent hands.
Canoeing & kayaking in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
One of our favourite kayak tours is the one from Rodney Bay over to Pigeon Island, where you can mix a grand day of paddling with a stretch on the beach and hike up historic hills. It’s also possible to head south along the coast to beautiful Marigot Bay in Castries, passing tiny islets like Rat Island along the way. Marigot Bay is often used as a start point for other tours along the south – with popular ones stopping at Anse Cochon (for some of the best snorkelling in St Lucia) and Soufriere at the foot of the glorious Pitons. If you prefer casual paddling over a full-on tour, a lot of the big hotels and resorts here have kayaks for guests to use in the local bay: while away the hours on amazingly clear water, watching fish swim beneath you as you go.
Land activities
Golf in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Good news golfers: this part of the island’s where you’ll find the hub of golfing action, with Cap Estate’s St. Lucia Golf Club being St Lucia’s only 18-holer. Up in the rolling hills of the north, the championship course has stunning views of both the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, with trade winds and water hazards to test your technique. About half an hour’s drive south into Castries, the Sandals La Toc resort has a 9-hole course with rolling hills every which way and views of the sea from the 4th tee. It’s pint-sized but punchy, with challenging winds and tight holes demanding concentration.
Cycling & mountain biking in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
Last time we checked, local companies offered bike hire around Rodney Bay to let you peddle at your own pace along the coast and national park. We’ve also seen fatbiking tours set off from the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium, taking you along muddy, bumpy trails across rivers, down hillsides and along the Atlantic Coast. There’s a good trail to the Dennery waterfall further southeast, while on the southwest coast, Anse Mamin in Soufriere has 8 miles of amazing MTB paths. It’s possible to cycle all the way round the island anticlockwise, with the stretch down to Vieux Fort being our favourite half. The second bit takes you up along the rugged Atlantic coast, and it might be worth hiring a guide to help with navigation.
Walking & hiking in Gros Islet & Rodney Bay
The Pigeon Island National Park has some terrific routes past ruins and beautiful beaches, and you can head north to explore the hills of Pointe du Cap or down into Castries. The 5km Forestiere rainforest trail follows the path of an old French road and takes you into lush rainforest. If that leaves your legs aching for more rainforest terrain, the Jacquot trail features all kinds of tropical flora and fauna – including the native parrot the trail’s named after. There’s also a fabulous path to the Anse-la-Raye waterfalls, and further down the island you can hike the Gros Piton mountain for incredible views over the island.
