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St. Vincent holidays
Velvety green volcanoes, rich rainforest, botanical gardens and tropical black-sand beaches: Vincy’s victoriously resisted the development of tourism, leaving it heaving in nature and a prime example of old-school Caribbean.
- Flight time
- 11h
- From London
- Currency
- EC$
- Eastern Caribbean dollar
- Time zone
- GMT -4h
Getting to St. Vincent
Opened in 2017, Argyle International Airport (SVD) on the southeast side of St Vincent is the nation’s main airport. Formerly the main airport was E. T. Joshua International Airport (also called Arnos Vale Airport), which has since been decommissioned.
You can fly here from the UK via other Caribbean destinations including Barbados (which is an 8-9-hour flight from the UK, then a 30-minute flight to SVD) and St. Lucia (also an 8-9 hour flight from the UK, then a 20-minute flight to SVD). As of 2018, the USA has weekly non-stop flights from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York (the flight time between JFK and SVD is around 5 hours).
Taxi and car rental services operate from Argyle International, or you can usually arrange transfers through your hotel. The main cruise port can be found on the southwest coast in the capital, Kingstown.
Average weather in St Vincent
- Temperature (°C)*
- Rainfall (Inches)*
Holidays in St. Vincent
St Vincent’s nightlife hasn’t been tailored to tourists to the degree of other Caribbean islands, and that’s exactly what we like about it. Here you can drink and dance Vincy style, with locals leading the way. Most of the action can be found on the southwest coast around the port and marinas. Catch a big game at Altitude on Bay Street and drink cocktails at Bungalow on the boardwalk in Arnos Vale. Flow Wine Bar in Kingstown and its sister venue Flowt Beach Bar at the Blue Lagoon Marina do good wines and craft ales. Grand View Grill in Kingstown is another good spot for cocktails. For island hopping and rum-punch sipping, Jack’s and Keegan’s are two beach bars on Bequia, while Mustique is home to the legendary Basil’s Bar. If you’re spending time on Union Island, don’t miss happy hour on Happy Island – watch the kitesurfers in action and the sunset from an island made of shells.
There aren’t dozens of beach clubs or snazzy restaurants on St Vincent, but you don’t come here for that kind of scene anyway. This is where foodies can taste real, unadulterated Caribbean cuisine, the freshness and flavours that Vincentians tuck into day in, day out. If you’re yet to go gaga for roti, VJ’s in Kingston will soon have you hooked, serving a mix of meat and veggie fillings (try a different one each day…) alongside cracking curries. French Verandah whips up the Caribbean favourites like cracked conch in a seaside setting on Villa Bay Beach. The curried goat at SOV in Calliaqua can’t be missed and for pizzas, head to Grand View Grill on Indian Bay beach. Cobblestone inn near the ferry serves proper pub food like burgers, sarnies and salads.
For a good old fashioned Caribbean market - yet (and many hope never) to become overly touristy - head to the capital. Kingstown Market spreads out across three floors between Bedford and Hillsborough streets and bursts with colours, crowds and noise on Fridays and Saturdays. Pick up spices, locally grown fruit and veg, clothing, art, clothes, gifts and more... There are craft centres in Kingstown and Wallilabou, making and selling straw creations (baskets, bags, mats, hats) and paintings. The Voyager shops on Halifax and Bay street sell duty free goods like watches and jewellery.
Activities in St. Vincent
Watersports
Diving in St. Vincent
With one of the Caribbean’s biggest barrier reefs, the diving here is some of the best for hundreds of miles around. It’s St Vincent’s south/southeast coast you’ll want to head for underwater action: Indigo Dive at the Blue Lagoon Marina and Serenity Dive at the St Vincent Yacht Club in Calliaqua are two PADI centres offering training, equipment and a range of tours for different levels and interests. Dive St Vincent based at Young Island Dock is the oldest PADI facility on the island, specialising in critter dives. Those in the know call this neck of the woods the Caribbean’s ‘Critter Capital’ for the weird, wonderful creatures found when muck/macro diving: garden eels, long arm octopuses, longsnout seahorses, mantis shrimps and many more. Just off the southern shore, Critter Corner’s the best site in this department, a 32 ft dive you’ll want a waterproof camera for
On St Vincent’s leeward coast, the wall at Anchor Reef with its black coral forest is thought to be one of the world’s greatest dive sites. It sure is a spectacle, with holes and tunnels of technicolour coral you can swim through. Layou is another wonderful wall dive and for something different, the Bat Cave dive takes you from the surface down into the mouth of a cave filled with bats, then through a fissure at the other end into a gorgeous reef. Wrecks include the Siemstrad off Kingstown harbour – an intact, 120 ft ferry sank in the seventies.
There are dozens and dozens more dive sites around the Grenadines, easily reached by a spot of island hopping or a boat charter.
Surfing in St. Vincent
Wetsuits can stay in the wardrobe when you come to surf SVG – the water temperature hovers around 27-29°C in these parts. Though there isn’t a massive surf culture on Vincy, it’s certainly growing. But for now, with little by way of competition and consistent trade winds between December and June, the waves are all yours. Shipping Bay is the main spot on St Vincent’s east coast, and you can also find good waves off the reef at Blue Lagoon on the south coast when you paddle out from the marina. Last time we checked, the Barefoot Surf Shop here sold surf wear and gear, and offered tours and lessons. Locals also head to Argyle’s black sand beach when the wind’s up. Down in the Grenadines, Union Island sees good surf on Big Sand, and there are ample opportunities for stand up paddleboarding on luminous turquoise lagoons, around desert islands and over colourful reefs.
Windsurfing & kitesurfing in St. Vincent
If you’re based on St Vincent, a spot of island hopping down to the Grenadines will land you on some of the most unheard of - but utterly amazing - kiting conditions in the Caribbean. December – July is the best time to visit for kitesurfing when you’ll find fabulous flats, rollicking waves and delicious downwinders between beaches and islets.
Accessed by fast ferry from Kingstown or flight from Argyle International, Union Island is the life and soul of SVG’s kitesurfing scene. Anchorage Beach (crazily flat water, fantastic for freestyle with shallow bits for beginners), Frigate (another buttery flat, super quiet spot with offshore winds) and Big Sand (a little more wavy) are the top spots here, with experts at the JT Pro Center and Happy Kite providing gear hire, lessons, safaris and boat trips to other islands.
There’s a luminously turquoise lagoon just off Canouan Island, with beaches big and small to launch from and fun waves breaking off the outer reef. You can set off on an awesome downwinder from here to Mayreau, where Salt Whistle Bay has incredible flats and kickers for freestyling as well as shallows for learners. Kiting’s not permitted in all of the Tobago Cays, but Petit Tabac’s an exception with a stunning shallow lagoon and an exposed reef forming fun waves. Land on the islet for a picnic in paradise (this is where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed).
Sailing in St. Vincent
With the Grenadine islands scattered southwards, it’s hard to resist a spot of sailing from St Vincent. The island has several moorings including Blue Lagoon and Young Island Cut on the south coast, Ottley Hall Marina & Shipyard on the southwest and western Wallilabou Anchorage. Some offer liveaboard courses, where you can start or continue your ASA certifications, and many do crewed and bareboat charters. Bequia’s easily accessible by ferry or sailboat, a seafaring isle if ever there was one with a long history of boat building and fishing. Its Easter regatta is one of the biggest events on SVG’s calendar, with yacht and double ender races along the coast and around the island. And that’s just the start of the islands you can sail to, with millionaire-haunt Mustique, paradisiacal Palm Island, kitesurfy Union and the turtley Tobago Cays. Sailing further afield, a multiday trip can land you on St Lucia or Grenada for a night in another Caribbean nation.
Fishing in St. Vincent
Bigger in size but smaller in tourism, St Vincent doesn’t have as much of a fishing scene as the Grenadines. That said, you’ll find all the fishing supplies you’ll need in Lulley’s in Kingstown, and locals like Wayne from Baleine Tours run sport fishing boat trips where you can troll for tuna, barracuda, mahi mahi and more. For salt water fly fishing, hop over to Union Island where the flats are frequented by permits and bonefish (see if Sebastian at Grenadines Fishing is free to show you the best spots).
Land activities
Golf in St. Vincent
St Vincent’s mountainous physique doesn’t lend itself to golfing – teeing off on the side of a volcano is too much like hard work, and the only birdie you’ll get is St Vincent Parrot in the rainforest. Over in the flatter isles of the Grenadines, it’s a different story. Canouan’s your island for golf, accessed from St V. by a 2+ hour (but super scenic) ferry, a short flight to Canouan airport or a speedy private boat charter. However you get here, you’re greeted by the gorgeous fairways of the Pink Sands Golf Club (formerly Grenadines Estate Golf Club and Trump International). An 18-hole, par 72 course - Fazio designed - it’s divided into two loops and a dream to play. On the front nine you’re taken along the coast, then the back nine lead uphill where a high, windy ridge balances beautiful views with demanding holes. The sixteenth hole’s par 3 happens to be one of the longest in the world at a whopping 305 yards. If you want to play on pastures new, it’s an indulgent (but very worthy) flight to St Lucia, Barbados or Antigua from Argyle International Airport.
Cycling & mountain biking in St. Vincent
Cycling’s a cracking way to explore St Vincent: the place for bike hire has long been Sailor’s Cycle Centre on Upper Middle Street in Kingstown – it’s been running since the eighties and Trevor and team do awesome mountain bike ‘wilderness tours’ all over the island. One route runs from up on Belmont, into the Mesopotamia Valley then over to Argyle on the Atlantic coast. There’s also a famously scenic stretch between Richmond and Layou featuring steep climbs. Bikes are brilliant when it comes to exploring the capital, and you can also peddle between the villages on the windward coast.
Walking & hiking in St. Vincent
Rainforest trails, waterfall treks and hikes up volcanic peaks – St Vincent bursts with brilliant walking routes.
Getting you up close and personal with this island’s fabulous flora and fauna, the Vermont Nature Trail is a 2-mile loop leading through the thick rainforest on the edge of the Buccament Valley. It teems with tropical plants and is super for sightings of birds (like the Whistling Warbler and St Vincent parrot). There’s the Cumberland Nature Trail, too, also a couple of miles long and taking you into a thriving reforested area in the Cumberland Valley.
For a bit of history, we like the half-hour walk up to Fort Charlotte above Kingstown (the views over the Grenadines up here are smashing).
When it comes to waterfalls, the Dark View Falls are easily reached in about a quarter of an hour from a parking area. An awesome bamboo bridge leads over a river, there’s a natural pool that you can swim in and you can extend the walk by heading up to a second waterfall. A middling half-hour hike takes you to the Trinity Falls, starting off just south of Richmond Beach, trailing through the forest then going up and over a ridge and down into a spectacular gorge. You can also seek out the Baleine falls in the foothills of Soufrière on northwest St Vincent, following a rugged coast path from Fancy.
For experienced hikers, the route up the Soufrière Volcano from Rabacca is a must – it goes past banana plantations, then up through rainforest and cloud forest before you reach the edge of the crater. Being a day hike, it’s best to get there early in the morning to give yourself a good amount of time – and don’t forget to bring food and drink with you!