bluewater63

We're taking a Southern Caribbean cruise next month and will be stopping in St. Lucia for the day. We love hiking, biking, snorkeling...pretty much anything adventurous. We will be snorkeling on several other islands (St. John, Antiqua, Barbados). We're considering jungle biking or hiking to the top of Gros Piton. Would love feedback from other travellers on fun things to do there (I'm sure there are many).

brenandg

Not sure if you are aware, but the cruise ship port is in the Northern part of the island and the Piton's are in the southern part of the island. Not sure how like it would take to hike the Piton, but you will be burning up about 2.5-3 hours just in travel time to and from. Check out sunlinktours.com They offer several tours including jungle biking. You might also want to consider a "Land and Sea" tour of the island. It is the best way to see the most of the island with limited time. Have fun, St Lucia is beautiful.

sleeepy

I second brenandg - it's the best bang for the buck and you get to see some of the best highlights of St. Lucia. If you are not up for being in a vehicle for 1.5 hours from Castries to Soufriere (where the Pitons are), you could also do the Soufriere Adventure Sail - same as Land and Sea, except of course you don't drive to Soufriere, you sail. After that, the tour is the same (visit Pitons, Volcano, Botanical Gardens, have lunch at a local restaurant, go snorkeling/swimming for 45 minutes, have rum punch and dance the rest of the way back. But the drive would let you see some banana plantations and drive through a rain forest (perhaps) and see what life is like in St. Lucia along the way. But I would recommend the Land and Sea since you are only there a day.

bluewater63

Thanks for the tip. We don't want to be rushed, and don' t want to spend a good chunk of our day on the road either. Checking into the 'Land and Sea' tour. BTW, how does snorkeling in St. Lucia compare to other islands. I have dived (scuba and snorkel) in Martinique, Jamaica, Belize, Costa Rica, Puerta Vallarta and Bahamas.

Carib_dreamn

I could be wrong but if my memory is correct there is a helicopter that takes people down to the Pitons in 15 or 30 mins???

brenandg

Yes, there is a helicopter service, stluciahelicopters.com. For this situation, they could leave from SLU airport to the Jalousie Plantation helipad near the Piton's. Cost is $120pp each way. The ride would be about 10-12 minutes.

doug_stallings

The Pitons are breathtaking, but you don't hike to the top so much as climb. There are permanently attached ropes, and the ascent involves a fair amount of climbing, so consider that if you want to go that route. Snorkeling in St. Lucia can be ok, especially around the Pitons themselves, but you'll still have to travel to the southern end of the island. It's faster to do the trip by water, but you are still talking about an hour of travel. For me, the highlight of St. Lucia are the rain forest (good hiking there)---and jungle biking sounds like a great activity (I've never done that in St. Lucia)---or the Pitons. A lot of the tours just take you past, and then stop for a lunch at an old plantation, and aren't so terribly intersting, in my opinion. Just a lot of driving---even though the scenery is spectacular, you may not want to spend the day driving.

Curt

I agree - do it by boat. The boat ride along the coast from Castries to the Pitons is very senic and interesting, especially if they make a few side trips into some of the nice bays along the way, like Marigot Bay. The snorkeling at the foot of the pitons was pretty good - not as good as other islands we have been to but not bad either. Depending on the company you go with you might also get some time at the Jalousie Plantation resort to use their beach etc. Note that this is the old Hilton and recent reviews indicate that since Hilton left it has sadly gone way down hill and is now pretty bad. Very sad it was a very nice property when Hilton ran it.