Hi, this seems like the best place to get advice.
We are planning a week in the Caribbean in January. Flights that suit are to either Barbados or St Lucia.
Accommodation I've looked at would be Southern Palms for Barbados, or Coco Palm for St Lucia.
We are fit early 50s who enjoy walking, wildlife, good food and a relaxing beer whilst watching the world go by. A nice beach would be a bonus.
What are the pros and cons of each?
From reading the forums, its seems Barbados is safe but pricey, St Lucia has more bugs( and I get bitten)but more scenic.
Thanks

hi moggy, barbados is easier to get around. st. lucia is quite mountainous - driving around takes a lot of time and some roads are not the best.
st. lucia does have some great hiking. this page has some trail info: http://www.stlucia.org/activity/soft_adventure.asp
also drive through volcano, the pitons, a rain forest, some good botanical gardens.
barbados has nicer beaches, some hiking, botanical gardens, rum distilleries and some old sugar plantations to see, etc. i think you'll have better access to good dining options on barbados and the part of bridgetown known as 'the gap' is perfect for sipping suds and people watching.
an alternative hotel you could look at is: http://www.bougainvillearesort.com/index.html
although southern palms looks lovely and appears to be on a good beach.
if you do choose barbados you should email lois swanson (a fodorite) at: [email protected]
she will send you a 25 page pdf with tons of barbados info. she goes frequently and just decided to gather the info to help others travel there.
hope this helps.

Thanks virginia, links look interesting. Think we really need to pinpoint just what we want. I like to do things, sitting on a beach bores me, but the other half likes to loll around...some compromises required!

Hi moggy,

We just got back from spending the night at Southern Palms and wish we could have stayed longer. The beach is beautiful. The rooms are very dated, but clean, so if you are not planning to spend much time in your room (I know we don't when there is a beautiful beach outside!), that would be a good place. We didn't really get a chance to explore Barbados as we were only in transit, so I will leave the details to the Barbados experts on this forum.

I know you said Barbados or St. Lucia, but I just gotta throw out Grenada in the mix if you can find a flight there. It has what you are looking for and the people are lovely and will welcome you with their genuine warmth. It's my favorite island.

I've spent a pleasant week discovering Barbados in one trip and several days there during another trip. I love the gentle rolling landscape. In Bathsheba the waves are tremendous and a spot known as the "soup bowl" is a favorite for surfers and boogie boarders. There are completely different areas in Barbados and all are worth seeing. The restaurants are to die for!!!

St Lucia - I didn't need all the bug bites. The people were not very pleasant. We had a camera stolen. The roads are very twisty. We were just disappointed with St Lucia.

The beach that Southern Palms is on is fabulous with sailing and kayaking and various other activities, and swimming of course, and there is a life guard on duty. There are registered vendors right there selling local food at great prices and those cold beers. From the hotel you can walk to all the restaurants, bars, shops of St Lawrence Gap, plus the bird sanctuary is a longer walk or short drive/bus ride away.
Coco Palm on St Lucia is nice but not on the beach. Short walk to beach and all the restaurants, bars and other activities of Rodney Bay.
You can't go wrong with either one.

Can you say where else you have been and what you liked? That might help us help you to decide.

We've been to both and this year returned for a second time to St. Lucia, because of flight convenience. We prefer the scenery there, but do agree with mymoosie that Grenada, if you can organize it, is truly the best of both worlds.

And thank you mymoosie for your excellent photos- when I took my own kitten pics I thought of you!

And thank you ejcrowe and mymoosie and everyone else for suggesting Grenada, it was so great I'm plotting my return!

Thanks folks for your help. I think we are going with Barbados this time. I suspect Dominica might be my personal ideal, although Grenada does look good too- flights don't suit this time around- but looking for a reasonably relaxing time. We haven't really had sun since June, and are looking to boost the old vitamin D levels! I just need something to keep me amused, beaches kinda lost their appeal when the kids grew up and I had no-one to play with. Never been to the Caribbean before ( except Cuba )