St Lucia: Driving Experiences/To Do?
 

I'll be touring St. Lucia mid Feb. Can anyone offer insights or advice on driving the roads there? Any ideas for "must see" sites/places? What to avoid?

We did not drive while we were there but
we rented a taxi (van)with 2 other couples and did the whole island. Our driver knew just where we wanted to go. We visited some great little villages had lunch, and visited some great views for taking photos. It was well worth the $35 per couple plus tip and our drivers name was Simon. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the views not worry about the driving. He stopped whenever we wanted it was a great experience.

Though we usually rent a car, I also would highly recommend a taxi on St. Lucia. We did water taxis to go from one end of the island to the other, and street taxis to sightsee.
As for "must sees", we did a rain forest tour which was fantastic, but it was in June. Not sure how it would be in February. The downtown market, on Saturday I think, was very interesting.

Definitely take a cab. The drivers are fabulous. We went from one end to the other (tranferring from the Hyatt to Ladera) over 4 or 5 hours with stops at the botanical gardens, the volcano, several beautiful bays, a rum factory with endless open-air tasting, the pitons...
the fare was $100, a bargain in my mind. We saw things we never would have known existed. Be sure, no matter how you go, to make a trip to Dasheen at Ladera. Awesome view! Great food and drink. Enjoy!

I agree with the other posts. Take a taxi vs renting a car. We've rented cars in most islands, Barbados, Aruba, St. Martin, T&C, but St. Lucia roads are too much of a challenge. We stayed at the Royal St. Lucian in the North and highly recommend Fletcher if you decide to use a taxi. Our hotel made our taxi arrangements for us and we always requested Fletcher. If you're staying in the north, we highly recommend taking a catamarin trip to the south to the sites.

Ditto the taxi ride for exploring. The locals know where to go and you will not have to worry about the roads. Although, if you are adventuresome, go for it.

Beachpup,
We did both on St. Lucia, we had car rentals (large group) and getting around was not a problem....roads suck so you can't go fast but A to B no problems. Locals are friendly and will help point the way, just stop and ask. Tips for car rental, do rent some type of truck, nothing serious but something that rides higher than a regular car....4wd is not normally necessary its only the clearance you need.

If you are staying up in Castries area and want to get down to the Pitons, volcano it might be nice to hire a cab for the day, we did and it was great...he knew where to go and we took him out for a great lunch at a nearby plantation. Though that was something totally unplanned prior to the trip, we just found this guy along the way turned out great. So you might want to leave some mystery to you trip.

Most of all, have a great time!

We rented the whole time. You drive on the left side. There are ditches that are up to 3-4 feet deep on the left side of the road so when you go around a turn to the left and are driving/sitting on the the right side of the car it is difficult to see how close you are to these ditches. That seenmed to be the only problem of merit. We drove at night and during the day time. The turn signal is to the right of the steering wheel and the windshield wipers are on the left side. I was constantly turning on the wipers to turn and vise versa to use the windshield vipers. Driving on the left only becomes a problem in the city like the Castries when making turns at an intersections. On the main roads you have plenty of time to think what you are going to do next.

mp,
Its the same as if you are driving on the right and sitting on the left with ditches/road dropoffs....only a few kilometers needed to get that spacial feel. All of us when accustomed to right hand driving when given a car with opposite controls we all hit the windshield wipers to signal! Too funny....however it doesn't last long. My only comment with stick shift cars is I'm glad the pedals aren't reversed too! Now that would be hard!