From chocolate estates to ATV trails: what to see on a trip to St Lucia

Anyone weighing up things to do in St Lucia now has a fresh checklist to work through, after the German travel magazine reisen EXCLUSIV published a detailed round-up of the experiences it considers unmissable on the island. The report ranges from cocoa country around Soufrière to the capital Castries, and it underlines how much of Saint Lucia lies beyond the beach, even if the sand is never far away. As reported by reisen EXCLUSIV, the piece mixes well-known names with quieter corners of the south and east of the island.

High on the list is chocolate. The report describes a cocoa estate experience where visitors follow the bean from tree to bar, tasting as they go, and where those who want to stay overnight can check into the adjoining Rabot Hotel. The hotel, run by Hotel Chocolat, comes with an infinity pool looking towards the Pitons. For anyone curious about cocoa and chocolate in St Lucia, the estate remains the most direct way in, pairing a working plantation with a restaurant that builds entire dishes around home-grown cacao. Beyond the tour, the hotel is a base for swimming, snorkelling and diving on the Soufrière coast, forest walks, the Sulphur Springs, gardens and a guided climb of a Piton.

For travellers who prefer dust to chocolate, the report recommends the Irie Valley Ride with Eastern Exotic ATV Tours in the east of the island. The route runs through banana plantations and over off-road tracks across the valley, passing villages where riders can watch bread being baked and stopping with a Rastafarian who lives above one of the communities according to strict religious rules. Guides brief beginners before setting off and lead the group at a steady pace, though closed shoes are essential and the terrain can be rough and muddy. Those who would rather not drive can ride as a passenger, and jeep tours are an alternative for anyone who wants to sit back and photograph the interior, which the island's coastal main roads otherwise leave feeling far more remote than it is.

On the accommodation front, the report singles out Jade Mountain Resort near the fishing town of Soufrière, calling it the most exclusive hotel on the island. Designed by architect Nick Troubetzkoy, the five-star property has 30 open-sided sanctuaries with no fourth wall, many looking straight at the Pitons, each with its own infinity pool. Guests can eat on the roof terrace above the sea, and the hotel beach sits by one of the island's best snorkelling spots, where sea turtles are sometimes seen. It is a name that regularly tops any list of luxury hotels in St Lucia, and couples planning a honeymoon in St Lucia have long put it at the top of their shortlist for exactly those views.

Marigot Bay gets its own entry. The bay is wrapped in dense green on three sides, with a palm-fringed sandbank reaching into turquoise water, and sailboats moving in and out of the marina. The most exclusive address is the Zoëtry Marigot Bay Hotel, which also welcomes day guests for lunch. The report suggests arriving under sail from Castries or Soufrière, both short and scenic passages along the coast.

In the north, the story turns to Castries and its market, which National Geographic once ranked third among the world's best. Alongside fresh vegetables, fish and meat, shoppers find dresses, spices and souvenirs of every kind. The market opens Monday to Saturday, staying open into the afternoon, and makes an easy half-day's wandering for anyone staying on that side of the island.

Further south, near Laborie on the south coast, the report introduces the Balenbouche Estate, a former sugar cane plantation of around 30 hectares where Uta Lawaetz, a German who has lived on the island for more than 40 years, welcomes day guests and leads tours of the grounds herself. With her two daughters she converted the estate into a bed and breakfast that draws guests from around the world, and it also hosts yoga retreats and other events. Banyan trees and evening light give the place, in the writer's telling, the feel of stepping back in time. It is a good example of the boutique hotels in St Lucia that trade on character and history rather than size.

Finally the report comes to Soufrière itself, a town of roughly 8,000 people on the west coast with the Pitons behind it and the Caribbean Sea in front. One of the oldest settlements on the island and once its economic centre, it is now the gateway to the island's wildest corner, and the road there asks something of those who drive it. The dive sites off the Soufrière coast are among the most celebrated in the Caribbean, with wall dives below Petit Piton that drop away for hundreds of metres and drift sites gentle enough for less experienced divers.

For UK visitors, the report is a reminder that a single week can stretch across all of this, though many would argue it is worth thinking carefully about how many days in St Lucia to set aside if the east, the south and Soufrière are all on the itinerary. The island's dry season from December to May is generally the best time to visit St Lucia, and direct flights to St Lucia from the UK make the west coast and the Pitons a straightforward first stop. Weddings in St Lucia often centre on exactly these backdrops, from Marigot Bay to the beaches in St Lucia along the west coast, and combining a resort stay with a night or two inland is an easy way to see more of the island than the shoreline alone.

The report ends with Soufrière and the wild country beyond it, which is fitting: the island's headline sights, the Pitons, the drive-in volcano and the estates around them, all funnel through that corner of the west coast. For anyone drawing up their own list, the German writer's conclusion is clear enough. Come for the beaches by all means, but plan the time to go east, go inland and go south.