Restaurants with a View in Saint Lucia

What are the best restaurants with a view in Saint Lucia?

The best restaurants with a view in Saint Lucia are Rabot Restaurant on the Rabot Estate near Soufrière, Dasheene at Ladera between the Pitons, Rainforest Hideaway over the water at Marigot Bay, and The Cliff at Cap above the sea at Cap Maison. Each is a different kind of view, so choose by area first.

Saint Lucia is small enough that none of these is out of reach, but the island is hilly and the roads are slow, so a table in the south is a day out rather than a quick dinner from a northern hotel. Our guide to where to eat in Saint Lucia covers the wider picture, from beach shacks to town restaurants. This page is narrower. It is for the evenings and long lunches where the view is part of what you are paying for.

We checked each of the four against the current websites of the properties and recent write-ups before writing about them, and we say below where something could not be confirmed. Menus, opening days and booking arrangements change with the season, so treat what follows as a guide to the character of each place and confirm the details when you reserve.

Rabot Restaurant at Rabot Estate: cocoa with a view of Petit Piton

A word on the name first. Older guides, and some booking sites, call this place Boucan, after the hotel's original name. Hotel Chocolat now presents the hotel as Rabot Hotel and the restaurant as Rabot Restaurant and The Cacao Bar, and keeps the Boucan name for Club Boucan, the pool area for hotel guests. If you are looking for Boucan at Rabot, this is it, and it is open and trading under its current name.

The restaurant sits on the Rabot Estate, a working cacao estate in the rainforest above Soufrière, and looks out over the trees towards Petit Piton. The kitchen builds the menu around cacao and local produce. Cacao appears as roasted nibs used like a spice, as fruit pulp in cocktails, sorbets and ice creams, and as chocolate in dressings and desserts. Plenty of dishes use it quietly, so you can eat a full meal here without tasting chocolate in every course. Fish, seafood, salad leaves and fruit come from around the island.

The restaurant is open to people who are not staying at the hotel, and the Cacao Bar inside it takes drinkers and dessert visitors without a full meal. Visitors from outside are advised to reserve, especially for dinner. The hotel itself, Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat, welcomes adults only, which gives the dining room a calm, grown-up feel. Pair lunch with a visit to the estate and our guide to cocoa and chocolate in Saint Lucia.

Dasheene at Ladera: dinner on the ridge between the Pitons

Dasheene is the open-air restaurant at Ladera, perched on a volcanic ridge between Gros Piton and Petit Piton. The dining room has no fourth wall, so the view is the first thing you notice: the two peaks, the rainforest valley below and the Caribbean beyond. At sunset the light moves across the Pitons while you eat.

The cooking is Saint Lucian and Caribbean, using local spices and produce from Ladera's own gardens and neighbouring farms, with fish landed in nearby waters. The resort describes the menu as farm-to-table and says the kitchen relies heavily on organically grown local ingredients. The restaurant is open to visitors as well as guests, and lunch and dinner reservations are taken through the resort, which also lists online booking.

Dasheene suits a slow evening rather than a quick stop. The ridge is steep and the road up is winding, so go in daylight for your first visit, take a taxi if you would rather not drive back in the dark, and ask the resort about live music, which it has offered on a regular evening. The resort is also a strong choice if you want to stay overnight and do the drive only once.

Rainforest Hideaway at Marigot Bay: a deck over the mangroves

Rainforest Hideaway sits on the water in the inner harbour of Marigot Bay, among mangroves, and the setting is the draw. Guests eat on a deck over the water and can watch fish in the lit shallows after dark. It has long been one of the best-known places to eat in the bay.

The only way to reach it is by boat. A small ferry crosses the bay from the Marigot Bay dock in a couple of minutes, and the restaurant also has space for visitors arriving in their own boats. If you arrive on a yacht or another large vessel, call ahead to reserve a berth. Descriptions of the cooking vary a little between sources, from Euro-Caribbean to Caribbean, with local fish, meat and fruit at the centre and vegetarian dishes on the menu. The mood is dim, relaxed and romantic, and mosquito coils and spray are used to keep insects away, so a long-sleeved top is sensible.

One point we could not settle: we found no current statement from the restaurant of its opening days, and the most recent write-ups describe dinner service on selected evenings rather than every day. Telephone before you cross the bay, and do not assume a walk-in table. If the view of the harbour is what you want and the restaurant is closed, the terraces on the main quay are the fallback.

The Cliff at Cap: clifftop dining facing Martinique

The Cliff at Cap is the restaurant at Cap Maison, on the northern tip of the island at Cap Estate. It stands on the edge of a cliff above the Caribbean, and on a clear evening you can see Martinique to the north, with Pigeon Island to the west. The seating is partly outdoors, so the sea air and the sound of the water are part of dinner.

The kitchen is led by chef Craig Jones, and the cooking is French and Caribbean in character, using seasonal produce from local growers and seafood, with ocean flavours and vegetables set side by side. The restaurant is listed with Relais & Châteaux, serves lunch and dinner daily on the strength of that listing, and has vegetarian and vegan options and a children's menu. Reserve through the restaurant's own booking page or by telephone, particularly for sunset tables.

It is one of the better settings for an anniversary or a celebration, and our fine dining in Saint Lucia guide places it among the island's other special meals. The north is also the easiest part of the island to reach from Rodney Bay, so you can combine dinner with a day on the water.

How do you choose, book and get there?

Choose by geography. If you are staying in the north around Rodney Bay or Cap Estate, The Cliff at Cap is close, and Marigot Bay is an easy drive south. If you are based near Soufrière, Rabot and Dasheene are both a short drive from the town, and a day that includes the Pitons, a cocoa estate and one of these tables works well. Crossing the island for a single dinner is rarely worth it. Our getting around guide explains taxis, hire cars and the state of the roads, and our food and rum page shows what to order once you are seated.

Book ahead in every case. Sunset tables, and any evening in the busy winter season, fill first. When you reserve, ask whether the restaurant has a minimum spend or dress expectation, whether there is parking, and what the arrangement is if it rains. Open-air dining rooms close their sides in a heavy shower, but the pace of the evening changes.

If you are still choosing a base, the full range of hotels in Saint Lucia includes three of the four properties above, and staying at one makes the dinner effortless.

When to go and who each place suits

The dry season from December to April gives the clearest evenings and the best chance of a dry deck, but the same months are the busiest, so book early. The wetter months from June to November bring heavier showers, particularly in the south, and green, dramatic scenery. Sunset is early year-round at this latitude, so arrive for the last light rather than after it.

Rabot suits couples and anyone who cares about chocolate. Dasheene suits those who want a landscape and a long conversation. Rainforest Hideaway suits boat-minded visitors and anyone who likes the idea of crossing a harbour to dinner. The Cliff at Cap suits celebrations and families who want a more formal evening in comfortable surroundings. None of the four is a casual drop-in, so treat dinner as the main event of the day.

Where to stay and how to plan

Most visitors fit this into a holiday in St Lucia, so choose your base first. Compare places to stay in St Lucia by area and style, and read our guides to luxury hotels in St Lucia and all inclusive resorts in St Lucia if you are choosing between a boutique stay and an all in package.

Then set your dates with the best time to visit St Lucia, book flights to St Lucia and pick days out from our St Lucia itineraries. Couples can also read about a honeymoon in St Lucia or weddings in St Lucia.

Questions travellers ask