Hikes, cycling excursions, and all-out boot camps: St. Lucia is a place where you should give up your spot on the sand-at least temporarily
With their lush emerald slopes, the volcanic Piton mountains are the jewel in St. Lucia’s crown — and offer a killer workout for those daring enough to make the climb. Gros Piton is the one to tackle—Petit Piton’s slopes are steep and best left to the pros.
Island Routes offers guided three-hour treks along rugged paths up to Gros’ 2,619-foot summit, where you’ll be rewarded with panoramic views that extend from the southern half of the island to Martinique and St. Vincent. An easier alternative is to hike the Tet Paul Nature Trail, which takes only an hour but ends with an lnstagrammable photo op between both peaks.
(Guides are available at the entrance, but many hikers choose to go solo.) Visitors staying near the capital of Castries can head for Pigeon Island National Landmark, where they can reach the lookout at Fort Rodney for views of the white-sand sweep of Reduit Beach, St. Lucia’s longest stretch of shore.
Of course, there’s more to do than just go hiking. At Anse Mamin Plantation, part of the Anse Chastanet resort, the pro cyclist “Bike Tyson” of Bike St. Lucia leads groups on four levels of jungle trails that wind through the ruins of French-colonial sugar and cocoa estates. Anse Chastanet’s Scuba St Lucia runs snorkel trips and dives to the reef where octopuses, turtles, and sea horses live amid the thriving coral just IS yards from the beach. And if your fitness goals are even more ambitious, consider a stay at Body Holiday Saint Lucia, a destination spa that offers ayurvedic cuisine, yoga, spinning, weekly quadrathalons, and intensive, two-week-long “WellFit” boot camps led by former Olympians.
