Day on our own

[macaroni]

Want to rent a car for our day in St. Lucia. Want to go south to the Pitons and that area. Would appreciate some itinerary suggestions including snorkeling.

[reedprincess]

Want to rent a car for our day in St. Lucia. Want to go south to the Pitons and that area. Would appreciate some itinerary suggestions including snorkeling.

 

Biggest suggestion is not renting a car and driving yourself. You will waste valuable time in picking up car, license, etc along with attempting to navigate the area...a.driver will save valuable time and stress and take you anywhere you want to go while you sit back and relax and enjoy the tour.

Several places to snorkel in the south I.causing Jalousie Beach, Anse Chastenet, Soufriere waterfront, Anse I'vorgne, etc...

Other things in the area include Tet Paul trail, waterfalls, mineral baths, volcano, mud baths, botanical gardens, plantation tours, zip lining, hiking, etc...

Depends on what you want to do. Plan at least three hours r/t drive time.

[macaroni]

I get motion sickness if I don't drive so a driver or land tour is out...would either drive ourselves or take a spencer speed boat tour that does a little land around the pitons.

[reedprincess]

In that case, a speed boat tour down the coast is probably your best bet. The West coast road between Castries and Soufriere is seriously hilly and winding, with sharp turns, steep drop offs and narrow roads....allow at a minimum 1.5 hours down and a little longer back as it's the only road between the two areas, and busy with cruise and other visitor (not to mention local) traffic between the areas. Se essentially, if you drive yourself, count of about 3 hours or so simply for getting down and back. With only 8-5 (more like 9-4 once you get the car assuming off the boat first off and returning the car before all aboard, you're looking at half of that simply in driving yourself there and back).....Roads and such are not really well marked - we tend to simply go by landmarks, so it's easy to miss turn offs for some of the less common sights such as for beach area or Tet Paul trail, etc....a driver who is quite familiar with the road can traverse it quicker, take you straight to what you want to see, etc......if you don't have the same motion sickness issues with a boat, that may be your best bet- much quicker, very scenic, etc...

[142w]

We just got back from a cruise that stopped at St. Lucia and we rented a car.

No problem what so ever. We reserved a car, on line, from the company Sixt for $100 for the day including insurance, taxes, license. It accommodated 5 people including room for a wheelchair in the trunk. The Sixt people were right outside the terminal in a parking lot. Easy to find as they were dressed in Orange shirts. We were on the road in 15 minutes. You do have to drive on the left hand side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right. The roads were so much better than we expected. Yes they are twisty but in good repair. We only wanted to go to Soufriere and see the pitons and have lunch. No interest in sulphur pools or drive-through volcanoes. It did take 1 1/2 hour each way, but the scenery was quite beautiful. The whole trip lasted 5 hours. We stopped at the most wonderful place for lunch--the Ladera Resort. Perched on a hillside with a spectacular view of the Pitons. Not inexpensive but magical. It was on the map that we received from the car rental people and easy to find. You could also go to the beach resort at Jalousie if that is what you desire.

Yes you could get a driver to drive you around and a boat trip might be faster, but 2 in our group are over 85 so a boat was not an option. We like to do what we want on our own schedule and the rental car allowed us to have a perfect day in St. Lucia.

[macaroni]

Thanks so much for the info...I was having trouble getting car rental info. Did you just return the car to where you picked it up or back at their location?

[142w]

we returned the car to the parking lot right outside the terminal where we had picked it up. Very easy. The Sixt people in the orange shirts were there to check us in. I also noticed that National and a couple of local car rentals were at the ship terminal to the left as you walked off the ship. You can compare prices, but Sixt worked for us.