New Expo for 2014 - Available!
- Approximately: 5:0 hours or longer if you wish!
What's Included
- Free Pickup & Return From Hotel/Cruise etc..
- Complimentary Alcoholic & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
- Professional Real St. Lucia Tour Guide/Driver
Change of Clothes Towel Swimsuit
Cash Camera Sunscreen
Your VIP Island Expo Tour starts when your expert Real St Lucia Tours driver or guide greets you at the designated pick-up point. Your guide will be easily identifiable – look for the REAL ST LUCIA TOURS sign – and he or she will see you safely on board the comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle from which you will be whisked on the most memorable and thrilling of tours around this tropical Caribbean paradise.
OVER 1,000 REVIEWS AND COUNTING!
Cruise ships dock in Pointe Seraphine, in the north of the island capital, Castries, and this is where many of our popular excursions and tours of St Lucia begin. Castries was established by the French in 1650 and is now the bustling centre of island life with colorful markets and the calypso beat of local musicians thumping out a hypnotic backdrop to daily activity. Derek Walcott Square, named after the St Lucia-born Nobel Laureate, is bang in the centre of Castries with the landmark Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception close by, the memorial to St Lucia’s war dead and the historic “Massav”, a Samaan tree reputed to be more than 400 years old. Here you’ll learn more about the turbulent history of the Caribbean’s Emerald Isle and of how France and Britain fought to rule this vibrant jewel.
Extraordinary Vistas to Savor
Island tours in St Lucia have to include the 850ft Morne Fortune hill, located on the southern edge of Castries and offering the best possible views across the capital. The magnificent vistas encompass the harbor, the city, the international airport and as far as some of the northern St Lucia towns. Also on Morne Fortune are the remains of Fort Charlotte, the original French military fortification that was captured by the British in the late 18th century. Close by is the memorial to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who successfully fought the French to take Fort Charlotte in 1796.
Reaching the Heights
On the summit of Morne Fortune is the historic Government House, once the seat of colonial power on St Lucia. The current building, completed in the late 19th century, is actually the third incarnation of a government residence on the site and since St Lucia gained independence in 1979, this has been the home of the Governor General. Its location high above the city gives Government House the best views of any building in Castries.
Beautiful Marigot Bay, the Envy of the Caribbean
Often claimed to be the most beautiful bay anywhere in the Caribbean, Marigot Bay is a quite stunning location on St Lucia’s west coast, around 20 minutes from Castries, and is one of the undoubted highlights when you book Island Expo tour with St Lucia Real Tours. A calm anchorage all year round, Marigot Bay is a haven for yachts whose billowing sails enhance the already bewitching ambience of lush forested hillsides surrounding the bay on three sides and swaying palm trees on white sand.
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Experience a Genuine Taste of St Lucia on a Banana Plantation
Bananas are one of St Lucia’s best exports and one of the favorite St Lucia excursions is a visit to the island’s largest banana plantation at Roseau, south of Marigot Bay and a thrilling glimpse into what makes these bananas so special. First, there’s a little trip through the history of the plantation and how the bananas are harvested before you get the chance to sample the especially sweet fruit that has put St Lucia on the banana map.
Experience St Lucia life in Anse La Raye and Canaries
The fishing villages of Anse La Raye and Canaries are among the most popular stops on Real St Lucia Tours Island Expo outing. Bursting with tradition and alive with typical St Lucian culture, the two towns, situated in quiet coves just south of Marigot Bay, are a simply wonderful experience for everyone, from first-time visitors to regulars to St Lucia. Anse La Raye, a picturesque town with English and French colonial architecture that is well preserved, is famed for its crafts, all made locally using time-honored skills and native materials. Friday nights here bring a fish fry when local fishermen cook up their catches on the beachfront. Once only accessible by boat, Canaries is the second fishing village on your St Lucia sightseeing itinerary and a terrific spot to sample local food and drink.
Soufriere, St Lucia’s picturesque but explosive destination
Soufriere is St Lucia’s second largest town but its main claim to fame is as the location of the world’s only drive-in volcano. Once St Lucia’s capital, Soufriere is a quaint port surrounded by a quite extraordinary landscape of tropical rainforests, waterfalls and the mammoth twin volcanic plugs of the Pitons. St Lucia tours and excursions to Soufriere will reveal the astounding beauty of the town and its environs, such as the Soufriere Estate that now includes botanical gardens and the wow factor of the Toraille waterfall – a stunning sight in the heart of the gardens where your senses will be overwhelmed by the enticing aromas of the exotic plants growing here.
Chasing Waterfalls
The Diamond Botanical Gardens are part of the Soufriere and Diamond Estates and are six acres of tropical paradise, criss-crossed by walking trails that allow visitors to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings with rainforests providing a wall of greenery. Nothing is more beautiful here than the Toraille waterfall, its crystal clear water cascading from around 50ft. The mighty peak of Petit Piton can be glimpsed in the distance from the trail above the waterfall, while bird watchers will be thrilled by the plethora of avian species nesting here.
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Adventure tours in St Lucia don’t get much more exciting than a visit to Sulfur Springs, the extinct volcano located close to Soufriere that covers a mighty seven acres. The sulfur springs here are pungent, to say the least, and your nose will be twitching as soon as you approach this amazing sight. Our air-conditioned vehicle will drive you to within a few hundred feet of the more than 20 bubbling, belching pools of muddy water that steam and roil and boil constantly. Get closer to the action on the elevated path that will give you an uninterrupted view of the whole crater. And if you want to know the whole lowdown on the geothermal benefits of the sulfur springs and the history of the volcano, your expert guide is at hand to reveal all.
Rejuvenation in the Black Water Pools at the Sulphur Springs
With so many fabulous St Lucia things to do, it’s hard to pick out one single essential activity – but if we have to, we simply cannot recommend highly enough taking the most unique bath-time experience you will ever have. A dip in the famous black water pool is a bath like no other – a mud bath, in fact. This is an experience never to be forgotten and is the top thing to do for many cruise passengers who choose the Island Expo tour. The open-air pool is around 4ft deep, its waters inky black and a steady 38.7˚C. The water has medicinal properties and a dip here is genuinely revitalizing and rejuvenating, particularly using the sulfur mud to scrub your skin and then wash it off to feel totally relaxed and chilled out. Don’t worry about getting back on to the bus covered in mud – there are showers where you can rinse off the mud!
Swim with the Fishes at Jalousie or Anse Chastanet Beach
The best St Lucia excursions should always involve a visit to the beach and a chance to frolic in the sparkling blue waters of the Caribbean. On an Island Expo tour, you can choose to go swimming and snorkeling at Jalousie beach, which enjoys a stunning location between the two Pitons and has beautiful coral reefs and diverse marine life to explore. Don’t forget your camera, you won’t want to miss snapping the colorful underwater life.
St Lucia’s Twin Peaks, a Memorable Sight
The Pitons, the twin volcanic plugs that dominate the southern landscape of St Lucia, are an amazing sight and a memorable sightseeing stop on St Lucia cruise tours. A World Heritage Site, the Pitons have been a sacred site to generations of St Lucians who treasure their spectacular twin peaks. Gros Piton rises to 2,619ft and Petit Piton to 2,461ft, their sides covered by rainforest and with ancient Amerindian ruins to be explored.
Indulge in Duty-free Shopping
Your thrilling Island Expo tour ends where it all began, back in the capital Castries where you can indulge in a little retail therapy at the duty-free shopping at La Place Carenage or at Pointe Seraphine. Best buys include arts and crafts, leather goods, porcelain and china, cigarettes and liquor. Then it’s back to your cruise ship, hotel or resort to reflect on an incredible day of adventures in St Lucia.
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