This St Lucia Resort Is Ticking All Of Our Boxes

In a powerful LinkedIn post earlier this year, The Landings Resort & Spa, luxury accommodation in idyllic St Lucia, declared that a ‘commitment to preserving and enhancing our natural surroundings is not just a duty, but a vital aspect of our sustainability efforts.’ Sarah Rodrigues spent five nights in the resort to see whether the reality reflects the intention.

Review: The Landings Resort & Spa, St Lucia

Met by our driver at Hewanorra International Airport, the air was sticky with tropical heat and with the promise of lazy beach days. t’s about a 90 minute drive to The Landings’ position at the edge of Pigeon Harbour. After a 10-plus hour flight, the soporific motion of the van makes it difficult to keep your eyes open – but it’s worth the effort, as you pass through many non-touristed townships, as well as the capital, Castries. Our driver was more than happy to answer our question on the regions we passed through, as well as to share details about his own life and upbringing on this fabled island.

Fabled? Well, yes – St Lucia has been nicknamed ‘Helen’ (she of Troy fame) because of the war-like lengths that the French and the English went to over her: St Lucia’s tiny proportions (it’s only 617 km²) and 75 peaks – key vantage points – made it ripe for military activity.

The laidback, take-it-as-it-comes demeanour that seems to characterise every aspect of life on this eastern Caribbean island, is hard to reconcile with the idea of a European tug’o’war. Even in the face of military ambition, St Lucia seems to have maintained its sense of identity – one that is entirely at odds with conflict.

STAY

One of the unique aspects of the accommodations at The Landings is the fact that all of the properties are privately owned – and that every owner has a share in the all of the resort’s facilities, including the beach, marina, spa, pools, health club, tennis courts and Beach Club.

This sense of individual and communal ownership – complete with the ability to rent to holidaymakers when not in personal use – goes some way to explaining why the resort is so beautifully and ethically maintained. There’s a genuine sense of investment, not only in the properties themselves, but in the island that houses them.

After all, preservation of the island’s beautiful natural surroundings are fundamental to continued tourism, and therefore the economy.

Our sprawling penthouse overlooked the marina and had a hot tub on the balcony, as well as seemingly countless bedrooms and bathrooms. In keeping with the fact that we staying in someone’s sometime-residence, there was also a living room, dining area, laundry and kitchen.

For the sake of consistency, a neutral colour palette is the order of the day in all of the residences, we were told – although owners are free to express their individuality through artworks and other flourishes.

EAT

Needless to say, the kitchen didn’t get much of a workout during our stay, since all of our meals, drinks and snacks were included in The Landings’ incredibly generous all-inclusive package. Breakfasts were something to be lingered over, with a large variety of locally-sourced products available daily. The focus on lunch and dinner – which may be taken at any of three on-site restaurants – is again on organic, local produce and fresh catches. Mahi Mahi is a staple, naturally, but just as good the last time you eat it as the first.

The bar offerings were also dangerously generous, with cocktails mixed expertly, harnessing local herbs. You don’t even need to haul yourself off your deckchair, since friendly staff do the rounds of the beach area, making sure your thirst is regularly slaked (and that your walk back to your room is suitably wobbly).

Also included in the package is the use of all non-motorised water sports equipment, so kayaking, snorkelling and standup paddleboarding are all there to be enjoyed. Jet-skiing, wakeboarding and water-skiing are also available for a fee.

DO

The on-site entertainment and activities team can help to set you up with experiences outside of the resort, with each operator vetted and highly recommended for their professionalism, as well as their eco-credentials, We zip lined high above the St Lucian tree canopy, learning about the properties and history of various trees, rock formations and shrubs. On a segway excursion with Lucian Style Experiences, we were treated, not only to vistas rarely seen on foot or by vehicle, but to our guide’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the plants we encountered and what their various healing and therapeutic purposes were. Hiking, boating, scuba diving and jeep safaris are also off-site options.

And for the youngsters? Not only is there a kids’ club (and one in which I’ve never seen children less bothered about their parents dropping them off, nor less reluctant to have them pick them up) but there’s also a dedicated teens’ programme, with activities ranging from Caribbean dance lessons, beach Olympics, silent discos and kayak racing.

One of the most compelling aspects of a stay at The Landings is its spa. No, suspend your eyeroll, please – we all know that spa treatments are practically synonymous with a luxury stay in paradisal destination.

But the spa at The Landings is different. For starters, its offerings are based on a local brand, which utilises locally-grown ingredients, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Aftercare also focuses on herbal teas, all made from island-grown ingredients.

Although treatments for both men and women are available at the spa, there are female-specific procedures geared towards peri-menopause and menopause, as well as towards hormone changes through adolescence and the post-partum period.

THE FUTURE

As well as the various practices you’ll see on a daily basis during your stay – a lack of single-use plastics, for example – The Landings Resort at St Lucia is committed to participating in various initiatives that demonstrate their awareness of how fundamental the natural beauty of the environment is to their success. Annual clean-up campaigns have been in place since the resort was opened in 2007.

This year, they aligned with Earth Day’s ‘Plastics v Planet’ theme and worked, with the help of volunteers, in an area broader than their immediate surroundings to express their awareness of the fact that St Lucia, as a whole, needs protection from deleterious elements. It’s a responsibility that extends beyond each individual hotel or resort.

The result? Ninety-seven bags of plastic waste collected – waste that might otherwise have drifted out into those bathtub-warm waters and impacted the sea life over which snorkelling or diving visitors, quite rightly, marvel.

BOOK IT

Blue Bay Travel offers seven nights at The Landings St Lucia on a B&B basis in a one-bedroom villa suite with marina view and plunge pool. £1,849pp departing Gatwick May 30 2024 with British Airways; price includes return transfers & luggage included.

A one-night stay at The Landings Resort and Spa is from £380 per night, based on four (two adults and two children) sharing a two-bedroom marina view villa suite including breakfast, free non-motorised sports and daily activities. Spa treatments are priced from £52. landingsstlucia.com

For more information, see stlucia.org