Smugglers Cove Holidays

If you’re yearning for a holiday surrounded by classic Caribbean scenery – we’re talking ice-white beaches, bright-blue coasts and jade-green hillsides – then you’re in luck. The laidback northern village of Smugglers Cove flaunts all three. It’s got a bunch of swanky extras, too, like sea-view food joints, luxe hotels and a sprawling golf course.

Holidays to Smugglers Cove plonk you within arm’s reach of a few of St Lucia’s sightseeing hotspots. A 10-minute drive takes you to Pigeon Island, a historic peninsula that was used as a base to spy on French ships by the British Navy in the 1700s. Here, you can take a look around what’s left of Fort Rodney and its time-worn cannons. Travel along the coast for an extra five minutes and you’ll hit Rodney Bay, home to a three-mile-long beach, a hair-raising watersports scene and an inflatable waterpark.

No getaway to St Lucia’s complete without giving the capital city, Castries, a gander. It’s the island’s go-to spot for culture vultures and keen hagglers, thanks to its smorgasbord of open-air markets, duty-free shopping centres and 18th-century landmarks. If the latter tickles your fancy, the peak of the Morne Fortune mountain’s packed with enough ruins to make any history lover grin. Its squad of attractions includes a revamped fort – now the University of West Indies – a platoon of cannons that look out to sea and an old gunpowder store house.