A review of Sugar Beach resort in Saint Lucia

Sugar Beach, a Viceroy Resort, is a luxury beach resort in the west of Saint Lucia near the fishing town of Soufrière. Located between the Pitons, which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, Sugar Beach offers a stunning setting. If you’re looking for a resort that is well located in terms of activities to do in the south, offers a wide range of dining options, stunning beaches and gorgeous rooms – look no further.

We stayed for seven nights at Sugar Beach in November and this is my honest review of the resort.

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Getting to Sugar Beach

Sugar Beach is ideally located about 35 km from Hewanorra (UVF) International Airport. However… the roads in Saint Lucia are not great and they are single lanes so even though it’s close it still took us almost an hour to get to the resort. We organised a private transfer through Sugar Beach, which cost $100 USD each way (excluding 10% service charge and 10% tax). I did look at booking a taxi through Booking.com but the price was very similar.

I would recommend booking your taxi in advance as I didn’t see a taxi rank with local taxis at the airport. I’m sure there probably is one, but I didn’t notice it. There are local taxi companies so you could always contact them before your trip for a quote.

The resort

Sugar Beach is really beautiful and definitely surpassed our expectations. I believe that it used to be a sugar plantation, with the Grand House being the owner’s home – hence the name of the resort, ‘Sugar Beach’. It’s a very large resort and also very hilly so there are shuttle buses to take you to and from your room to the beach, restaurants, spa – or wherever in the resort you need to go. We preferred to walk to and from breakfast and mostly used the shuttle at night. Our room was halfway up a steep hill though so it was good exercise – my calves were killing me!

Sugar Beach has many artworks all around the resort, including pieces by Andy Warhol, Banksy, Damien Hurst, KAWS and more. If you’re an art fan, you’ll love discovering all the pieces around the property. You can even do an audio art tour.

Onsite, there is also the Cocoa Mill where you can make your own chocolate. We opted to do the Tree to Bar tour though, up the road, at Hotel Chocolat but if you have kids then doing a chocolate making class at the resort is a fun activity.

There’s one pool at the resort, which is right by the beach and Bonté bar and restaurant. For a fee, you can also hire a private cabana that comes with food and drink.

Depending on which sunbed you choose, you can either have a view of Gros Piton, Petit Piton or even both! And whether you choose to lie by the pool or the beach, you can order food and drink to your sunbed.

Our room

We left booking Sugar Beach fairly late so there were fewer room options left. For example, none of the beachfront bungalows were available. My advice is, if you have a specific room category in mind, to book well in advance.

We stayed in a luxury villa, which was very large at 766 ft2. We had a large outside area too with a patio, a hammock, and a pool with views of Petit Piton. The luxury villas also come with a butler service, who you can call on the mobile they give you, to arrange excursions, ask for a restaurant reservation, request the shuttle etc.

Inside the room was an ice-bucket with a bottle of Chandon, a gorgeous sparkling wine from Argentina. Such a lovely touch! And when we checked out we were given products from the spa, such as their fabulous coconut milk body lotion and their chocolate scrub (which smelt good enough to eat!)

The room is very white with not a lot of colour. The only colour really was the artwork on the walls. I think they could’ve added a hint more colour, like a couple of colourful cushions or a bed throw. Minimalists will love it!

The king size bed was huge and comfy. It was quite high though and even at 5ft 6 I did have to sort of jump to get on it! There is a turn down service every evening where they turn the bed down and lay out your slippers on a small rug and also leave you a little ‘fun fact’ card, which I enjoyed reading. That’s where I learned that there used to be an elephant on the island, called Boopa, and that Saint Lucia has the most Nobel Prize Laureates per capita.

The room came with complimentary water, soft drinks, Piton beer and tea and coffee. I enjoyed making myself a coffee in the morning and then drinking it outside whilst watching the birds. One of my highlights was seeing hummingbirds!

There was a really big wardrobe space which I loved as I like unpacking my suitcase and not having luggage visible in the room.

The bathroom was huge with double basins, a gorgeous roll top bath and then a separate double shower. There was an outside shower too, although I think it’s meant to be used after you swim as it wasn’t completely private.

The bath wasn’t the most comfortable bath I’ve been in but it was still a treat to soak in the bath at the end of the day, before heading out to dinner.

The beaches at Sugar Beach

Like Mauritius and the Seychelles, all beaches in Saint Lucia are public. Despite the beach at Jalousie Bay looking private for hotel guests, anyone can actually visit the beach. Every day there were people from nearby hotels, like Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat or Ladera Resort, or boats arriving with people who were on an excursion – some of which were there just to snorkel. It never felt crowded though and of course the sunbeds are for Sugar Beach hotel guests only.

The beach setting is lovely with cute little thatched umbrellas, swaying palm trees and white sand. I also really appreciated the free suncare products as of course I didn’t bring enough with me and ours ran out about two days before we left.

There is a boutique on the beach selling gorgeous dresses, swimwear and accessories but it was quite expensive. At the end of the beach there’s a very small market with stalls selling all sorts of things. I loved the coconut cart, which sold coconut water, coconut jelly and fresh coconut – and you could add rum to it too if you wished!

Every day a boat bar pulled up, selling pretty much any drink you wanted. Hilariously non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks cost exactly the same… $10 USD. I have to say that the Piña Colada was delicious!

They often had a band in the afternoon playing music, which was really nice. Jalousie Bay is a lovely beach but it is fairly busy. Thankfully the resort had a smaller and quieter beach by the jetty. There are only about 6 pairs of sunbeds so space is limited. There is also a bar on the pier which serves their famous ‘jetty burgers’, which were very yummy.

Activities on offer at Sugar Beach

The resort offers a range of water sports, some of which are free and some that you pay for. Free activities include snorkeling, kayaking and paddle boarding whilst paid activities include jet skiing and water skiing. You can also arrange dives and diving lessons.

There are many other activities on offer – most of which you pay for. These include chocolate making workshops, hiking up Gros Piton, a visit to the volcanic mud baths, the Tet Paul nature walk and many more. We booked a few activities through the resort but also organised one ourselves. Here’s suggestions of activities to do in the south of Saint Lucia that are not too far from the resort.

Restaurant options at Sugar Beach

There are five restaurants to choose from at Sugar Beach, however the Terrace Restaurant is only open for breakfast. I must say I loved that as often breakfast restaurants are also open at night, which can feel a bit odd – unless of course it looks very different at night.

The Terrace Restaurant

The restaurant is set on the ground floor of the Great House, below Saltwood, and it has spectacular views of the Pitons, the pool and the beach. We had breakfast included, which was a buffet, but they also offer an à la carte menu. For those who don’t wish to eat breakfast but would like a hot drink and something light, Boopa’s is right near the breakfast area. Boopa’s is a Grab-n-Go Cafe and is named after the elephant that once roamed around Jalousie Bay!

The buffet set-up isn’t the nicest I’ve seen (it’s in a large indoor room) but it had a wide range of options, including made to order omelettes, waffles and pancakes. The view at breakfast was pretty spectacular. And most importantly… the coffee was good!

The Cane Bar

The Cane Bar offers a South-East Asian menu and is where we ate on our first night. It’s the smallest restaurant at the resort so probably the most intimate from that point of view. The food was delicious and the portions were huge, to the point that I could hardly eat the Massaman curry! Lovely decor, great lighting and a nice vibe. The Cane Bar is only open for dinner.

Jalousie Grill

Jalousie Grill is set on the beach, very close to Bonté. It’s fairly casual dining and is open for both lunch and dinner. We had dinner there one night but unfortunately it was one of our worst meals. Most of the other tables left after we had our starter so we were the only table and there was no music playing so it just totally lacked ambiance. Also, they didn’t have the fish we ordered for our main so substituted it (they did tell us before) but it just wasn’t a particularly nice fish.

I’m sure it would’ve been much better at lunch time but we only went for dinner.

Bonté restaurant and bar

Like Jalousie Grill, Bonté is fairly casual but still beautifully decorated. We ate lunch here a few times and really enjoyed the food. Obviously as it’s right by the beach, you have a fabulous view.

The resort has some themed evenings during the week and we went along to the BBQ evening on our last night. It was a set price and you were seated either at Jalousie Grill or Bonté (we were seated at Bonté). There were different food stations set up across both restaurants as well as food stalls on the beach. There was also a live band, who were great. I loved that we could choose from so many different cuisines, including Jamaican, Indian, Saint Lucian and more.

Afterwards there was a DJ and dancing by the bar. It was really a lot of fun and a great way to end our holiday!

Saltwood

Saltwood is the fine dining option at Sugar Beach, which is only open for dinner. It was hands down our favourite. They also have a lovely bar, which is where we went most nights for a pre-dinner drink.

The setting is lovely with tables inside or along the terrace, which is were we sat both times we dined at Saltwood. They also have live music which added to the ambiance. The service was excellent and the food was absolutely fabulous.

The Rainforest Spa

Tucked away, in the rainforest, is the Rainforest Spa. A gorgeous, winding wooden walkway leads you into the heart of the rainforest where you’ll find treatment rooms in tree houses. It’s definitely one of the most unique spas I’ve ever been to!

We didn’t have any treatments, which is a shame as I bet they were fabulous. The setting is like something out of a movie with tree houses dotted everywhere, among the lush trees and plants, with the sunlight poking through.

The only reason we found ourselves at the spa was because a couple we’d met at the resort told us that you can use the steam room for free, you just needed a reservation. So we made a reservation through our butler for late one afternoon. The steam room is in a round stone hut and was so cute. It reminded me of a Hobbit house!

What we loved about Sugar Beach

The resort is big, so it never felt crowded. The location is perfect for venturing out to visit the volcanic mud baths, the waterfalls or hike Gros Piton or the Tet Paul nature trail. It also has absolutely stunning views of the Pitons. We loved the range of restaurants, especially Saltwood with its elegance and fantastic food. The staff were really warm and friendly and we felt well looked after. We would definitely return to Sugar Beach!

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