Sugar Beach: An Unforgettable Stay in Saint Lucia
Spend one beautiful sunny day at Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort and you’ll quickly see why this luxury resort was named the Winner of Travel + Leisure World’s Best 2024. Spend your time relaxing on the pristine white sands, snorkeling the remarkable reefs, enjoying a massage in the rainforest spa, or gearing up for an adventure into the mountains or out to sea. Sugar Beach is the perfect resort for a special occasion – honeymoon, anniversary, or even just because! There is truly something for each and every type of traveler here, and you’re guaranteed to have an absolutely unforgettable stay. Keep reading to learn all about our experience celebrating our fifth anniversary at Sugar Beach, Saint Lucia!
We arrived to Hewanorra Airport and were promptly greeted by a member of the Sugar Beach team who provided a shuttle to the resort. It’s about a 50 minute ride, but much of the journey takes place along the coast – so you’ll get to enjoy gorgeous views the entire way. We were escorted directly to our private cottage in the mountains. We stepped into the room and were greeted with a bottle of champagne, truffles, and rose petals spelling out “Happy Anniversary” on the bed. It was quite a warm welcome!
On arrival, we were provided with a personal cell phone to get in touch with our butler throughout the week. The butler will assist you with arranging transport around the resort (it’s quite a large resort – so you’ll want to use the shuttle!), making dinner reservations, arranging excursions, etc. Excellent service was always just one call away.
We got settled into our cottage, tested out the pool, popped the champagne, and eventually headed out to explore the resort. We love to do this on our first day! We snapped a few photos, watched the sunset, and then went for a beachfront dinner at Jalouise Grill. Visit on a Sunday and you’ll get to enjoy an incredible Caribbean beach BBQ! Every other night of the week, you’ll find fresh grilled seafood and meats with traditional Caribbean tastes and flavorful influences from all over the world.
We woke up early the next day, threw on our robes, and sipped a cup of coffee while we enjoyed a slow peaceful morning in the cottage. Just as we began getting hungry, our floating breakfast arrived! We were brought french toast, avocado toast, bacon, yogurt, and fruit all plated beautifully among fresh flowers and greenery. It was almost too gorgeous to eat!
After sitting by the pool for a bit with full tummies, we headed down to the resort gym. I never really expect much from the fitness centers at resorts and hotels – usually a treadmill and maybe a rack of weights. However, this gym has drastically increased my standards. We walked in to see a full weight room, several treadmills/bikes/ellipticals, and a complete yoga studio. The best part – the entire gym was built with floor to ceiling windows, looking out over the resort. I refrained from taking too many photos here to protect people’s privacy, but click here to see the gym!
With tired muscles, we headed to the Rainforest Spa for the perfect finish to our morning. We enjoyed a fifty minute full body couple’s massage with aromatherapy. I think visiting a spa is an absolute MUST on any vacation!
Of course, our first full day in Saint Lucia called for some beach time – so we headed down to the white sands and picked out a daybed for the afternoon!
The pool and beach at Sugar Beach are full service, so you can order food and drinks right to your chairs. I am an absolute sucker for a good spritz, and their spritz menu is extensive! We elected to try all the different types of food on their beach menu over the next few days, starting with the tacos. For dessert, mango popsicles were handed out to resort guests. DELICIOUS.
After enjoying some time on the beach, we got ready for a beautiful dinner eating my favorite thing in the world – sushi. The Cane Bar serves up south-eastern fare, with influences from Japan, China, Thailand, and India. Naturally, we gravitated towards the sushi bar, but everything on the menu sounded so delicious.
Good morning! On day three, we headed down to the breakfast buffet (we only got floating breakfast once – sigh). The buffet here is quite impressive though – pastries, fresh fruit, made-to-order omelettes, crepes, and bowls.. the list goes on and on. Our package included breakfast – which I would strongly recommend as the breakfast was quite good and had plenty of options!
We decided to spend our second full day in paradise lazing on the beach for the majority of the day. We had a photoshoot featuring the Gros Piton, before taking to the daybeds and enjoying (yet another) sushi meal, and (yet another) spritz.
Early in the evening, we set sail on a luxury catamaran for a sunset cruise. Of course, it starting pouring rain about five minutes into the journey, but this gave us the opportunity to see a gorgeous rainbow! The rain cleared up quickly, and we were able to enjoy a relaxing cruise along the coastline of the island, before watching the sun sink behind the deep blue water. It was a gorgeous evening!
On this night we decided to visit Saltwood, Sugar Beach’s signature restaurant. We started with a cocktail at the Saltwood Bar, enjoying a drink and a view of the resort and the water. After we finished our aperitif, we headed to the restaurant for an absolutely unforgettable steak dinner. A live singer with a stunning voice was the backdrop to our night, and everything was oh-so-romantic.
Today is the day for adventure – after finishing up our breakfast at the buffet, we headed down to the watersports area of the beach. We set out on a completely new experience – scuba diving!
This was a bit scary for me, as I get claustrophobic fairly easily, and I’ve heard scuba can trigger it in people. However, I live by the quote “do it scared”, so I did it scared. It took some getting used to, but it was absolutely worth it! The reefs here are known to be some of the most beautiful in the world. We saw all different types of marine life – tons of colorful fish, eels, and even a lionfish! Note to self: buy an underwater camera for the next scuba adventure.
There’s plenty of other watersports as well:
- snorkeling, paddleboarding, and kayaking (all free of charge)
- wakeboarding, waterskiing, and tubing
- snorkeling tours to other areas of the island
We considered a land adventure since we had already spent so much time in/on the water, but after scuba we were exhausted and ended up just taking a nap and having lunch on the beach.
Next time we pay St Lucia a visit, we will definitely be embarking on one of the land adventures. Here’s some that Sugar Beach offers:
- Gros Piton hike (a quite strenuous hike up the picturesque piton)
- Mudbathing
- ATV bikes
- Zipling
- Horseback riding
- and more!
I was actually quite glad we didn’t book a hike, because a torrential downpour started up in the afternoon. I normally hate the rain, but it keeps everything in St Lucia SO green – plus we got to see the most insane waterfalls coming off the pitons, which you can only see after a heavy rain!
Luckily, the weather cleared up into a gorgeous sun-soaked evening. We headed to a new area of the resort – Jetty Beach. Here, we found a cocktail bar on a pier overlooking the water and of course, the pitons. It’s the perfect place to start an evening, sipping a spritz and taking in the sunset. From here, you can also stare up at Sugar Beach’s gorgeous beachfront collection. I can only dream of staying in one of these stunning homes one day!
We had our final dinner at Bonte, a beachfront restaurant with traditional St Lucian food. We enjoyed a slow braised short rib and a chicken pappardelle – stunning.
This was our last day in St Lucia, but with an evening flight we made the most of our morning! We got a quick breakfast, packed our suitcases, then headed down to the pool. Now, on vacation I will choose the beach over the pool 9 times out of 10. However, the pool here is far too stunning to miss. It’s nestled right up against one of the pitons, creating a breathtaking backdrop. We had pizza by the pool and soaked up the last final moments of our time in paradise!
What a trip! Thanks for following along with me, I hope I’ve inspired you to visit this absolutely incredible resort! Whether it’s for your honeymoon, an anniversary, or just because – Sugar Beach will make your stay absolutely unforgettable. XX