Wedding Wednesday #10: Our Honeymoon/Saint Lucia Travel Guide

Hello again! It has been quite awhile since I have checked in with y’all, but I have to admit, I have been quite busy! We returned from our incredible honeymoon in Saint Lucia last week, and I knew that a travel guide and review was the first Wedding Wednesday I wanted to do when we returned! We had such a wonderful time, from the resort to the excursions, our honeymoon was surely a trip that we will never forget. I’m going to share where we stayed, my personal thoughts on our resort, as well as some of the fun excursions that I highly recommend!

Travel + Safety

First, I had a lot of travel questions on Instagram, so I’m going to answer those, first! To enter Saint Lucia, you must complete a travel form that can be found on their website. Additionally, you have to have a negative Covid test 5 days prior to your trip. We were able to get this done the Friday before our wedding, and uploaded our results the Sunday after our wedding. Upon arrival, you are asked to complete a form just inquiring if you have been in contact with anyone who has had Covid or if you have symptoms in the past 14 days. Once you submit the form and show your negative test, as well as vaccine cards, you will be given a white wristband to wear throughout your stay. This wristband just proves that you are vaccinated and can walk around without a mask! We had to have a negative Covid test to get back into the states, so we took this the day before we left (it was a rapid test).

There are two airports on the island, but one is private, so really there is only one option to fly into. The airport is located in the very southern portion of the island, and our resort was in the north, so it took about an hour and a half to get there. Upon arrival, there are many credible taxi services that are eager to transport you wherever you need to go! We took a taxi and really enjoyed our driver. He pointed out major landmarks, cities, and different physical features as he drove us across the island. Upon arrival at our resort, the Royalton Hideaway, our temperatures were taken and our bags were sanitized while we checked in.

The Hideaway at Royalton

Our resort was incredible, to say the least! The Royalton is a series of luxury resorts located around the Caribbean; from Cuba to Jamaica, they offer an incredible stay no matter where you are traveling! The Royalton itself is a family-friendly resort, with a separate, more private part of the resort known as the Hideaway. We stayed in the Hideaway, and it was quiet and quite romantic! Our suite was beautiful and spacious, offering a gorgeous view of the grounds and ocean. Our suite came with a king size bed, spacious closet, luxurious bathtub and huge shower! It was updated and cleaned daily.

The resort is all-inclusive, which made it very easy for us. We wanted an all-inclusive resort because quite frankly, after planning a postponed wedding, we wanted to simply be able to go on our honeymoon and relax, not worry about where to find dinner, etc. The resort has eight total restaurants for you to choose from, some more relaxed and casual than others! I really appreciated this because some nights we were ready to dress up and have a nice dinner, and others we just wanted to relax and have a more casual bite to eat. For an all-inclusive resort, I have to say, the food was amazing! Of course, all of the seafood was fresh and prepared perfectly, but even the meat and pasta dishes were absolutely delicious. We both were pleasantly surprised with the food on the resort! Our favorite restaurants at the resort were Hunter and Calypso.

Of course, the drinks were just as good as the food. Whether you choose to lay on the beach or by one of their five pools located on the property, there are always servers walking around, taking orders, and delivering your favorite drinks straight to you! Speaking of beaches and pools, Royalton has their own private beach with lounge chairs, umbrellas, and plenty of cabanas for the patrons. There are specific pools and a part of the beach that are exclusive for just Hideaway guests, meaning no kids allowed! We found, though, that most of the kids spent time by the kids pool rather than on the beach.

The resort offers snorkeling gear, kayaks, and paddle boards available to rent for free. We rented the snorkel gear and kayaks a few times! Additionally, guests are able to rent jet skis and small sailboats at a charge. We did not do either of these because we paid for excursions instead! The resort has a few locations on the property where you can book various excursions during your stay. They offer plenty of options, like zip lining through the rainforest, riding ATV’s, sunset cruises, day trips to the different cities, horseback riding on the beach, and more! You are able to charge these excursions to your room, pay with credit card or cash. Alex and I chose to go horseback riding on the beach, and a full-day boat and land excursion that took us all over the island. The resort offers transportation to and from these excursions, which is very convenient.

The resort also offers fun activities to do throughout the day like trivia, boat races, water polo, beach volleyball tournaments, fitness challenges, dance lessons, etc. We took advantage of some of these, like trivia, and Alex took part in a fitness challenge, which was fun! Every night, we attended the concert that the resort hosted. Each night was different, from “old school hits” to traditional Saint Lucian and Caribbean music, the entertainers were absolutely fantastic! We were very impressed with the entertainment each night, and loved the shows! They started between 8:00-8:30 pm, and usually lasted about an hour or an hour and a half. We would sit and listen to the music and enjoy a few drinks before bed!

Excursions

As mentioned, Alex and I chose to go horseback riding on the beach and an all day island excursion! The resort offers many different options for each of these (whole day, half day, different stops, etc.) Horseback riding on the beach consisted of a small group of us (12 people total). We met in the lobby of the resort in the morning, where a bus was waiting to take us to our destination. It took about 15 minutes to get to the ranch, where we were guided by workers onto our horses and from there, to the beach! Once we reached the beach on our horses, we had the option to go into the water with them, which we chose to do. It was so incredible! The horses were tame and wonderful to ride on, and the guides were hilarious! They kept us laughing the whole trip. All in all, the excursion took about three hours (two hours total on the horses, and another hour for travel time/getting everyone situated).

On our last full day in Saint Lucia, we chose to go on a full day island excursion, where we took a catamaran from the north end of the island to the city of Soufriere, which is in southern Saint Lucia. Just like with the horseback riding, we met a group of people in the lobby of the hotel at 8:00 am, where a bus was waiting to take us to the boat dock, which was about 20 minutes away. Once we loaded the catamaran (there were about 20 people on the boat with us), it took about an hour to get to Soufriere. The catamaran was lovely, with an excellent crew and complimentary drinks and small snacks (fruit, rolls, and cheese).

Once we docked in Soufriere, we loaded another bus to take us to our first stop: Hotel Chocolat. The resort and grounds are a British owned cacao plantation, where they grow their own cacao beans and produce chocolate that is sent all over the world! Here, we got a tour of the grounds, and had the opportunity to pick our own cacao beans and go through the process of hand-making our own chocolate bars. This process took a little more than an hour, and let me tell you, it was not easy grinding cacao beans! Once we were done and had finished adding our chocolate to our molds, we had a complimentary lunch at the hotel, which was absolutely delicious! I absolutely loved this experience; it was so unique and something that you certainly don’t get to do every day. I would 100% recommend this to anyone traveling to Saint Lucia!

After lunch at Hotel Chocolat, we loaded the bus again to go to the volcanic hot springs for a mud bath! Again, this was definitely a unique experience! We wore our swimsuits and first took a dip in a “black water pool”, which was a pool heated by the volcanic geothermal field. Y’all, it was hot. The purpose of this was to open up the skins pores prior to applying the mineral mud, so that your skin can absorb all of the benefits! We only spent about five minutes in the hot pool, then we stepped out and applied the first mineral mud to each other. There were two types of mud: gray mud and black mud. The gray mud, or lighter mud, contains sulphur, zinc, and other minerals to exfoliate the skin. The darker mud, which was applied by some of the workers in fun designs, contains volcanic ash which further rids the skin of impurities. We kept the mud on for about 15 minutes, then rinsed off in the hot pool again. I have to admit, I was absolutely shocked at how soft my skin was afterwards!

After we were clean and pampered after our mud baths, we headed back to the catamaran where we rode about 15 minutes away to snorkel around the Pitons, or the two famous peaks in Saint Lucia. We had about 45 minutes to swim and snorkel, and then headed back to the port. On the way back, the catamaran crew served alcoholic beverages as well as finger foods like small bites of pizza, coconut shrimp, cheese and crackers, and small tea sandwiches. The ride back was definitely a party! The crew played fun music and we all danced, ate and drank while watching the beautiful sunset over the island. We arrived back at the port around 8:00 pm, and were back at the hotel by 8:30 pm.

The excursions are an additional charge, and they each range in price. The horseback riding excursion was $75 per person, and the all day island excursion was $200 per person. Although the all day island excursion was pricey, it was 100% worth it, in our opinions. We had the absolute best time and had the opportunity to do some things that we can’t do anywhere else! We made lots of memories that day, and that means the world to us.

Travel Tips

• Pack everything you need, and then some. We needed bug spray for one of our excursions, and while browsing the shops on the resort, I quickly learned that they upcharge like crazy! For example, a bottle of sunscreen cost $27. Outrageous! So, think of everything you may need like sunscreen, aloe, toothpaste, hairbrush, etc. and make sure you have enough of it!
• Bring an old swimsuit you are not attached to! Prior to our trip, we had not planned on our excursion to the mud bath. Unfortunately the swimsuit that I wore that day definitely got stained from the mud bath, and was unable to be saved. I would bring either a black swimsuit that won’t get stained, or an old swimsuit you don’t care too much about if you think you might want to do this activity!
• Pack adapters! I did not realize that Saint Lucia uses the same plugs as the UK, so their outlets only allow G plugs, or ones with three prongs. Luckily Alex was smart and packed one adapter, but I never would have thought about packing one myself!
• Bring small bills and plenty of cash. Saint Lucia, like all of the other Caribbean islands, rely on tourism. The employees at these resorts and on the excursions do expect to be tipped, as they should! There was only one ATM on the resort, and it was a local Saint Lucian bank, so chances are you will have to pay a bank fee if you use it. Additionally, if you travel into the cities and shop locally, most of them only take cash and do not have the technology to process credit cards!
• Bring reusable straws if you use them! The resort offers paper straws, if you ask for one. Typically they do not serve drinks with straws at all. I’m used to drinking with a straw, but lived without them for the trip. However, if you really want a straw, I would bring some reusable ones and just throw them in your bag!

This trip was in no way sponsored or paid by any outside vendor. Alex and I planned and paid for the entire trip on our own, and all opinions are entirely my own.