In February we took our first trip to the Caribbean and stayed at the Bel Jou hotel. Before I go into specifics, my headline comment would be that the staff of the hotel made our trip to this beautiful island special, they are a real credit to the establishment. Well done Bel Jou, we had a great time, thank you.

How could it have been better? We wished there were more ways to see the authentic side of the island, but talking to the locals, taking the bus and being there for Independence Day helped.

We highly recommend the hotel - they care about their guests and the atmosphere was lovely.

Some further info........

We were very lucky to have been in St Lucia on the event of their Independence Day celebrations (22 Feb). As well as events taking place in Castries, the hotel put on an excellent celebration with local food, dancers and colourful decoration.

Going into some of the hotel specifics......

Location - when we were choosing our holiday, we deliberated over whether to select a hotel nearer to a beach. The trade-off was generally between size (therefore how many guests) of hotel and location. We opted for a smaller hotel, but the nice thing with the Bel Jou is that it wouldn't be difficult to either take the hotel's bus to the local beach, or travel a bit further to enjoy the beach at Gros Islet / Rodney Bay. The local beach is quite basic, but it provides a bit of variety.

Rooms - spacious, clean and very comfortable beds. We booked a 'garden view' room, which was actually a room in the set of single story garden bungalows that are set back from the main hotel. To be entirely accurate, the 'garden' is just a strip of grass and greenery. These rooms are close to the road so some road noise could be heard at times, but it in no way spoilt our satisfaction with the room. Overall the room was quiet and convenient. There is a safe in the room, a good hairdryer and a kettle, but no fridge. The water from the tap is potable. There is plenty of storage.

Food - The food was generally excellent. It was fresh and varied throughout the week. For breakfast there was a choice of fresh and cooked options, including freshly made omelettes. Lunch can be taken in the main restaurant or there are popular lunch options for food at the poolside bar. Apart from when there is an evening BBQ (which was excellent) evening meals can be taken in the main self-service restaurant or a table can be booked in the table service restaurant, which has choice from a menu. We booked a table once, but were happy to do self-service. The staff are highly attentive at every meal. The wine was OK, but there were lots of drink choice at the bar.

Drink - as an all inclusive hotel, drinks were included. The staff were generous, the choice and quality were excellent. We definitely overindulged in the highly calorific options, but they were delicious :-)

Pool - there are 2 pools, both spotlessly clean and a welcome opportunity for cooling off and getting a bit of exercise. There were generally enough sunbeds on most days, but when the hotel was busy it was a bit difficult to find a spot and an umbrella for shade (or protection from the almost daily showers we encountered). We understand that there were more beds and umbrellas on order. On top of this it was very annoying that some guests were out as early as 0630 to put their towels on beds. I would like to see the hotel doing something to deter this behaviour.

Gym - there is a small, well maintained gym with air conditioning. It has 2 running machines, a couple of static bikes, weights and an exercise frame with pulleys and chin bar etc and space to do stretching, floor-work.. This was easily enough for my needs.

Classes and activities - most days there was beginners yoga/stretching which was a great way to start the day. There was also 'pool aerobics' which I wouldn't normally do, but it was fun. There are other classes and activities like pilates and various games, which we didn't do mainly because of timing. Their success is, of course, subject to getting enough participants, but the entertainment lead, Jafree, was never short of enthusiasm to provide entertainment.

Evening entertainment - the hotel had some excellent evening entertainment with a combination of talented singers, bands, dancers, fire-eaters and a Karaoke that brought out the most entertaining and funny behaviour of the staff. We are not normally keen to take part in evening entertainment as over the years we have not enjoyed it, but at the Bel Jou, along with some wonderful people that we met, we had some great fun evenings.

WiFi - WiFi is widely available around the hotel and was generally sufficient for our purposes. It reached its' capacity when the staff really kindly set up for us to watch a bit of live rugby - another example of how accommodating they were.

Library - the cafe (a small room open daily with self-service coffee, kettle, fruit and daily biscuits or pastries) has a shelf of books where guests swap books and there is a good choice.

Currency - everywhere takes USD, credit card use was common in shops and to pay for trips

Crime - We didn't feel any sense of danger or risk at any time, but as ever one needs to be sensible.

For those interested in learning about what to see and do on the island.........

Going onto Castries - the hotel minibus runs regular trips into Castries, on a schedule. Castries itself is not extensive and while it has a few worthwhile points of interest, it would not occupy most people for more than a couple of hours. The town is often dominated by the visiting cruise liners and the locals' behaviour is shaped by the brief visits of their passengers. It is easy enough to walk into and back from Castries, as long as one is happy with a very steep hill. The advice was not to do this at night though.

Local Buses - the local buses are actually mini-buses, with green number plates and stickers showing the route they service. They are easy enough to take and of course cheap compared to taxis. We took a relatively short trip to Gros Islet, from where we continued to visit Pigeon Island. It was ECD6 for 2 of us and thee journey took around 25 mins. The hotel minibus dropped us at the point that they go from and explained how they worked (buses leave when full). Bus drivers were also helpful. We then took a bus on the 1.5 hour trip to Soufriere (to visit the botanical gardens). This was a lovely trip and a good way to learn something about the country. On the way back we experienced another feature of the buses. When we got to the but it was quite empty and there was a risk that we would have been waiting for some time. The driver offered us the chance to buy additional seats so that he could leave without being full; it was still relatively cheap transport and worthwhile.

Taxis - taxis are widely available and reception can recommend reliable providers, but they are expensive. A taxi from the airport to the hotel will be between 85 and 95 USD

Trips - trip are easy to book at the hotel or online. They are all expensive and delivered by well established companies. We did the 'standard set' of the Soufriere catamaran trip for volcano and snorkling (which allowed us to see the Piton ) and the zip wires. Visiting the Soufriere area is a must, but the volcano trip seemed a bit rushed (there was a choice of mud bath OR volcano visit when they could have both been included in my opinion). The zip wire trip was great fun and took a good couple of hours to complete, making it an enjoyable experience. Pigeon Island is a lovely location, with a great view of the bay, a lovely swimming spot and a nice little restaurant, but there is not a lot to see on the island itself.

Hiring a car - we didn't hire a car in the end, although we had considered it. The main benefit would have been having more time at the island's attractions and a bit more freedom. If we had been travelling as a group then it would definitely have been beneficial, but as it was just us as a couple then we didn't miss out.

Walking - we, like several others, felt that we would have appreciated an opportunity to do more walking in non-urban, nature environments. There wasn't really anywhere local except perhaps a long walk up and down the local beach.