Saint Lucia
Castries
Saint Lucia's harbour capital: a Nobel laureates' square, a Creole market and the fort-topped hill Britain and France fought over for a century and a half.
Saint Lucia's capital is a working port rather than a resort, wrapped around a deep, sheltered harbour where cruise ships berth a few minutes' walk from the market. Fire took most of the old wooden town in 1948, so the centre is plain and postwar, but Derek Walcott Square keeps its heart: a vast saman tree, busts of the island's two Nobel laureates and a cathedral painted inside in bright Caribbean colour. Above the town rises Morne Fortune, the hill Britain and France fought over, and either side the coast opens into beach bays and the yacht haven of Marigot Bay.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
English
Currency
XCD
Timezone
UTC-4
Why you'll love Castries
Derek Walcott Square A shady square under a vast old saman tree, with busts of Nobel laureates Derek Walcott and Arthur Lewis and the cathedral's painted interior standing over one corner.
The market Stalls under the iron roofs of the central market sell cocoa balls for cocoa tea, hot pepper sauce, spices and crafts, and food stalls dish up green fig and saltfish at lunch.
Morne Fortune The hill above the harbour changed hands between Britain and France again and again; its barracks, monument and lookout now take in the whole town and the coast to the north.
Bays either side The long sands of Vigie and Choc Bay run north of town; south lie La Toc's resort cove and Marigot Bay, a palm-ringed yacht haven tucked inside a hurricane hole.
Best time to visit
Feb-Apr
29-31° days
14.010° N, 60.990° W
UTC-4 · America/St Vincent
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Weather & when to go to Castries
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Feb-Apr
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Oct monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Castries
October is the one month to skip: the wettest of the year, at the peak of the June-November hurricane season, when storms can close roads and cancel boat trips. February to April is the driest, surest stretch. Whatever the month, the centre is at its most crowded on cruise-ship days, when the market and the square fill by mid-morning.
Top things to do in Castries
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Derek Walcott Square - the saman tree and the Nobel busts
culture arts history 👍 PopularThe old Columbus Square, renamed in 1993 for the Castries-born poet, is the shady centre of town: a saman tree said to be several centuries old, busts of Walcott and the economist Arthur Lewis, and the cathedral standing over one corner. Sit on a bench in the shade and watch the capital go about its day.
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Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception - Dunstan St Omer's murals
culture arts history ⭐ Highly recommendedA plain exterior hides one of the most striking church interiors in the Caribbean: walls and ceiling painted in bold colour by Dunstan St Omer, the Saint Lucian artist who also designed the national flag, with saints and holy figures shown as Black West Indians. Visit quietly outside services.
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Castries Central Market - spices, produce and crafts
food shopping 👍 PopularThe iron-framed Victorian market on Jeremie Street is the busiest corner in town, overflowing on Saturday mornings with bananas, breadfruit, dasheen and hot peppers. Look for cocoa balls for cocoa tea and bottled pepper sauce; the vendors' arcade across the road sells crafts, and the food stalls serve Creole lunches.
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Morne Fortune - Fort Charlotte and the Inniskilling Monument
history scenic 👍 PopularThe road south out of town climbs past Government House, the Governor-General's Victorian residence, to the old British barracks of Fort Charlotte, now a college. A monument honours the 27th Inniskilling Regiment, which stormed the summit from the French in 1796, and the lookout takes in the harbour, the cruise berths and the coast running north to Pigeon Island.
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Marigot Bay - the yacht haven and its little beach
scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedTwenty-five minutes south, a narrow inlet so sheltered that sailors call it a hurricane hole, ringed by palms and steep green hills and full of yachts. Legend has a British fleet hiding here from the French with palm fronds lashed to the masts, and Doctor Dolittle was filmed here in the 1960s. A little ferry crosses to the sandy spit at the mouth.
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Vigie and Choc Bay - the long beaches north of town
scenicThe nearest good sand to the capital: Vigie Beach runs beside the city airport's runway, and Choc Bay curves away north of it in a long, calm arc shared by resort guests and locals. A few minutes from downtown by minibus or taxi.
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Pointe Seraphine and La Place Carenage - duty-free on the harbour
shoppingThe town's two cruise terminals double as duty-free shopping arcades: Pointe Seraphine on the Vigie side of the harbour, La Place Carenage on the downtown waterfront. Jewellery, rum and local crafts, and the easiest place to watch the ships come and go.
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Saint Lucian Creole food - green fig and saltfish
foodThe national dish pairs boiled green bananas with salt cod stewed with onion and peppers. Around it: bouyon, the thick stew of provisions and meat; accra, the saltfish fritters; fried bakes; and cocoa tea, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, at breakfast. On Friday nights the island moves outdoors for street fish fries at Anse La Raye and Gros Islet.
Best areas to stay in Castries
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Choc Bay and Vigie
Beach near town $$Beach strip just north of town
Explore hotels in Choc Bay and Vigie →
La Toc and Morne Fortune
Resort couples $$$Resort cove and hillside villas
Explore hotels in La Toc and Morne Fortune →
Marigot Bay
Couples and sailors $$$Palm-ringed yacht haven, boutique resorts
Explore hotels in Marigot Bay →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Castries
Getting to & around Castries
Getting there
Fly into Hewanorra in the far south, about 90 minutes away by road, or arrive on a regional hop into the city airport at Vigie, right beside town.
Flight
Hewanorra International Airport (UVF)
Long-haul flights from Britain and North America land at Vieux Fort, on the island's southern tip. The drive north runs up the east coast through Dennery and over the forested spine of the island, roughly 90 minutes by pre-booked taxi or resort transfer. Regional flights land at George F. L. Charles Airport, a few minutes from downtown.
Ferry
Castries waterfront
Fast catamarans link Castries with Martinique, and some sailings continue to Dominica and Guadeloupe. Sailings are limited, so check the timetable before planning around them.
Cruise
Pointe Seraphine and La Place Carenage
One of the eastern Caribbean's busiest cruise ports, with ships berthing at the edge of downtown, mostly through the winter season.
Getting around
Walking
The flat downtown grid around the square, the market and the waterfront is easy on foot; the Morne and the beaches are not.
Free
Minibus
Privately run minibuses leave from stops around downtown for Gros Islet, Marigot and the south, frequent by day and thinning out after dark. Pay in cash on board.
TBC
Taxi
Taxis wait at the cruise terminals, the airports and the big hotels. Fares are set by route rather than metered, so confirm before you get in.
TBC
Car hire
Driving is on the left and you need a local temporary permit, sold through the rental firms. Beyond the main highways, roads are steep, narrow and winding.
TBC
Day trips from Castries
Soufriere and the Pitons
Full dayVolcano and twin peaks
The island's showpiece: the two volcanic spires of the Pitons rising straight from the sea, the Sulphur Springs where you drive up to steaming vents and bathe in the mud pools below, and Diamond Falls in its old estate gardens. Boat trips down the coast add a snorkel stop and the view of the Pitons from the water.
Getting there
car | bus | tour
About 1-1.5 hours south by car or minibus on the west coast road, or a day cruise by catamaran
Pigeon Island National Landmark
Half dayFort and headland
Once an island, now joined to the northern tip by a causeway, with the ruins of Fort Rodney and a short, steep climb to Signal Peak for the view across the channel to Martinique. Admiral Rodney watched the French fleet from here before the Battle of the Saintes in 1782. Two small beaches, and Rodney Bay next door.
Getting there
car | bus
About 30 minutes north to Gros Islet by car or minibus
Anse La Raye
Half dayFishing village fish fry
A west-coast fishing village with painted wooden pirogues pulled up on the beach. On Friday nights its main street closes for a fish fry: grills of fish, lobster and conch, bakes and rum punch, with music until late. Easy to pair with Marigot Bay on the way down.
Getting there
car | bus
About 40 minutes south by car or minibus
Chassin rainforest, Babonneau
Half dayCanopy tram and ziplines
In the hills east of Castries, an aerial tram of open gondolas glides through the rainforest canopy while a guide names the birds, ferns and giant trees on the way. Zipline courses run through the same forest for those who want speed rather than botany.
Getting there
car | tour
About 30 minutes inland by car or tour transfer
A little history of Castries
The Kalinago beat off the first English attempts to settle Saint Lucia, and it was French colonists from Martinique who founded the first lasting colony in the 1650s. They called this deep harbour Carenage, a safe place to careen ships, and in 1785 the town was renamed for the Marquis de Castries, France's minister of the navy. The island changed hands between Britain and France fourteen times, earning the name Helen of the West Indies, and much of the fighting was for Morne Fortune above the harbour, stormed by British troops in 1796. Britain kept Saint Lucia from 1814.
After emancipation Castries grew as a coaling station for steamships, one of the busiest in the Caribbean, with the coal carried aboard in baskets on women's heads. Fire repeatedly gutted the wooden town, most completely in 1948, so the centre is largely postwar. Independence came in 1979, the year Arthur Lewis won the Nobel Prize in economics; Castries-born Derek Walcott followed with literature in 1992.
French settlers from Martinique found the island's first lasting colony.
The harbour town of Carenage is renamed Castries, after France's minister of the navy.
The 27th Inniskilling Regiment storms Morne Fortune, taking it from the French.
The Treaty of Paris hands Saint Lucia to Britain for good, after fourteen changes of flag.
Slavery is abolished across the British Caribbean, with full freedom following in 1838.
Fire destroys most of central Castries, which is rebuilt in concrete.
Saint Lucia becomes independent; Arthur Lewis wins the Nobel Prize in economics.
Castries-born Derek Walcott wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Columbus Square is renamed Derek Walcott Square.
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Everywhere
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type G
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+1-758
Cyclones & hurricanes risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Castries
▸ When is the best time to visit Castries?
February to April is the driest, most settled stretch. From June the wet and hurricane season builds to a peak in October, the one month worth skipping, when storms can close roads and cancel boats. Carnival fills the streets in July, a reason to come despite the showers, and winter is cruise season, so the centre is busiest then.
▸ Should I stay in Castries itself?
Few visitors sleep downtown, which is a daytime place of offices, shops and the market and goes quiet after work. The bases are the bays around it: Choc Bay and Vigie just north, La Toc over the hill, Marigot Bay to the south. Rodney Bay, twenty to thirty minutes north, has the island's biggest spread of hotels, restaurants and nightlife.
▸ How do I get from Hewanorra airport to Castries?
Allow about 90 minutes by road. Most visitors pre-book a taxi or a hotel transfer, which runs up the east coast through Dennery and over the island's forested ridge. Minibuses also run from Vieux Fort to Castries, cheaper but slow going with luggage. If you are hopping in from a neighbouring island, George F. L. Charles Airport sits right beside town.
▸ Is Castries worth it on a cruise stop?
Yes, and it is easy: the square, the cathedral and the market are all a short walk from the downtown berths, and Pointe Seraphine is a quick hop across the harbour. With a full day, taxis will run you up Morne Fortune or out to Marigot Bay; Soufriere is possible, but allow for the long, slow road back.
▸ What language is spoken in Castries?
English is the official language and works everywhere a visitor needs it. Most Saint Lucians also speak Kweyol, a French-based Creole you will hear in the market and on the minibuses, and the French place names across the island are a legacy of the years it spent under France.