Experience the best of Castries

Castries lies on the north-west coast of St Lucia around a deep, sheltered harbour backed by green hills. The island changed hands between the French and the British some fourteen times before independence in 1979. Derek Walcott Square, named for the island's Nobel prize-winning poet, who was born in the town, is the heart of the centre, with the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on one side and a huge old saman tree in the square.

The Castries Central Market, near the harbour, has stalls of spices, fruit, vegetables, baskets and crafts. Above the town, Morne Fortune, the Hill of Good Fortune, has the remains of Fort Charlotte and viewpoints over the harbour. North of the town, Pigeon Island, now joined to the mainland, has ruins of an 18th-century fort, and Marigot Bay to the south is a sheltered cove with yachts. The Pitons, the twin volcanic peaks of the south-west coast, are about an hour's drive away.

Green fig and saltfish, boiled green bananas with salted cod, is the national dish, with callaloo soup, fried fish and Creole stews, and fresh coconut water and cocoa tea at the stalls. The dry season from December to May is the sunniest, and Carnival fills the streets in July.