Experience the best of Rodney Bay

Rodney Bay lies on the north-west coast of St Lucia, a sheltered bay with a marina at one end and the long, gently curving Reduit Beach along its shore. Sailors who cross the Atlantic in a yearly rally finish their voyage at the marina each December. Hotels, restaurants and a shopping mall stand behind the beach, and the old fishing village of Gros Islet lies just to the north.

Pigeon Island National Landmark, once a separate island and now joined to the mainland by a causeway, has the ruins of Fort Rodney, where Admiral Rodney watched the French fleet at Martinique before the Battle of the Saintes in 1782. Two hills give wide views. On Friday nights Gros Islet holds a street party with music and grilled food. Catamaran trips run south along the coast to Marigot Bay and towards the Pitons.

Grilled lobster and snapper, fried fish with bakes and roti are the staples of the beach restaurants, and rum punch arrives in tall glasses. A steady sea breeze cools the afternoons, and the driest weather comes from January to April.