Authentic St. Lucia, sleeping on an eco-friendly plantation
Fond Doux Plantation & Resort is a 19th-century eco-friendly colonial resort nestled in the heart of St. Lucia, known for its romantic and private luxury cottages. The resort is situated amidst a 250-year-old working plantation and features an assortment of 15 uniquely crafted cottages, two on-site restaurants, and an outdoor swimming pool.
We drive from the north of the Island of St Lucia all the way down to Soufriere and arrived at the Fond Doux Plantation with views of the huge Pitons everywhere.
The resort is a scenic 45-minute drive from the island’s international airport. As a guest of Fond Doux, you will be conveniently located just minutes away from St. Lucia’s main attractions, including The Pitons, The Sulphur Springs – ‘The Caribbean’s only drive-in volcano – and the best diving sites on the island, all within a prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Of the number of plantation estates you can stay on in St Lucia, this is the most scenic. Coated in cocoa, nutmeg, and breadfruit trees, thick swathes of palms, bananas, and bamboo, and sprinkled with exotic flowers, the hilly, 135-acre, 250-year-old, bird-rich property are overpoweringly beautiful.
You can’t go far in Saint Lucia without stumbling upon a chocolate plantation; the island is home to countless, still-functioning estates from its heyday as a leading cocoa producer. Fond Doux’s heritage tour walks guests through the production process including harvesting and drying the beans. While cocoa has long been an important part of the country’s history, it took a backseat to the banana industry in the nation’s modern economy. In the late 1980s, Saint Lucia was one of the world’s biggest exporters of bananas, but changes to trade agreements between the United Kingdom and Saint Lucia in the early 1990s meant the industry all but collapsed—the number of banana farmers on the island fell from about 10,000 to a little more than 1,000 today. The demise of the banana industry resulted in a revival of the country’s cocoa production as farmers, looking for alternative revenue streams, shifted their focus back to the island’s chocolate roots.
Once you’ve booked your stay at Fond Doux Plantation & Resort, be sure to schedule a trip to the sulphur springs in Saint Lucia! La Soufriere is the only drive-in volcano in the world, attracting people from around the globe, and features the infamous sulphur springs.
The resort was really beautiful. They offered a free plantation tour which included a guided hike to see the infamous Piton mountains. (Most people pay to enter the park to hike the trails) In addition to this hike, a fresh breakfast buffet was offered every morning. It had a range of local fruits, bread, and drinks which were always really good. The scenery was so peaceful at the resort. Especially around the pool area.
