Villa Paradisso
- Category
- Villas & Villa Living
- Island
- St Lucia
- Location
- Cap Estate and North-east, Gros Islet
- No of Rooms:
- 3
- Prices from:
- US $325.00/ villa/ night ? view all rates
At a glance
A well put together three-bedroom villa on a hillside overlooking the Cap Estate in the north of St Lucia. Set over three storeys, Villa Paradisso has three bedrooms with en suite facilities plus a studio room with sofa bed and its own pool. This is a private villa that is suitable as a hideaway, but also well positioned for local activities.
- Best for:
- Family, Golf
- Who for:
- Family and friends
- Not for:
- Those wanting direct beach access
- How to get there:
- Direct flights from the UK, USA, Canada, Europe
Key features
Modern split-level villa with high end finishes, entrance level garage, granite top kitchen with wine cooler, living/dining room with French doors to veranda, upper level has three air-conditioned en suite bedrooms off an informal sitting area with cable TV, DVD player and small library, lower level offers alfresco dining inside or out around a small pool terrace as well as a studio with sofa bed, kitchenette and shower room.
Style:
Smart, compact three-storey villa with modern West Indian design including a light peach coloured render and varnished and white-painted woodwork trim. Elegantly furnished with dark hardwood furniture, classic botanical fabrics and indoor and outdoor wicker
The beach:
Cas en Bas, a volcanic sand beach within 10 minutes, on the Atlantic side but protected by a reef
The rooms / villas:
3 bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, 1 studio room with sofa bed
Children:
Welcome
Staff:
Housekeeper Valencia, from 8am to 3pm, Monday-Saturday. Gardener and twice weekly pool maintenance
Journalist’s Review
Beach & Swimming
The nearest beach is Cas en Bas. It is less than ten minutes away and has dark-ish volcanic sand. There is a beach restaurant there (part of Cotton Bay Village) and it is a popular location for watersports including kitesurfing and snorkelling (there is often an onshore breeze off the Atlantic), as well as picnics. There is even some horseback riding. Not far off in a different direction, Smugglers Cove has excellent snorkelling. And a fifteen minute drive will get you Causeway Beach, where there are two stretches of white sand running down to Pigeon Island National Park. The north area of the beach is popular with St Lucians on weekends, especially bank holidays, and has a picnic area.
Reduit Beach is the island's most popular and it is located on the other side of Rodney Bay. With a lovely mile-long stretch of powder soft sand, it is fairly active and has a few hotels and a good variety of watersports, including waterskiing, parasailing, jetski, sunfish and hobie cat sailing. You can get there in about ten minutes by car.
Villa Paradisso has a rectangular plunge pool and a surrounding white tiled terrace for sunbathing, BBQs and alfresco dining in the sun or undercover. There is an entrance to the pool terrace from the studio room and external stairs from the upper levels.
Sports & Recreation
The 18 hole, 6829 yard, par 71 course at the St Lucia Golf & Country Club on the Cap Estate is less than five minutes drive away and has a pro shop, and restaurant in the new Jack Nicklaus Golf Course Clubhouse. The nearest tennis courts open to the public (courts must be booked in advance) are at the St Lucia Racquet Club at Club St Lucia, also in Cap Estate, where you will find seven floodlit Laykold cushioned tennis courts, a squash court and gym. There are also two squash courts at the St Lucia Yacht Club at Reduit in Rodney Bay. The Sportivo fitness centre at Rodney Heights is St Lucia's largest gym and offers yoga, Tai Chi and karate classes.
Locality
Villa Paradisso is located in the hills of Cap Estate, a large residential development in the Gros Islet area of St Lucia, near the far northern tip of the island. There are many luxury homes dotted on the hillsides of Cap Estate, some holiday homes and some residential. The estate has an 18-hole golf course, with a second in development, a couple of resorts, and two of the best restaurants in St Lucia - the Great House and Tao at LeSport. Views from the estate extend to Pigeon Island National Park, a forty four acre National Trust reserve on an island that was joined to the mainland by a man-made causeway in 1972. The island features ruins of many 18th century British and French military buildings including Fort Rodney, and it has an Interpretation Centre, a restaurant featuring local cuisine, a historical themed pub and restaurant and a lookout point at the top of the island. The island is also the main venue of the annual St Lucia Jazz Festival, held each May, which attracts a host of international stars. A ferry runs between the island and Rodney Bay on an hourly schedule.
Rodney Bay is St Lucia's busiest tourist area, where you will find hotels, good restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, banks, mini marts and a nearby supermarket (on the main road) called Super J, as well as and a very lively nightlife. There is a busy marina which attracts over 200 boats for the annual ARC (trans-Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) - the yachts begin to arrive in early December. The nearby village of Gros Islet hosts the now famous Friday Night Jump Up, an all night street party. The Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island area is a ten minute journey by car. Castries the capital and George FL Charles Airport (formerly known as Vigie), which receives inter-island flights only, are about 25 minutes drive away.
Useful Hints
Ask your travel organiser or the management company (if booking direct) for initial food and drink supplies to be laid in for your arrival (a starter food pack costs approximately US$40 per person), so that the cook/housekeeper can prepare a simple welcome meal for you. Thereafter, your housekeeper will be happy to assist you with your shopping should you wish to delegate this. However do expect to provide transportation and appropriate gratuity for this service. Rental rates for villas in St Lucia do not include 'tips', about which you will find advice in the guest information book at the villa.
Personal laundry is not included in the rental rates and charges are approximately as follows: machine wash small load EC$10, hand wash small load EC$25 and ironing small load EC$25.
Airport Meet & Greet
If you are booking direct ask the villa management company Tropical Villas to send a taxi to meet you at the airport. These are arranged with their taxi driver Desir (pronounced Daisy), who normally waits in the area just outside the customs hall at Hewanorra airport. He will hold a Tropical Villas sign and if you miss him go to the Tourist Board desk who will page him for you. Your airport transfers are paid for locally and take approximately 1hr 30 minutes from Hewanorra and 25 minutes from George Charles Airport outside Castries.
If you are booking through a travel organiser, it is likely that their representative will be at the airport to meet you. This service and your return airport transfers should be included in the cost of your holiday. Please check at the time of booking.
Getting Around
A hired car is strongly recommended for all St Lucia villa rentals, unless you would prefer staff to call taxis for you as required. A vehicle will be useful if you want to dine out at night or do lots of sightseeing and particularly when it comes to shopping for groceries. Book car hire via your travel organiser or direct with Drive-A-Matic (Tropical Villas can book this for you) or Cool Breeze Car & Jeep Rentals for your St Lucia car rental and ask for your vehicle to be delivered to the property approximately 3 hours after your scheduled time of arrival on St Lucia or the following morning. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or be collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on your departure day.
Villa Paradisso offers bookings via the following villa rental agents:
-
Tropical Villas
By far the most established property management and rental company on St Lucia.
