Ladera Resort, St. Lucia: The Perfect Honeymoon Destination (?)

Type "St. Lucia" into any search engine and I am sure you will find dozens of beautiful pictures of the lush green piton mountains overlooking the ocean. Ladera Resort is nestled directly in-between the pitons and offers an array of unusual amenities.

Ladera is famous worldwide for two reasons: First, Dasheene (located on the premise) is rated as one of the best restaurants in the Caribbean and second, Ladera is one of the few hotels in the world that is missing a fourth wall. Yes, you are literally exposed to nature. And yes, if you are a squeamish individual that is easily scared by creepy crawlers this place is not for you. Personally, I love camping, and the thought of sleeping in a hotel room that was essentially out in the open sounded thrilling.

The Rooms

Because there is no fourth wall, when the sun goes down the creepy crawlers have the opportunity to come in. Quite frankly, I thought the geckos were quite cute even when they were scaling the walls. I was not such a fun of the bats. Our room was fairly large and included a lounge, bathroom, and pool on the first floor and the bedroom upstairs. Unfortunately, when you turned any light on at night bugs would immediately flock towards you. I am scared of bats, so whenever I woke up at night to go the bathroom I convinced my husband to go downstairs with me.

Don't get me wrong, having the fourth wall missing was splendid in its own right. The view from the room was incredible - there are few hotels in the world that can boast they have better views. The sunrise in the morning was amazing even if it did wake you up incredibly early for vacation. The only problem with a missing fourth wall is that there are rooms to the right and left of you, and in our case, actually below us. Therefore, if you are wondering if you can hear your neighbors, the answer is yes, and they can probably hear you too. To put it mildly, there were some sounds we would have rather not heard and would deter us from returning to the resort in the future.

The actual resort is not very large, it is essentially one long path that leads to each of the rooms, all labeled by numbers of the alphabet. There are sulphur mineral baths on the premises (we didn't try these - I heard that they could dye your swimsuit so we passed), a small infinity pool, and a deck with a few lawn chairs. Even though the pool and deck near the restaurant are small, the incredible view makes up for any space issues. Personally, we preferred to spend time on our lawn chairs in our room and the small plunge pool. There seemed to be some issues with providing heat to the plunge pools, and ours was perpetually freezing. Some of the other rooms had plunge pools in the sun and did not have this problem. For the amount of money you pay a night to stay at the hotel, you should certainly request a pool in the sun.

Dasheene Restaurant

I wish I could say that the food at Dasheene was spectacular but it was not. The food was pretty good, but for the price I have had better meals in the States. Keep in mind that Dasheene is the only restaurant at Ladera. After eating incredibly rich food for 7 nights you will probably want something else. Yes, you can leave the resort and eat elsewhere however you will need a taxi and they are pretty expensive.

Dasheene also charges a steep service charge to your bill. For a glass of wine, two entrees, and a dessert our bill came to $130, not including tip. My husband and I tipped at every meal (including breakfast, which is free for all guests) and still did not receive any mediocre service. I would say that the pitfall to Dasheene and Ladera in general is the service. My husband and I are both very friendly people and we tip well. The servers there were incredibly unfriendly during or entire eight day stay. This did put a damper on our experience.

Activities

Since the resort is perched within the mountains, overlooking the ocean, you can not directly access the beach from the resort. There are shuttles that leave multiple times during the day and will drop you off at the beach. If you have motion sickness, I highly recommend taking some sort of medicine. The roads are very windy and the drivers drive very fast. I've never had problems with motion sickness in the past however I did feel a little queasy on our way to the beach. The beach is actually associated with a different resort, Jalousie Plantation that Ladera has a partnership with. Your may use the lawn chairs at the resort with your special Ladera bracelet. Ladera also supplies snorkeling equipment.

Should I go?

Ladera is an experience. We had a good time; however I would not want to return for more than one night. The experience is unlike any other hotel I have visited, although after seven nights the charm wares off. The view from the rooms and Dasheene is worth visiting, although there are more places to see and more things to do on the North side of the island.