Forty minutes apart by air and about as different as two Caribbean islands get. Barbados is flat, sociable and the best eating in the region; St Lucia is mountainous, dramatic and where the Pitons come out of the sea. The best value upgrade in the Caribbean, and almost nobody sells it.
You're paying eight and a half hours of flying either way. A forty-minute hop doubles what you get for it.
A fortnight on one Caribbean island is a lovely, slightly repetitive holiday. Splitting it gives you two genuinely different weeks — Oistins fish fry and rum distilleries on one, rainforest and a drive-in volcano on the other — for the price of one short internal flight. We put Barbados first because it's the easier landing after a long flight and the livelier half, then St Lucia second so you finish somewhere quiet and beautiful.
Fifteen nights with one inter-island flight. We fly you home from St Lucia so there's no backtracking.
1The most developed and sociable of the eastern Caribbean islands, with the best restaurant scene and the widest choice of hotels.
Where you stay: Platinum Coast at Holetown for calm water and smart hotels, or St Lawrence Gap for livelier and better value.
Getting there: 8h 30m direct from the UK. Daytime flight out, so you land in the afternoon.
2Volcanic, rainforested, and the most dramatic scenery in the region. Where you stop moving.
Where you stay: Soufrière for the Pitons and seclusion, or Rodney Bay in the north for beaches, restaurants and the Friday street party.
Getting there: 40 minutes by air. Small aircraft with tight baggage limits — we check yours before booking.
Everything below is quoted up front. Nothing appears after you've paid a deposit.
Guide prices per person, two sharing, outside school holidays. The hotel standard is the biggest single variable.
| Standard | What that means | Guide price pp |
|---|---|---|
| 4-star | Good hotels both islands, half board | £2,399 |
| 4-star plus | Beachfront Barbados, Piton-view St Lucia, all-inclusive | £3,199 |
| 5-star | Platinum Coast and a luxury Soufrière resort, all-inclusive | £4,699 |
All-inclusive is worth more in St Lucia than Barbados — Soufrière is remote and eating out means a taxi, while Barbados has restaurants worth leaving the hotel for. We often quote half board on Barbados and all-inclusive on St Lucia, which usually costs less than all-inclusive throughout.
December to April is dry season on both islands. June to November is hurricane season, with prices to match.
January to March is peak — reliable weather and the highest rates, with Christmas and New Year higher still. Late April, May and early June are the value sweet spot: dry season conditions, well below peak pricing, and before the hurricane risk builds. If you travel between June and November, prices drop sharply but the risk is real rather than theoretical, and the insurance needs to cover disruption properly.
We'll come back with hotels on the right coast of each island, the inter-island flight booked, and the payment plan written out in full.
You can, and plenty do. But the two are genuinely different holidays and the hop is forty minutes. It's the best-value upgrade in the Caribbean.
Barbados. It's the easier arrival after a long flight and the livelier half — better to finish quiet in St Lucia than the other way round.
It's ninety minutes from the main airport and it's the most beautiful part of the island. Wonderful for a couple; harder with young children after a long flight.
Small aircraft, tight baggage allowances, and schedules that move. We book it with the holiday so a delay is our problem, not yours at a foreign check-in desk.
Similar shapes, and the ones people most often weigh up alongside it.
Same approach, different shape. All reshapeable around your dates.
