Frommers ShortCuts - St. Lucia, Caribbean

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ISBN 9781118186350 (ebk); ISBN 9781118186367 (ebk); ISBN 9781118186374 (ebk)

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About the Authors

Christina Paulette Coln has three great passions in life: nature, teaching, and travel. She has been everywhere from Borneo (where she lived for 2 years) to Bonaire. With a Ph.D. in Ecology and a Masters in Environmental Education, she is a talented educator, accomplished writer, and experienced editor (of everything from scientific articles to childrens books).

Alexis Lipsitz Flippin is a freelance writer and former Frommers senior editor. She is the author of Frommers Portable St. Maarten/St. Martin, Anguilla & St. Barts and Frommers Portable Turks & Caicos and has written and edited for consumer magazines including Self, American Health, and Rolling Stone.

John Marino, the author of Frommers Puerto Rico, lives in San Juan, where he covers local and political news for the San Juan Star as city editor. He has written about Puerto Rico for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and other publications.

As a team of veteran travel writers, Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince have produced various titles for Frommers, including guides to Italy, France, England, and Germany. A film critic, columnist, and broadcaster, Porter is also a Hollywood biographer. His recent releases include Brando Unzipped, documenting the private life of Marlon Brando, and Jacko: His Rise and Fall, the first complete biography ever written on the tumultuous life of Michael Jackson. Prince was formerly employed by the Paris bureau of the New York Times and is today the president of Blood Moon Productions. Porter and Princes latest non-travel-related venture, jointly co-authored and published in 2008 by Blood Moon, is Hollywood BabylonIts Back!, which one critic described as the hottest compilation of intergenerational scandal in the history of Hollywood.

Frommers Star Ratings, Icons & Abbreviations

Every hotel, restaurant, and attraction listing in this guide has been ranked for quality, value, service, amenities, and special features using a star-rating system. In country, state, and regional guides, we also rate towns and regions to help you narrow down your choices and budget your time accordingly. Hotels and restaurants are rated on a scale of zero (recommended) to three stars (exceptional). Attractions, shopping, nightlife, towns, and regions are rated according to the following scale: zero stars (recommended), one star (highly recommended), two stars (very highly recommended), and three stars (must-see).

In addition to the star-rating system, we also use eight feature icons that point you to the great deals, in-the-know advice, and unique experiences that separate travelers from tourists. Throughout the book, look for:

special finds those places only insiders know about

fun facts details that make travelers more informed and their trips more fun

kids best bets for kids, and advice for the whole family

special moments those experiences that memories are made of

overrated places or experiences not worth your time or money

insider tips great ways to save time and money

great values where to get the best deals

warning travelers advisories are usually in effect

The following abbreviations are used for credit cards:
AE American Express
DISC Discover
V Visa
DC Diners Club
MC MasterCard

Travel Resources at Frommers.com

Frommers travel resources dont end with this guide. Frommers website, www.frommers.com, has travel information on more than 4,000 destinations. We update features regularly, giving you access to the most current trip-planning information and the best airfare, lodging, and car-rental bargains. You can also listen to podcasts, connect with other Frommers.com members through our active-reader forums, share your travel photos, read blogs from guidebook editors and fellow travelers, and much more.

The Best of the Caribbean

The Caribbean dream of days spent lolling on palm-tree-shaded sandy beaches or snorkeling in crystalline waters and of nights spent dining and dancing to steel-band rhythms is real enough. It exists only a few hours by plane from North America on this string of islands.

The best Beaches

Note About Maps

This guide contains dozens of maps of varying sizes and complexity. If you find it hard to read a map on your device, use the zoom function to enlarge. You can also download and/or print out PDFs of all of the maps in this guide. Go to www.frommers.com/go/ebookmaps and click on the title of your guide.

The Caribbean Islands

Good beaches with soul-warming sun, crystal-clear waters, and fragrant sea air can be found on virtually every island of the Caribbean, with the possible exceptions of Saba (which has rocky shores) and Dominica (where the few beaches have dramatically black sands that absorb the hot sun).

Shoal Bay (Anguilla): This luscious stretch of silvery sand helped put Anguilla on the world-tourism map. Snorkelers are drawn to the schools of iridescent fish that dart among the coral gardens offshore. You can take the trail walk from Old Ta to little-known Katouche Beach, which provides perfect snorkeling and is also a prime site for a beach picnic under shade trees. See chapter 2.

Antigua: Legend has it that there is a beach here for every day of the year. Antiguans claim, with justifiable pride, that their two best are Dickenson Bay, in the northwest corner of the island, and Half Moon Bay, which stretches for a white-sandy mile along the eastern coast. Most major hotels open directly onto a good beach, so chances are good yours will be built on or near a strip of sand. See chapter 3.