With the wellness market and wellness retreats booming and expected to reach $1.4 trillion in 2025, demand for new ways to improve our health and wellness has never been stronger. This is nothing new for the Barnard family, who founded BodyHoliday Saint Lucia, the inclusive wellness resort situated on the pristine white sands of northwestern tip of the island in the late 1980s and pioneered the concept of mind and body wellness before it became trendy.
Since then, BodyHoliday Saint Lucia has evolved, continuously and guests can’t get enough: the resort boasts one of the highest repeat guest rates of any wellness resort worldwide. As a first-time visitor, I soon found out I was in the minority. Most guests were returners, and many boasting they were in double digits in terms of visits.
I was curious: what keeps them coming back? “You don’t need to be super fit or health-conscious – the resort’s relaxed Caribbean style welcomes all,” said a 50-year-old woman from Dublin woman on her eighth visit. Another guest, on her second visit this year, added, “You choose your own version of wellness. Scale it up or down – it’s your holiday, and it’s all about you. There’s no guilt, no judgement – just feel-good activities available all day long, topped off with a free daily treatment, and incredible food and drink. Where else can you get that in the world?”
The resort attracts a diverse mix of guests – from groups of friends and couples to families (with children aged 12+), and the active retired. Many hail from UK, Ireland and the US. It is also popular with solo travellers – there’s no single-occupancy surcharges plus there are a range of social events, communal dining options and group activities, ensuring it is easy to get to know fellow guest.
BodyHoliday Saint Lucia : a Hidden Gem in the Caribbean
Located on the northwest coast of Saint Lucia, guests arrive at the BodyHoliday via an unassuming road framed by sloping tropical gardens that conceal the resort and lead onto its impressive beachfront setting with spectacular sea views and glimpses of neighbouring Martinique.
The resort blends Caribbean charm with contemporary touches, all designed to encourage relaxation, rejuvenation and balance.
Accommodation can be found in a series of low-rise buildings painted in pastel colours, nestled within manicured gardens or on the resort’s crescent-shaped Cariblue Beach. Options range from cosy solo rooms to spacious suites and standalone, luxury villas. All are air-conditioned, have modern comforts, crisp linens, Nespresso coffee machines, mini fridges, bathrooms with rainfall showers and a nightly turndown service. Many rooms include private terraces or balconies, ideal for soaking in the ocean or garden views. To encourage guest to recharge and reset, rooms are free of digital distractions, but WiFi is available in all guest rooms, the library (where this is a TV) and lobby.
Cocktails or green juice – the choice is yours
Cocktails and green juices sit side-by-side at the BodyHoliday. You can be as healthy or as indulgent as you like, and no one will judge.
The resort offers six restaurants and several bars, catering to every mood and palate. For breakfast, you can switch between The Wellness Cafe (highly recommend the pumpkin pancakes and daily immunity shots), and its excellent choice of fresh juices and smoothies, and Cariblue Restaurant which offers an excellent buffet-style breakfast. Both cater to pretty much every dietary requirement and serve lunches including sushi, salads, Bento Boxes and local Caribbean fare.
Dinner at Cariblue includes a rotating international dinner menu which keeps menus interesting.
Signature dining is found at East-West Fusion TAO, a restaurant offering cuisine with influences from both East and West. It is in demand but during our week stay we dined there twice as food was consistently excellent. Another evening, we booked Cariblue Windows which offers refined dining, a wine-paired tasting menu. It was easily one of the dining highlights during our stay. Elsewhere, the Pavilion Grill, specialises in al fresco dining, serving grilled favourites infused with Caribbean flair.
For those who want a special evening, there’s also an organic farm-to-table experience called I-TAL, an intimate 12-person restaurant offering plant-based cuisine inspired by the Rastafarian philosophy of health and vitality (additional supplement of US$75pp for lunch and US$90pp for dinner).
While indulgent options are on the menu, there is ample opportunity to make health-conscious choices which are equally mouth-watering. A daily afternoon tea is served in the Pavillion Grill. Snack on sandwiches, homemade hummus and crudités, or sweet treats paired with freshly brewed teas, tropical mocktails, sundowner cocktails and a choice of wines.
The generous all-inclusive package also includes pre- and post-dinner drinks, featuring a vast selection of spirits, a choice of wines (all decent) and expertly crafted cocktails.
Let’s get physical
Many resorts claim to offer wellness but only scratch the surface with a class or two. BodyHoliday takes it to another level, with an extensive programme of activities led by expert instructors – including training with Olympic athletes.
Its instructors, known as ‘BodyGuards’, are top-notch, as are the choice of activities which take place across the resort. Whether you’re spinning (prepare for a lie-down after!), hiking, doing a 7am beach fit session, or wanting to gentle ease in to exercise with a morning walk or hike, the BodyGuards are there to help you enjoy, exercise correctly, and get the best out of each class or activity.
There’s plenty of opportunity to switch up your normal routine and try new activities or classes such as aerial yoga or paddle board yoga (a brilliant experience thanks to BodyHoliday’s excellent yoga instructor Mya). Water activities including snorkelling and scuba diving, hobie cat sailing, windsurfing, kayaking or waterskiing (or for me it was more like buttock-skiing!). For land-based activities, pickleball, tennis and archery are also on offer, catering to all levels. One thing is certain: boredom is simply not an option at BodyHoliday.
Indulge in Wellness
At the heart of the resort is its award-winning Wellness Centre, perched above the bay with 33 treatment rooms and St Lucia’s only Ayurvedic temple. Each guest gets a 50-minute complimentary spa treatment included every day during a stay (except on arrival and departure days). These include facials, massages, body scrubs and wraps and are carried out by an experienced team of therapists and are pure bliss.
The Wellness Centre is also home to a well-stocked gym, a fitness studio where several of the classes take place from 7am to 7pm daily, a thalassotherapy pool and an outdoor pool to complement the resort’s other two. A Skin Clinic – where many of the products used are made in-house – offers a range of super-charged facials.
Guests have the option to create a personalised programme during a stay focusing on areas including weight loss, fitness or mindfulness. During my stay, I booked a complimentary InBody Test with the onsite doctor to find out how my weight is broken down in terms of fat, muscle, and water. Thankfully it was not too bad, but I was advised to do more weight bearing exercise which I now do to keep visceral fat at bay.
From beans to bars……
While it’s hard to leave the resort, halfway through our stay we decided to hire a guide and driver for the day and explore more of St Lucia. First stop was a visit to the world’s only drive-in volcano, followed by a chance to rejuvenate in the sulphur-rich mud baths. Brilliant fun, and my skin feels amazing afterwards.
Next stop involved spending a few hours learning about the craft and science behind chocolate making at artisan chocolate makers Cacao St. Lucie. It was fascinating and we saw first-hand the process of chocolate-making during a 45-minute workshop which finished with us making a personalised chocolate bar to take home.
The island is also known for its vibrant bar culture, so we decided to finish the day how the locals do – with a few rums! Saint Lucia Tourism Authority has just launched the Kabawe Krawl which allows visitors to book a guided tour (or you can do it yourself) and enjoy visiting bars where the locals drink and trying some of the island’s famous rums. It was a great experience, and we returned to the BodyHoliday with a newfound love of the island and its rums!
Throughout the week, we met lots of new people and each had an interesting story to tell.
One guest, who I met at the 7am Beach Fit class, whispered, “I tell my best friends I’m going on the BodyHoliday, but I just say I’m going to Saint Lucia to my colleagues as it’s my secret happy place.” Another 40-something British woman had just finished a candle-lit yoga class and said BodyHoliday was the perfect retreat post-divorce. Meanwhile, a spritely 72-year-old, who used to come with her daughter and now returns annually on her own, added, “There’s nowhere else in the world quite like it. It’s really something special, isn’t it?”
The week flew by and we left feeling amazing having experienced the most rejuvenating and restorative week and quite pleased with ourselves. We’d discovered the holy grail of wellness, the BodyHoliday is such a gem, just don’t tell everyone about it….
BodyHoliday Saint Lucia Prices
BodyHoliday St Lucia is £565/€676 per night based on a Garden View Twin Room for two guests. Stays are on an all-inclusive basis including a daily spa treatment. Some activities at a supplement. More details here.
Things to Do in Saint Lucia
For more inspiration on what to do in Saint Lucia, visit : Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, or read Mark Bibby Jackson’s Saint Lucia: a Community united in Music.
Flights to Saint Lucia from UK
British Airways flies from London Gatwick to St Lucia from £503 return, including taxes and fees. To book, please visit ba.com/stlucia.
The BodyHoliday Saint Lucia photos provided by BodyHoliday.
