The Body Holiday resort is officially an hour and a half from Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) airport, but with traffic it can take two or more hours to get to the resort. Due to geography of the island, almost all the hotels on St. Lucia are on the opposite side of the island from the airport. If your booking package doesn’t include airport transfer, it might be worth booking your own private transport to avoid having to stop at various resorts along to way to drop off other travellers (though, that being said, if you don’t mind the stops, it can be interesting to see what the other resorts look like in comparison). Most taxis are comfortable minivans with air conditioning. If you like seeing scenery through mountains and rainforest with hairpin roads, it’s a fun drive.
We booked an upgraded room in our package, which gave us an ocean front view. It seems that these ocean front rooms only come with an option for one king-sized bed, so our hope of having two queen beds (as just friends travelling together, instead of a couple) was not possible. That being noted, it was an acceptable trade-off having a nicer larger room that was facing the beach.
This oceanfront room had a nice balcony where we could sit and enjoy the waves and view of the beach. The room was very comfortable, with plenty of closet space, and a nice very large bathroom with two sinks, shower stall with rain shower and body jets options, and a separate toilet closet.
The range and quality of activities available far exceeded my expectations. The fitness program here is not made up of your typical resort animation team activities; these are real fitness professionals and the difference in quality of instruction is evident. The wide range of activities run from 7am right through to 5pm and include options such as Tai Chi, several varieties of Yoga, Pilates (beginner to advanced levels, and they also have the Pilates reformer equipment), spinning, various dance classes (Salsa, Caribbean DanceFit, Merengue), beach boot camp, body tone, body stretch, aqua fit, walks, cycling, barre, (the list goes on….) . There are even options to try a golf lesson, sailing lesson, archery, water skiing and more, all included for no extra charge.
The fitness program here is not made up of your typical resort animation team activities
You get a good workout just climbing the stairs up the hill to the spa area, so be sure to leave a few minutes to get there in time for your scheduled spa service.
Though at first glance, the price of a stay at the Body Holiday may seem a bit pricier than other resorts, having a spa service included for every day of the stay really makes for great value when you consider what you are getting. The spa services are absolute top quality. The massage, facial and body scrub that I had were all really excellent (not just an I’m on vacation and this is nice level, but rather an I go to the spa often and am a discerning customer who knows quality and is impressed level of nice). If one included service per day is not enough for you, there are also a wide range of additional spa and Ayurvedic treatments available for an extra charge.
There was plenty of variety of good food, with options that would satisfy a wide range of dietary needs. Meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans, no-sugar, gluten free, juice fasters, and low carb eaters would all find something delicious to eat. The bar will even make you a no-sugar mojito if you want to enjoy a drink but stick to a program! There was a good selection of wines with dinner (decent house wines included, or choose something special from the wine cellar).
As wonderful as the resort is to stay at all day long, I definitely recommend getting off the resort and taking at least one day to explore around the island of St Lucia.
We booked a private taxi tour for the whole day, and is was well worth it. The views of St Lucia are spectacular and booking a private taxi allowed us to take as much or as little time at each stop as we wanted. The volcanic mud baths, views of the Pitons, overlooking the villages in the bays, and a stop in Castries and Rodney Bay for a little shopping make for a great day out and about.
The Body Holiday St. Lucia offers something for those who like to be active as well as those who are serious about relaxation.
Overall this was an exceptional vacation which I highly recommend.
My friend and I visited the Body Holiday in St. Lucia in November of 2019 (note: many of the details of this review were originally posted on TripAdvisor).
