A holiday in St Lucia doesn't have to be spent on or around a beach, so the recent addition of the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is well worth taking a look at. It has 20 rooms so it is small enough to call itself a boutique hotel, and it certainly sets out to be an exclusive hotel. Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort sits on a hillside above the historic English Harbour, as well as being well situated insofar as restaurants, bars, shops and boutiques, and absolutely unbelievable yachts at anchor, are concerned.
The Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort consists of 30 executive suites studio residences. They consist of 12 sea view studio apartments, 12 garden view studio apartments, and six one bedroom suites situated in a total of six buildings. It is also a 19 room hotel, and the rooms are extremely well equipped with all modern comforts including wireless broadband internet access for those addicts who can't be torn away completely from Internet Explorer!! It can mind you be difficult to tear yourself away the dramatic views of the harbour from the suites.
You will find a health spa, a turkish steam bath, and there is a fully equipped fitness centre in this brand new hotel which was built as recently as 2006, which is so new it still smells slightly of paint.
The Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is the perfect place for the independent traveller, who wants to see more of Antigua that the inside and outside of a glitzy five star beachfront mausoleum. The kind of people who take this kind of holiday in Antigua will probably have an interest in sailing, and will almost certainly hire a car.
The hotel hosts the famous Antigua Sailing week, but it has a certain buzz to it all the time, with the arrival and departure of people staying for a couple of days before venturing back to sea in their yachts and gin palaces.
If a holiday in St Lucia means being able to chill out in high comfort then you are in the right place. Also if you enjoy a fragrant tropical garden, knowing a five minute taxi ride takes you to famous Pigeon Beach, and the equally famous rum punches at the Bumpkin Beach bar.
One of the really atmospheric parts of staying at the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort comes after dark, when somehow the yachts come alive, some people can be heard partying on the water, whilst others swell the crowds in the restaurants and bars, thus creating a totally different feel to the whole marina area, and the hotel as well.
Previous guests have all been very impressed with the very comfortable rooms, and the staff, and the feeling that although the Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort is close to the action it is nevertheless somehow off the beaten path. The staff are very helpful if you ask them about best places to eat, and hang out in the evenings. They seem to have the delightful attitude of wanting to get for you whatever you need, and that kind of makes Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort even more special for a slightly different holiday in St Lucia.
A holiday in St Lucia is what you really want, but you have a very tight budget, so where do you choose to go, where you will be well looked after? This is a dilemma faced by many families and couples every year, but perhaps more in 2008 than at any time for the past few years.
One good answer may well be The Ginger Lily Hotel in Rodney Bay. It has been described as a budget hotel which is grossly unfair, it would be a much better description to say it is an inexpensive boutique St Lucia hotel, where you could definitely enjoy an affordable vacation.
The Ginger Lily Hotel has only eleven rooms, and is but 100 metres from one of St Lucia's best beaches, which is Reduit Beach, being right at the heart of Rodney Bay Village. To give you an idea of how highly thought of The Ginger Lily Hotel has become, it has just been named as one of Fodor's recommended Small Inns in St Lucia, plus winning the Virgin Holiday Small Hotel Silver Award.
Eleven Rooms means personal service, and this you will get in abundance, whether you are staying in a Superior Deluxe Room, and Upper Deluxe Room, or an Executive Suite which has a full kitchen as well as a separate Bedroom and Living Area., with prices going from USD100 ? USD 160 per night. The rooms were described by a major English newspaper as being surprisingly stylish and vast, with hammocks on their balconies. They have huge bathrooms with large walk in showers, and lovely soft fluffy towels, which isn't what you expect travelling on an affordable budget holiday. In addition the white cotton sheets are changed every day, definitely an upmarket sign in a small inexpensive hotel.
It has been described varyingly as a budget hotel, but in almost the next breath as a small boutique Inn, which is far closer to the truth.
Another outstanding feature is the feeling that when you come in from the hustle and bustle of Rodney Bay Village into the hotel courtyard and grounds it is like an oasis of calm, almost a hidden enclave that everyone else has somehow missed. At the centre of the courtyard is a very nice small pool, which never seems to get busy at all, where you can just lie and enjoy the tropical plants, flowers, trees, and the birds twittering away all day.
Whether you have spent a fortune on your holiday in St Lucia or as in the case of The Ginger Lily Hotel you have chosen a small inn at a budget price you need to enjoy the food in the restaurant. This may well be the Achilles heel of this inexpensive hotel. There are very few written or verbal remarks about the food, except to say that only lunch and breakfast were catered for, and because of the proximity of the hotel to local restaurants it appears that many guests choose to eat out. This in itself isn't a problem at all it is just something that you should be aware of.
To summarise The Ginger Lily Hotel will give you a jolly good holiday in St Lucia providing you want to get out and about. It has some of the characteristics of a quality boutique hotel, and is a veritable hideaway as soon as come into the courtyard. The quality of the staff belies the fact that is is a budget inexpensive hotel. If you seek an affordable vacation on St Lucia the overall recommendation is that it is worth further investigation.
Both Gareth Jones & Kelly J Wilson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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