Award Winning Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet Resorts, St Lucia
- Martin Hesp
- Mar 15, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 11
When I visited southern St Lucia in the Caribbean 10 years ago I wrote an article which claimed that one of the hotels was the sort of place James Bond would choose for his holidays. I mentioned this to the hotel’s owner over lunch at the time and she and her husband invited me to return for a more in-depth visit. Now I have.
It has taken me just over a decade, but my 007 thoughts about the place haven’t changed a jot.
In fact, now that I’ve stayed at the twin resorts of Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain for the best part of a week, I am convinced that the luxury-loving Bond would fit the place with every bit as much aplomb as a steel fist in a silken glove.
It has everything a movie director working on a Bond production would require: unbelievably dramatic scenery of the kind you could leap off in a microlite if the need was pressing; huge multi-coloured fish-filled reefs in the clear Caribbean waters through which a hero could swim silently and secretly; a massive private estate in the rain-forest that surrounds the two hotels…
Hotels which are so remarkable you know they must have been designed by someone special. In fact, Jade Mountain is regularly named as one of the world’s most beautiful hotels - and often labelled as the top resort in the Caribbean. It is built on a steep slope above a picture-perfect bay and its rooms - or sanctuaries as they are known - have been designed to get the very best out of the stunning view of the iconic twin Piton rock stacks which make up what must be the best known landscape in the tropics.
At a Glance
Jade Mountain Resort & Anse Chastanet Resort
The Vibe
Avant-garde architectural drama, ultimate privacy, and quiet opulence.
Laid-back beachside luxury, vibrant Caribbean art, and jungle immersion.
Accommodation
24 massive "Sanctuaries" completely open to the elements with no fourth wall.
Classic estate rooms, breezy hillside gazebos, and beachfront suites.
Private Pools
Striking, individually designed glass-tiled infinity pools.
Focused on beach access and dual calm-water bays.
Best For
Honeymooners, design lovers, and complete romantic seclusion.
Active travellers, scuba divers, nature lovers, and families (ages 15+).
Recent Glory
Nominated for Saint Lucia's Leading Luxury Resort (World Travel Awards).
Named an official Recommended Resort in the Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards.
Architectural Drama: The Vision of Nick Troubetzkoy
How do you get the best out of a view? Simple. You do not clutter it with something dark and inconvenient like a wall. None of the sanctuaries at Jade Mountain have a fourth wall - instead there is just an infinity pool, fresh air, and panorama.
And the place was designed by someone special. The architect behind the concept was Jade Mountain’s owner, a Russian-Canadian architect called Nick Troubetzkoy. Back in the early 1970s he arrived in Saint Lucia to work with a group of architects designing vacation villas and, what was meant to be a brief stint in paradise turned into a lifelong passion for the island and its people.
The two hotels in the valley near the town of Soufrière in southern St Lucia now employ no fewer than 550 people and Nick and Karolin Troubetzkoy have a name for being two of the most forward thinking, eco-friendly hoteliers in the Caribbean region. Indeed, Karolin is now president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.
I mention it here because, for too many years, the Caribbean has been the kind of place where hoteliers concentrate on piling the tourists (mainly American) in and treating them in the kind of way that you can experience anywhere from Miami to Singapore. Same old suites, same old “international” cuisine… The Troubetzkoys do not do this. Instead they embrace what you could describe as “Caribbeanism”.
Living Without a Fourth Wall: Inside the Sanctuaries
So much so, that the very warm balmy air of the Caribbean comes wafting in through the big beautiful gap where there would normally be a wall. They are developing their estate to grow all the organic produce which is served in their hotels. They are Southern St Lucia’s biggest employer and have a name for looking after their staff with the kind of employee benefits that are sadly not the norm in the region. And so on…
All of which I mention in a bid to explain that Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain are not run of the mill resorts. And I’m talking about anywhere, let alone the Caribbean. They are truly, remarkably, stunning. They are expensive, but a stay there is something that a visitor will never forget.
To swim in your own infinity pool to the edge of your own massive sanctuary apartment and peer out over The Pitons is to have your very own James Bond moment. Then you can lean across to the little phone they give you and call your very own butler who will bring you a robe so that you can cross the sanctuary for a rest in a giant four poster bed…
As I say, none of this comes cheap at Jade Mountain. But there are people from my region who can afford it (I know that because I met one in St Lucia) and there’s also that “holiday of a lifetime” ambition for the rest of us.
Far more affordable is a stay at Anse Chastanet just below Jade Mountain and therefore closer to the wonderful cove I mentioned. You won’t get a sanctuary with an infinity pool, but you will get one of the small and charming villas which Mr Troubetzkoy designed after he bought the estate and before he went on to create his Jade Mountain masterpiece.
Indeed, my wife and I were just as happy at Anse Chastanet as we were high above in the butler-serviced home of the gods.
Maybe that was because we love St Lucia. It is one of my favourite islands in the world and is certainly the pick of the bunch for me in the Caribbean, not least because there are almost daily flights there from London with airlines like as Virgin Atlantic.
The south of the island is mountainous, which is what allows for all those wondrous rainforests - the likes of which you do not see on many Caribbean isles. And the area around Soufrière is particularly scenic - partly because of those amazing Pitons, partly because of the great green backdrop which descends to the cove studded coast and partly because…
Well, the area just seems to me to be more Caribbean than anywhere else I know. When I was a child, dreaming of going to such tropical places, this is what I imagined it would be like. And like a lot of boys, a great many of my dreams were inspired by those James Bond movies. Dreams that seem even better having spent time in the place where I reckon 007 would spend his holidays.
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TRAVEL FACT FILE: ST. LUCIA
Where to Stay
Anse Chastanet: Nightly room-only rates start from approximately £435 ($550 USD) per room per night, based on double occupancy. To book, check availability, or view early-bird inclusive meal plans, visit www.ansechastanet.com.
Jade Mountain: Nightly room-only rates start from approximately £778 ($985 USD) per sanctuary per night, based on double occupancy, during the value summer-autumn shoulder seasons. Rates climb past £1,082 ($1,370 USD) per night during the peak winter months. To book your stay, visit www.jademountain.com.
Note: All nightly rates at both resorts are subject to a 10% service charge, 10% VAT, and the nightly St. Lucia Tourism Authority Accommodation Levy.
Getting There
Flights: Direct flights from London to St. Lucia's Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) are operated regularly by Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Return economy fares start at around £785, fluctuating depending on seasonal demand and early-booking promotions. Visit www.virginatlantic.com to check current schedules.
Island Information
Official Tourism Support: For comprehensive pre-trip planning, entry requirements, local event calendars, and island-wide guide services, explore the official destination portal managed by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority at www.stlucia.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet the same resort?
They are adjoining sister properties sharing a spectacular 600-acre tropical estate, but they offer completely different luxury concepts. Anse Chastanet is a classic, art-filled beachfront resort nestled into the lush shoreline. Jade Mountain is an exclusive architectural marvel built high on the ridgeline directly above it.
Can guests at Anse Chastanet use Jade Mountain’s facilities?
While Jade Mountain guests enjoy seamless, privileged access to all of Anse Chastanet's beaches, restaurants, scuba facilities, and bars, Jade Mountain itself—including its infinity pool concierge levels and the Jade Mountain Club—remains exclusively reserved for Jade Mountain residents to protect its signature privacy.
Why do the rooms at Jade Mountain only have three walls?
Architect Nick Troubetzkoy intentionally omitted the fourth wall in the creation of the Jade Mountain Sanctuaries. This open-concept design eliminates any barrier between the guest and the environment, providing unobstructed views of the UNESCO World Heritage Pitons and allowing natural cooling ocean breezes to flow freely through the space.
What is the dining concept at Jade Mountain?
The resort champions an estate-to-plate philosophy, headlined by "Jade Cuisine" created by James Beard Award-winning Chef Allen Susser. Much of the produce, alongside specialised hand-crafted single-estate chocolate, is sourced directly from the resort's own organic Emerald Estate Farm. Anse Chastanet also offers diverse dining, including Emerald's, an acclaimed, wholly vegan tapas restaurant.
