Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Most Luxe Hotel & Travel Buyout Deals

The following article was featured on the Forbes website on December 2nd, 2020. The link at the end of this post directs to the original article.

With people itching to travel but craving added privacy with the travels they are able to book, the travel industry is offering some incredibly luxe options for those who want to splurge on their future trip. It’s more than an extravagant hotel room with impeccable design; instead, it is the true height of luxury with private planes, personal butlers, or exclusive use of a yacht. Here are 10 options that will have you looking forward to when travel resumes.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa

Guests who visit this adults-only St. Lucia hideaway will love everything about it—the breathtaking views, the fresh food, and the privacy. The hardest choice guests will make there is whether they’d like to sunbathe by the pool or take a dip in the crystal clear waters. Guests can book the entire 26-room resort with their Carefree All Inclusive package. Pricing starts at $20,299 in summer and $26,053 in the winter.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa: an Oasis of Tranquility on the Island of St. Lucia

The following article was featured on the Journal de Montreal website on February 1st, 2020. The article has been translated from French into English. The link at the end of this post directs to the original article.

In Bonaire Bay, on the northwestern part of the island, between Rodney Bay and Castries, this romantic boutique hotel is perfect for lovers of design, nature and refinement.

No queues for loungers on the beach here, no buffet, noisy echoes from pool bars, or aqua aerobics that resonate in your eardrum. This all-inclusive boutique hotel is one of the most refined hotels in Saint Lucia. Recognized for its steep coastline which shelters small beaches in its coves, its luxuriant vegetation, its splendid sunsets, this pearl of the Lesser Antilles is an ideal destination for honeymoons and Calabash Cove, reserved for adults, is the place to be.

Nestled on the hillside, at the end of a winding dirt road, you are immediately dazzled on arrival by a contemporary design lobby with a spectacular view of the sea, the hotel’s airy bar and restaurant on the second level, then the infinity pool below.

From level to level, through paved paths and alleys of tropical greenery, we descend a slightly steep terrain which leads us to the quiet beach of Mosaic Beach. Wooden lounge chairs and palapas, kayaks, snorkeling equipment and a nice pontoon await vacationers.

Situated in a secluded location away from everything, guests of this hotel spend most of their time on the property.

Mahogany chairs, day beds with large blue cushions are distributed on different levels around the infinity pool, which, it must be said, is splendid. The perfect place for lounging. Drinks and small snacks (healthy salads, crab cakes, grilled shrimp or squid, fish & chips, old-fashioned beef burger, etc.) are offered at the pool bar.

The hotel also has many nooks and crannies for seclusion. The room called Whispers, inside, is a space for meditation with large bay windows on the sea, comfortable sofas, books and magazines. We are lulled by soothing ambient music. The clientele is mainly composed of couples. The overall atmosphere is most relaxing.

The suites and the cottages

The 26 rooms are divided into three categories. Each has modern, bright decor with white walls, dark wood furniture, and tiled floors. Decorative cushions, curtains and burnt orange bedding add beautiful touches of color to this sobriety.

For even more luxury and privacy, small cottages made of mahogany wood, stone and other natural materials have two separate rooms, including a living room and bedroom, and a bathroom with an outdoor rain shower. The ultimate! Each cottage has its private porch with sea view, jacuzzi, hammocks and lounge chairs.

Dining

The hotel restaurant, Windsong, offers panoramic views of the sea and the lights of the city of Castries in the evening. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served with an à la carte menu of Asian and international inspiration, and dishes cooked with fresh, local ingredients.

The specialties of the Lesser Antilles are of course in the spotlight: root vegetables and cassava, callaloo leaf soup, tuna steaks or other fresh fish in Creole sauce and the typical breakfast of islanders consisting of “bakes” (small breads), salted fish salad, green banana, avocados and fried plantains. The restaurant menu can also be ordered through room service.

A Tropical Paradise

With more than 1,300 species of plants and wild flowers, Saint Lucia is known for its lush, still wild vegetation and spectacular flora: exotic flowers, succulents, bougainvillea, hibiscus, frangipani and fruit trees (passion fruit, walnuts, coconut). The hotel gardens are flamboyant and attract a beautiful variety of birds whose songs mingle with the natural sounds of the island. Luxury, calm and pleasure: a little paradise!

On Property

26 rooms, including 11 in the main building, 11 in independent buildings and 4 swim-up pools
9 cottages
An infinity pool
A restaurant with storeroom and two bars
A library and a reading room
A gym
A spa
Wedding and honeymoon packages

Things To Do Nearby

The nearest shopping centers and restaurants are in Rodney Bay, 3 km by car, and Castries, the capital, is 5 km away. It’s imperative to go there on Saturday morning for the market.

Pigeon Island National Park, 10 km from which you can see Martinique, also offers the opportunity for a beautiful hike while discovering a piece of history, taking advantage of its beautiful white sand beach.

The more athletic can enjoy a private excursion: the ascent of Mount Gimie, the highest peak in Saint Lucia, at 3,117 feet. Of volcanic origin, it is covered with a tropical rain forest. The tour lasts all day with around five to six hours of hiking in steep terrain.

Things To Know

1 hour and 15 minutes from Hewanorra International Airport.

Most of the island’s attractions, including the Pitons of Saint Lucia and the town of Soufriere, are a 90-minute drive away. The capital (Castries) and Rodney Bay are 10 minutes away.

Such luxury has a price! This hotel is offered by Air Canada Vacations, with a daily departure and a stopover in Toronto. The package for one person is from $ 3,790.

Pros

The place is idyllic, the food varied and excellent. Every detail of the installations is studied and the service is very personalized.

Cons

You can’t go anywhere on foot. You have to take taxis or rental cars.

Read the full article (in French) here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

Romance Around the World on Valentine’s Day – Millennium

The following article was featured on the Millennium website on January 21st, 2020.

Still trying to come up with plans for your significant other this Valentine’s Day that’s not like those in years’ past? Well, if you’re one who has trouble thinking out of the box, yet still want to totally wow your Bae, consider leaving plans for Sweetheart’s Day to Naya Traveler’s experts.

Naya Traveler can craft unique experiences far beyond the well-trodden romance resort path. Discover Naya Traveler’s “Roam”-ance Journeys, a different and refreshing take on couples’ travel to unchartered destinations including Cambodia, Myanmar, Kashmir and Ladakh, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and more. Each curated trip is fully tailor-made. Here are a few favorites selected by Millennium Magazine:

Better than a Box of Chocolates: Calabash Cove Resort and Spa

One of the most popular all-inclusive, adults-only boutique hotels in Saint Lucia, Calabash Cove Resort and Spa offers seclusion, beauty, and mesmerizing views. With old Caribbean charm, 26 villas are accompanied by the Windsong restaurant, lively C-Bar, and the peaceful Ti Spa. Ti Spa offers special Valentine’s spa packages – with treatments including the Chocolate Decadence Body Polish ($100USD pp), with a chocolate full body scrub; a Couples Moonlight Escape ($300USD), combining a hot stone and Swedish Massage, a chocolate peppermint foot scrub and champagne and chocolates under the moonlight; and the Couples Massage Lessons ($100USD), where lovebirds learn how to pamper each other with techniques to help reduce tension and stress. The all-inclusive concept includes a Valentine’s Day dinner, with highlights including a grilled half spiny lobster, five-spiced foie gras with papaya chutney, and escovitched shark with sweet potato chips and edible moringa flowers.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

Romantic Valentine’s Day Travel Getaways – Recommend

The following article was featured on the Recommend website on January 16th, 2020.

Hotels and resorts across the globe have created special, romantic experiences to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and in some cases, the entire month of February. Here are a few travel getaways that might appeal to your clients.

Calabash Cove Resort and Spa

A popular all-inclusive, adults-only boutique hotel in Saint Lucia is Calabash Cove Resort and Spa. With old Caribbean charm, 26 villas are accompanied by the Windsong restaurant, lively C-Bar, and the peaceful Ti Spa. Special Valentine’s spa packages include the Chocolate Decadence Body Polish ($100 pp), with a chocolate full body scrub; a Couples Moonlight Escape ($300), combining a hot stone and Swedish massage, a chocolate peppermint foot scrub and champagne and chocolates under the moonlight; and the Couples Massage Lessons ($100). The all-inclusive concept includes a special Valentine’s Day dinner.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

Romantic Travel Experiences Around the World – Culinary Travel Guide

The following article was featured on the Culinary Travel Guide website on January 13th, 2020.

Forget the boxed chocolates and flowers! Celebrate your love on Valentine’s Day with one of these dreamy romantic travel experiences far beyond the well-trodden tourist path.

One of the best ways to grow your love is to share new experiences together. When you travel and try something new, all your senses are heightened. Just by feasting your eyes on fresh sights, tasting new foods, and inhaling exotic aromas, you add to the sensual pleasures of the day.

Being somewhere unfamiliar has a way of making you feel more alive. So does taking time to delight over small pleasures. And when you travel with someone you love, you’ll create shared memories to last a lifetime.

Celebrate your love on February 14 and throughout the year with these globetrotting romantic travel experiences.

Better than a Box of Chocolates: Calabash Cove Resort and Spa

One of the most popular all-inclusive, adults-only boutique hotels in Saint Lucia, Calabash Cove Resort and Spa offers seclusion, beauty, and mesmerizing views. With old Caribbean charm, 26 villas are accompanied by the Windsong restaurant, lively C-Bar, and the peaceful Ti Spa.

Ti Spa offers special Valentine’s spa packages – with treatments including the Chocolate Decadence Body Polish ($100USD pp), with a chocolate full body scrub; a Couples Moonlight Escape ($300USD), combining a hot stone and Swedish Massage, a chocolate peppermint foot scrub, and champagne and chocolates under the moonlight. Don’t miss the Couples Massage Lessons ($100USD), where lovebirds learn how to pamper each other with techniques to help reduce tension and stress.

The all-inclusive concept includes Valentine’s Day dinner with highlights including a grilled half spiny lobster, five-spiced foie gras with papaya chutney, and escovitch shark with sweet potato chips and edible moringa flowers.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

16 Gorgeous Swim-Up Rooms You’ll Totally Fall in Love With

The following article was featured on the Oyster website on September 26th, 2019.

If you love lazing away your vacation days in the hotel pool, you can’t do much better than staying in a swim-up room. What makes them so popular? For starters, you don’t have to trek across the resort grounds to cool off and unwind. They also give you way more space to splash around than a plunge pool, and there’s something inimitable about stepping right from your room into the water. While swim-up suites are especially popular with families, you’ll find plenty of adults-only resorts around the world that offer elegant swim-up rooms as well. From Mexico and Jamaica to Bali and Phuket, we’ve rounded up our favorite swim-up rooms to help you plan your next vacation in style.

#10. Calabash Cove Resort and Spa — St. Lucia

There aren’t too many resorts with swim-up rooms in the Caribbean’s smaller islands, but the Calabash Cove Resort and Spa in St. Lucia is an excellent exception. This 26-room boutique resort is most notable for its gorgeous sea views, which can be had from just about anywhere on the property. That includes the Swim-Up Junior Suites, where guests not only dip right into the pool from their shady terrace, but can also gaze at the beautiful Caribbean Sea while they unwind in the water. Rooms are attractive, if not the most contemporary on the list, though rates are quite reasonable for notoriously expensive St. Lucia.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

This St. Lucia Hideaway Will Fulfill Your Caribbean Getaway Dreams – Forbes

The following article was featured on the Forbes website on September 20th, 2019.

Calabash Cove Resort and Spa strikes the perfect balance for those who want rest, relaxation, and fun on their holiday.

As the driver takes you down the rocky, uneven path, you’ll begin to wonder if there’s been a mistake. This isn’t what it looked like on the website, is it? You selected a beachfront resort with remarkable, unobstructed views of the Caribbean, with an open air restaurant, and with a secluded beach. Surely, that’s not what is waiting at the other end of this small road.

But just wait: you’ll soon pull past a gate with a security guard and witness lush trees with fiery red flowers, sparkling waters, and a warm, smiling face to greet you. It’s everything you would envision for a Caribbean getaway, and then some.

This is Calabash Cove Resort and Spa, situated on the island of St. Lucia. The journey to get there is worth it—an hour’s drive from Hewanorra International Airport and a few minutes on a gravel road lands you in your own little piece of paradise so perfect you may never want to leave.

“We have a lot of people who come here with the idea of doing a lot of excursions,” said Konrad Wagner, Managing Director of Calabash Cove Resort and Spa, “but once they arrive they usually just want to stay here.”

It’s easy to see why. This isn’t the type of resort which offers a jam-packed itinerary of on-site activities; instead, Calabash Cove lets the island itself shine as the star attraction. Something about St. Lucia invigorates the body and soul, and simply dipping into the refreshing, clear waters or sitting in a hammock and listening to the breeze rustle the bushes makes for an ideal schedule of events.

With only 26 rooms, you won’t have to fight over space at the pool or beachfront, either. Even when Calabash Cove is at capacity, it never loses the boutique experience. “People find their own things to do,” explained Konrad, “so it never really feels crowded.”

For a small property nestled onto the hillside, they have just enough to keep you busy and just enough to let you completely unwind. Indulge in an island massage, best experienced outside under one of their gazebos, or lounge in your room with room service. Some guests prefer hopping on one of the stand up paddle boards and exploring out at sea, while others prefer to relax in their private patio’s jacuzzi.

It’s hard to beat the beach at Calabash Cove, though, made even sweeter by the fact you don’t need to wake up with the sun to reserve a chair. All beaches on St. Lucia are open to the public. However, the unpaved road leading to this particular property means most people head elsewhere—which in turn, makes their strip of sand feel like an almost private beach for hotel guests.

And at the end of a day of soaking in the sun, you need only step foot into Windsong Restaurant for a meal. This is the type of restaurant that locals and people from other resorts make a point to visit, envying the lucky ones who have it mere steps from their hotel room. The chef offers a mainstay menu with items like tarragon roasted plantain chicken breast and stuffed baked zucchini, as well as mouthwatering daily specials based on what is fresh. Unlike some places where, after a few days you feel like you’ve tried everything on the menu, here, you’ll have a hard time choosing what to eat each night because it all sounds appetizing.

Sometimes, you don’t need to go and do all of the tourist activities in a destination; instead, you can have them all at your fingertips. You can make grand plans to sail down and see the Pitons, or to do a mud bath in the Sulphur Springs—but part of the joy of a St. Lucia vacation is simply winding down and taking in the beauty of the island. And like many other visitors to Calabash Cove Resort and Spa, you might just decide everything you need is right where you are.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

This Stunningly Private St. Lucia Resort Is Honestly Where Sexy Vacation Goals Peak – Cosmopolitan

The following article was featured on the Cosmopolitan website on August 16th, 2019.

Selfies from your seaside villa will make all your followers jealous.

PEOPLE, amiright?! Always wanting something from you… “Hey, can you give me advice?” “Hey, can you read this e-mail?” “Hey, can you pay your rent?” “Hey, can you wake up? This train is no longer in service…”

Can a girl just BE sometimes? Like, where does she have to go to just sip on her morning espresso at a chill table on the ornate balcony of her own private villa overlooking the soft, rolling waves of the aqua blue Caribbean Sea—completely undisturbed?

Oh. Calabash Cove Resort & Spa in St. Lucia. Ok, cool.

Seriously, this tropical, adults-only oasis perched on the west coast of the West Indies Island in the Caribbean is the perfect destination for anyone looking to take a TO from daily life for a hot second. It was also ranked one of the sexiest hotels in the world by Cosmo itself. With only 26 rooms—eight of which are awesomely large private villas—Calabash Cove and its staff make sure you feel like you’re their only guest at all times. And you know what that means: No judgment when you take ALL the vacay pics!

Whether you arrive solo or with a sister, friend, or lovahhh (like I did), you better like the company you’re keeping—because for the next few days it will just be you guys in this cliffside paradise. (Honeymooners, this is where your search ends, btw.)

The Boyfriend and I had the pleasure of staying at the resort for four blissful days in July (when rates are less expensive than in the busy winter season). Here’s exactly what you gotta do to get the most—and I mean the MOST—out of your trip, St. Lucia’s top attractions included. And come to terms now with the fact that your Instagram page will look laughably bleak in the wake of this sexy, sand-and-sea-heavy adventure.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.

The Best White Sand Beaches in the World – Town & Country

The following article was featured on the Town & Country website on July 2nd, 2019.

From the Maldives to Panama City Beach, there’s something for everyone.

For beach lovers, there is nothing like that soft, grainy white sand. And chances are if you follow the white sand road, you’ll find a tantalizing body of water splashing up against its shores. Here are eight incredible stretches of seashore?from Panama City, Florida to Tahiti to the Bahamas?that won’t disappoint even the most discerning sand chasers. Plus, we’ll tell you where to stay to get the best access to these pristine coastlines.

St. Lucia

While not all the beaches in St. Lucia are for swimming or lounging, the ones that are really rise to the occasion?namely Calabash Cove. The resort is located on the northwest coast of Saint Lucia, conveniently positioned midway between Castries and Rodney Bay. The 26-suite hotel has rooms that are literally on this picture perfect stretch of white sand, giving new meaning to ocean view.

Read the full article here.

Calabash Cove Resort & Spa has no control over posts from external sites, and while each post is vetted prior to sharing, content is subject to adjustment by the original author without notice, and the resort thus makes no assertions as to the accuracy of external content. If you find a broken link, or an article with inaccurate or misleading content, please contact us.