The third and final section of our St Vincent and the Grenadines holiday was spent back on St Vincent, the largest island of this small independent Caribbean country.
Having taken the Bequia Express ferry from Bequia we based ourselves for 4 nights in a hotel on the south coast of St Vincent (‘Vincy’) in a location called ‘Villa’.
A 15 minute taxi ride from the capital Kingstown, we found Villa to be a busy place with a string of small hotels, bars and restaurants lining the seafront.
We looked at options to hire a car to explore more of St Vincent but this involved taking a taxi to the police station in Kingstown to obtain a temporary driving licence, then returning and sorting the car.
In addition, on this mountainous volcanic island the roads are narrow and some of the local drivers are kamikaze maniacs…
We looked at ‘things to do’ and having already done one of the best hikes on St Vincent, been fortunate to have visited similar forts, waterfalls and botanical gardens on other Caribbean islands we decided this wasn’t worth the bother and instead we would relax and have a quiet last few days.
We briefly considered another option of trekking to the summit of La Soufriere, an elevation of 1233 metres. Volcano La Soufriere is the highest point on St Vincent and last erupted in April 1979. You need to start at 6 am as the peak is usually shrouded in mist and cloud. But this wasn’t on our agenda this time!
Nope! After careful consideration we spent the last 4 days being on holiday! Rather than stressing in a car with a carefully curated St Vincent bucket list we spent this time drinking more cocktails, eating more food and to our delight discovered a wonderful option for relaxing in a nearby luxury resort.
Perched on top of a hill overlooking Kingstown is Fort Charlotte, named after the wife of King George III in 1806. We didn’t visit the fort, this is a photo taken from the Bequia ferry.
A wooden boardwalk stretched from our hotel along the coast to Villa Beach and finished at the Beachcombers Hotel.
Directly in front of our hotel our sunset view was blocked by a small island called ‘Young Island’. This was not a problem as clutching a beer each, we could walk a short distance along the boardwalk and watch the sun setting on the horizon between the sky and the sea.
And… across this short stretch of sea Young Island beckoned…
With 300 years of history the 13 acre island was named after Sir William Young, the British governor of the time.
Young Island is home to a private resort and you can only enter if you are a guest, and happily this included lunch guests!
All we had to do was make a lunch reservation. We did this and took the small complementary dedicated ferry at 11.00.
We began in the spacious airy bar with a cocktail… of course… and with a generous measure of rum and perfect texture this was the best Pina Colada of the entire trip!
We had a couple of hours before lunch and we were able to swim and snorkel in the amazingly clear, warm and inviting sea.
As a tiny island our things were safe in a shady spot on a couple of loungers at the end the beach so we could both swim at the same time rather than taking turns to watch the bags.
There wasn’t a strict time for lunch so at about 13.00 we got dried off and changed and were shown to a table.
All of the tables were set up outside under little thatched huts!
We were offered a choice from 5 different warm breads which are freshly baked each day. We each had a slice of coconut bread.
We both had spinach and pumpkin soup for a starter which was excellent. For main we both had tuna with rice mixed with black beans and sauted vegetables together with a delightful sauce. And it was superb! All served piping hot and all cooked to perfection, the best meal of the holiday.
The Young Island resort which consists of the bar, restaurant, rooms and a spa all face the main island of St Vincent. As a visitor you can’t walk any further round or venture to the back of the island.
The food, drinks, service, staff, sea and beach were fantastic and we had a wonderful time over there.
You can get a Young Island day pass for 203 USD which includes the full use of a room, the swimming pool and lunch.
However we just paid for the lunch and for the 2 cocktails, 2 Chardonneys, 2 starters and 2 mains with no extra payment for all of that excellent service and access to the beach and the water taxi, the total bill came to just 87 USD (£63) for both of us!
Young Island is blocking the sunset 😂
Just in front of Young Island is Fort Duvernette which was a short and easy boat ride away. Fort Duvernette is perched atop this small volcanic rock island and is reached by a series of steps.
We visited Fort Duvernette the following day and were advised to look out and ask around for Sparrow, a man with a boat! A local who provides a boat taxi service taking you where you want to go.
As suggested by Harry, another (British) local we walked for a couple of minutes along the boardwalk and called into the circular Captain Lano’s bar. They confirmed Sparrow was around that morning and to look for ‘the guy with the red bandana’.
We located Sparrow and after confirming the price of 20 USD for both of us as a round trip, within a couple of minutes we left from the jetty and were on our way!
Sparrow’s speed boat took us past Young Island and got us to Fort Duvernette islet in under 5 minutes and after dropping us off we arranged he would come back in half an hour to collect us.
There was 4 other people visiting the fort including a couple who had come over on clear see-through kayaks enabling them to see the rocks and the reef beneath the surface of the sea.
We looked into ‘crystal clear kayaking’ for the last day but it wasn’t available.
As we began climbing the 255 steps, incredible views of south of Young Island and the main south coast of St Vincent opened up.
The concrete steps were easy to climb although slightly weathered and worn in places. Well… most of it really…
At the top we found historic canons which would have protected the port around 200 years ago when the fort was built.
We also had views across to Bequia. Bequia can be seen in this photo to the right between the branches of this Fort Duvernette top tree.
We climbed back down the steps and thankfully Sparrow arrived after about 35 minutes and took us back to the jetty.
This was a great little trip and well worth doing for the amazing views.
Breakfasts
A few minutes walk from our hotel was a cute little coffee shop serving great coffee and delicious granola bars! As breakfast wasn’t included in our room rate, for the first couple of days this became our favourite spot to start the day.
Until we discovered breakfast at Ada’s, a restaurant based at the Beachcombers hotel. Located at Villa Beach this boutique hotel has a picturesque pool overlooking the sea and a large adjoining open air bar.
The staff in there are super, so friendly and welcoming of outside guests.
We both had a ‘Vincy’ breakfast a tradition from SVG. This consisted of Saltfish and Bakes an authentic island dish. Saltfish is dried and salted cod which is cooked with tomatoes, onions and pepper and served hot.
Bakes are delicious, deep fried soft and fluffy golden dough balls which tasted like doughnuts.
Also included was plantain, delicious fresh mango and a piece of banana bread. A lovely start to the day.
Accommodation
This time we stayed in the Mariners hotel which is described by AI as ‘a charming colonial style boutique hotel’. We would say it was a modest 3* however it met our needs perfectly and we would stay there again.
At the water’s edge it was lovely to hear the waves from our balcony or when eating at the on-site restaurant.
The staff were wonderful, so friendly, helpful and courteous. It was they who suggested lunch at Young Island Resort and kindly booked it for us.
The food was good too. The French Verandah restaurant is located here and the food was freshly cooked. Made with ‘proper’ fresh (not frozen) vegetables, vegetable roti’s here were even better than those last week in the Spring Hotel in Bequia.
Upon arrival we were greeted with the best complementary rum punch!
Finally we only had to walk for a few minutes along the boardwalk to enjoy spectacular sunsets.
Dining
One night we had dinner in Palki, an Indian restaurant located across the road from our hotel.
The food was really tasty and the portions were huge – one vegetable biriyani would have been enough for both of us! I would recommend a meal there.
After having such a delicious breakfast, for our last evening we walked down the boardwalk and the beach and dined in Ada Restaurant at the Beachcomber Hotel. This was after watching another lovely sunset.
In Ada’s we shared hummus for the starter and had a tasty gnocchi with fresh pesto and walnuts for the main.
Our flight wasn’t due to leave until 19.15 so for our last day we decided to have a final lunch back on Young Island. And for a different experience it rained for most of the time we were there! Not so sunny Caribbean sea!
As before the lunch was amazing with one final cocktail, more of the freshly baked bread, a black eyed pea soup and another fabulous King fish and mash main.
Summary
The wow factor of this final part of the trip was the fabulous Young Island Resort with its amazing beach, incredibly clear turquoise sea, excellent food and wonderful staff. And, as mentioned, it was great value for money.
Budget
For 2026 the travel purse strings are still under a grip although have loosened a little since 2025 🙂
Overall we found SVG to be less expensive than similar trips to St Kitts & Nevis and Antigua. This is partly due to the current exchange rate between GBP and USD being more favourable towards the pound than on previous visits to the Caribbean.
I used up all of my Virgin Atlantic points and so received *free flights (‘free’ flights excludes taxes) so we still had to pay around £300 each, but this helped reduce the overall trip cost.
I estimate we spent around around £1500 less between us than what we spent in expensive St Kitts & Nevis just over 2 years ago.
Sadly our time in the sunny Caribbean has came to an end but we have lots to look forward to throughout 2026 🙂
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