Latille Falls, St. Lucia

St. Lucia is full of natural beauty, so it’s pretty tough to choose which waterfalls and scenic places to fill your time with when you’re there, seeing as you probably can’t visit them all. I chose Latille Falls as the first place to visit, as it seemed like it might be a bit quieter than the most popular spots. It turned out to be a pretty good choice.

To get to Latille Falls by public transport, you can take the Castries – Vieux Fort bus, and just tell the driver to let you off by Latille Waterfall. They’ll stop on the highway for you by this sign:

Once you get off the bus, you just need to walk down the little road by the sign in the picture, and eventually you’ll reach the falls. The road is fairly long (half an hour walk), so if you hear a car coming, I’d suggest you put out your hand and try and get a ride. I managed to get a ride part of the way there in this cute yellow pick-up truck with a rasta man who worked at a farm along the way:

For most of the walk, it’s peaceful and you’re just passing greenery and farmland:

Eventually, the road will split in two, but thankfully there’s a sign to show you which part of the fork to take:

A few minutes after the fork, you’ll reach the big gate which is the entrance to the waterfall area. Follow the little painted sign that says ‘reception’ and you’ll come to a hut where the owner and his dogs are:

When I arrived, he wasn’t actually in there, but he appeared from out the back somewhere and was very surprised to see me. He asked who I came with, and I said “no one”, and he told me I’m a “real soldier” (lol) for making the journey by myself. He explained that there’s no one there, and usually he knows in advance when people are coming because they come in tour groups who call him beforehand basically.

He went on to let me know that he actually had to go into town to get a part for his car, and he had chosen to go today because he didn’t think anyone was coming to the falls, so he was going to just lock up the gates for the day. He told me it was fine for me to stay and have the whole place to myself as long as I was happy to “hold the fort”.

I thought this was very trusting of him, considering he had just met me, but I figured he’s also a person who goes off people’s vibes and decides whether to trust them or not a few minutes after meeting them.

He informed me that his friend would be coming in a few hours to man the reception in case anyone else came to visit, so I would only have to hold the fort until then, but he’d lock the gate, so I could just enjoy the falls and I didn’t really have to do anything.

I tried to give him 20EC (approximately £7), which is the usual entrance fee, but he wouldn’t take it from me.

I decided to wander around and chill until his friend came. It’s a really good place to relax with a book and food/drink etc., as there are lots of sheltered areas and hammocks etc:

There’s even a ‘fish pedicure’ pond where you can sit and let the fish nibble at your feet:

The gardens are very well kept, and you can tell he puts a lot of effort into keeping the place as pretty as it is:

Once the owner’s friend arrived, I went down to the falls (there’s nowhere to change down there, so it’s best to change in the toilets up by the reception). There are a surprising amount of stairs leading down to the falls, but the owner has made a good effort with these too:

The water was not very clear on the day I went, as it had been raining the day before, but as you can see, the pool is pretty big, and there’s a very jungle-ish feel to it:

The water was freezing (as expected), but it’s easy to climb/sit on the rocks where the water falls down, which is quite relaxing.

A group of English tourists appeared after about an hour, and one of them took a picture of me after I had already finished posing (#SoloTravelProblems), so this is my only evidence of being under the water:

Once I was back up the top, the owner’s friend told me has some farmland around the corner that I was welcome to check out, and that I could also eat some starfruit from the tree if I could find it:

I chilled in the hammock for quite a while, and I only really went home when I did because I didn’t want to be waiting for buses after dark. There are asome places that just have a special vibe, and I would say this is one of them. I definitely think that visiting Latille Falls is pretty worthwhile, as your entrance money contributes to the livelihood of a local man (I’m annoyed that I can’t remember his name!), and the setting is so lovely that you could spend the whole day there.