Photo: courtesy of Jade Mountain
Above the Anse Chastanet estate near Soufrière, an architect-owner’s resort of open-walled sanctuaries, most with their own infinity pool, frames the Pitons from bed.
The setting
Saint Lucia’s twin Pitons are among the most recognisable peaks in the Caribbean, and the resort notes their UNESCO World Heritage status. Jade Mountain was designed to look straight at them. It rises above the 600-acre Anse Chastanet beachfront estate near Soufrière, built by architect-owner Nick Troubetzkoy in what the resort calls organic architecture: rough stone columns climbing into the sky, with individual bridges leading to each room.
“And you never have to leave them behind — the open-air bedrooms are missing a wall, so that the mountains and the waters of the Caribbean are the backdrop to just about every scene.”
The estate is a destination in itself. Down the hill, Anse Chastanet’s resort facilities are open to Jade Mountain guests, including two beaches, reef diving, mountain biking and tennis. The estate also takes in the old colonial plantation of Anse Mamin, which began as an 18th-century sugarcane plantation, later grew coconuts and now has cocoa trees that the resort uses to make its own estate chocolate.
The rooms & villas
The resort calls its rooms sanctuaries, and the defining feature is what is missing: in every one, the fourth wall is deliberately absent, opening the whole living space to the view while keeping it private. Ceilings rise to 15 feet, and bedroom, living area and, where there is one, pool flow together. No two layouts are quite the same, and they sit at different heights through the building to make the most of the Pitons and the sea.
Pool sanctuaries come in four categories (Star, Moon, Sun and Galaxy), graded mainly by the size of the room and its infinity pool. The three Galaxy sanctuaries, JC1, JD1 and JE1, sit at the south-west corner with the widest panoramas, averaging around 2,000 square feet with pools of roughly 900 square feet. The five Sky sanctuaries have no pool; instead, each has a large whirlpool bath for two and the same open-air view.
Eat & drink
The resort’s kitchen serves what it calls Jade Cuisine, a tropical style that balances sweet, spicy and aromatic flavours, and meals can be served in the privacy of each sanctuary. Above the Jade Mountain Club, the Celestial Terrace is the spot for sunset cocktails; after dark, the resort suggests staying on to look for shooting stars. The culinary team also stages special-occasion dinners for celebrations.
Food also drives the resort’s calendar. Chef Allen Susser and the culinary team run weekend events built around Saint Lucia’s food heritage, with themes such as Cooking in Paradise, Mango Madness, Spices of the Caribbean and Discover Chocolate. The estate’s own cocoa trees, still numerous across Anse Mamin, supply the resort’s own estate chocolate, which ties in neatly with the chocolate-themed weekends.
Wellness
Kai en Ciel, Creole for “house in heaven”, is Jade Mountain’s own boutique spa, with two air-conditioned treatment rooms plus hair, manicure and pedicure stations. Treatments range from classic body and beauty work to Ayurvedic and holistic therapies, and can also be given in the sanctuary itself. At beach level, Anse Chastanet’s Kai Belté spa, “house of beauty”, adds five more air-conditioned treatment rooms. It sits between the Trou au Diable restaurant and the scuba centre, so a massage fits neatly after a morning dive. Licensed therapists combine ancient and contemporary techniques across both spas.
Beyond the resort
Most excursions head for the country around Soufrière. The daily Volcano, Diamond Falls & Gardens and Emerald Estate tour takes in the drive-in volcano at Sulphur Springs, the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens, the oldest on the island, and the resort’s own Emerald Estate farm. Walkers have two choices inside the World Heritage site: the easy half-mile Tet Paul Nature Trail, with views of both Pitons, or a 6.30am start for Gros Piton, a strenuous three-to-four-hour round trip to 2,619 feet that the resort recommends only for very fit, experienced hikers.
At sea, a 52-foot catamaran goes looking for sperm whales, pilot whales and dolphins, with a hydrophone to listen in, and on Saturdays a water taxi runs north to Castries market and Marigot Bay. The resort says it is the only one in Saint Lucia with its own helipad, which it also uses for 30-minute sightseeing flights over the Pitons and Sulphur Springs.
When to go
Saint Lucia sits close enough to the equator that, in the resort’s words, it has no well-defined seasons; it is warm all year. Afternoon showers are more common from June to November, though the resort notes that a whole day of rain is unusual. Those months are also the Atlantic hurricane season, but Saint Lucia lies south of the storms’ main path, and the resort says only one hurricane has affected the island directly in the past 37 years, in 2010. Whale watchers should aim for December to March, typically the best months for sperm whale bulls. The festive period, from 20 December to 2 January, brings its own rules: rates include a compulsory breakfast-and-dinner plan, and cancellation terms are stricter.
Who it’s for
Jade Mountain is designed for couples: honeymoons, anniversaries and weddings are its stock in trade. It also rewards architecture enthusiasts, who will find few hotels anywhere built so completely around a single view. Divers and mountain bikers can make full use of Anse Chastanet’s facilities below.
Families with younger children should look elsewhere, as should anyone who prefers a fully enclosed room; the open fourth wall is the whole point.
This guide was researched independently from published sources; Cosmopolitan Courier was not compensated.
