Ladera Resort Hotel

, Soufriere, St. Lucia
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Ladera Resort Hotel

, Soufriere
4 star

Rooms: 25

Box 225 - Soufriere - St. Lucia | 459-7323
527 Traveller

Reviews - Ladera Resort Hotel

Historical Traveller Reviews of Ladera Resort Hotel

The best place in the Caribbean, maybe the world

from t3chi3
My wife and I returned from a 5-day stay at Ladera last week. We stayed at Anse Chastanet (AC) for 5 days prior and I'll be making comparisons here and there. As much as we loved AC I have to say we were floored when we arrived at Ladera because of the higher level or services, beauty of the premises, and my God the room. We were in awe when we arrived into our room and saw the view running down the hillside to the Jalousie Hilton beach below, bounded by the Pitons on each side. The room was breezy and sleeping was cooler and more comfortable than at AC because of cross breezes coming though our deck doors in the back side of the room and blowing out toward the sea. We were also cooler because we didn't need the mosquito netting at Ladera because there really weren't any mosquitoes that I saw. There were lots at them at AC. I read a lot of reviews in the time before our trip and saw where people complained of ice-cold plunge pools. I can say that ours was the perfect temperature and was warmed by the sun perfectly during the day.
It wasn't cold at all and in fact it was lukewarm. This is probably just due to the fact we traveled in the best season.

AC bragged that Ladera people all came there because of the beach. The beach at AC was nice and the diving/snorkeling superb. What we and most other guests in fact did at Ladera was to simply take the hotel shuttle for the 20-minute ride down to the Jalousie Hilton beach. That beach is beautiful, quieter than AC, and with much better beach service than AC.
In face we and the other guest we got to know went down to that beach each and every day of our stay. The snorkeling was good but not near as good as at AC but the beauty of the beach and the view of the Pitons is what makes this the better beach overall. The beach restaurant was very nice also and offered a buffet lunch with barbeque.

We thoroughly enjoyed the bar and restaurant at Ladera and we ate all of our breakfasts and dinners there with the exception of a Friday outing with the executive chef Orlando, more on that in a minute. The view is incredible from both the bar and restaurant. We took to spending a good hour on the sofas at the bar and socializing before heading down to dinner. The food was a unique blend of spices, fruits, and sauces. We really enjoyed all of our meals at Dasheene. The services as also great and we enjoyed getting our wine before being served our meal, something that seemed very hard to get while at AC.

The highlight of our stay was the Friday night outing with Orlando and 15 other guests. The resort transported us down to Soufriere where we all split into 2 motorboats. The boat captains stop and pointed out interesting places along the coastline like a large bat cave and small villages on the seaside while providing Piton beers for us to drink.
Our ultimate destination was Anse La Ray and the weekly fish fry held on the streets. Orlando brought us to different booths and gave us various island seafoods to sample. In the end we all sat down under a tent top for a lobster dinner. After dinner we all went off for a while to shop the gift booths along the street. We met many new friends at Ladera but never as many people as we met that night. We've never gone away anywhere else in the world and met so many people, islanders and other tourists. By the end of the trip I must have had to learn about 50 names.

As a result of the Friday outing some of us because friends with Orlando and we came back for a late night at the bar that night. The next day Orlando invited us to a late morning cooking class at the bar.
I fancy myself a bit of a chef (which made me a target for Orlando) and I thought ok let's see what this guys going to teach me. I figured I'd maybe learn 1 or 2 new things. In fact each and every thing he showed us was new to me and I added some things to my repertoire. Orlando was the best part of an already amazing resort. When we left we were already scheming at way to get back soon. Ladera is the best place we've stayed and we've stayed all over the Caribbean, France, Italy, Monaco, and the best places in both the French and Italian rivieras.

Don't go expecting a marbled floor room such as you'd find in a mainland Ritz Carleton hotel. If this is what you require you'll be disappointed. If what your looking for is a place that fits perfectly and organically into the environment with the best views in the world and just the right level of service, then this is your place.

Ladera, beautiful view, but nothing else

from A TripAdvisor Member
My husband and I stayed at Ladera Resort a few years ago. It was a "horrible" experience! We arrived very late at night and we were met at the gate by armed guards. We were taken to our deluxe multilevel room with plunge pool, where a "hunk" of ham wrapped in foil and two bottles of coke, but no bottle opener, awaited us as a snack! The room was not clean, lots of dead bugs! The plunge pool was full of bugs! But we thought that we would give it a try! We got in our mosquito-netted bed and tried to sleep as the rain blew in on to our luggage and the bottom of the bed. At daybreak we were awakened by sounds from the room next to us(won't go into detail!) We looked up to the mosquito netting and it was covered with iguanas and lizards of all sizes! I took lots of pictures as they hung over us! There was some sort of rodent poison on the ledge in our room also. We went down for breakfast and the eggs were a greenish color and the oj was brown. Not a good start to the day! We went to the pool, which was indeed lovely and beautiful view, but looking back to the rooms, we noticed that they were actually made with that "wavy tin roofing", not a particularly nice sight! We decided to depart early and head to our next destination of Sandals St. Lucia, which was absolutely wonderful! But if I had the time and space, I would tell you of our "water taxi" death experience! Would not return to Ladera!!

A Wonderful Experience

from A TripAdvisor Member
My husband and I stayed at Ladera for 9 nights last February for our honeymeoon. We could not have asked for a better spot to get away from all of the wedding planning and enoy beautiful, peaceful surroundings.
The staff at Ladera was wonderful, the food at Dasheen was amazing. We did venture to other resorts and restaurants for dinner a few nights, but would have been happy eating there each night. We enjoyed 2 "manager's cocktail parties" while we were there. A previous reviewer who mentioned not having an opportunity to interact with other guests must have missed this - if I recall correctly it was on Monday evenings. The staff and guests were all enjoying themselves, dancing to wonderful steel-drum music.

We went to the beach at the Hilton just about every day that we had good weather. The Hilton was nice, but a little big and family oriented for our purposes. We did enjoy their beach and beach-side restaurant for lunch.

Many people on this site talk about the bugs in the rooms. Yes, there were a few little bugs around from time to time, but they did not bother us at all. We brought a citronella candle, which I suggest, and that helped at night. You just don't want to leave your lights on all the time or moths will come. The bugs we part of the natural experience and the feeling of being outside in the resort. Ladera is certainly a luxury resort, but not in the sense of fine linens and white glove service as you would expect at a Ritz Carlton. It is more of a laid-back elegance.

Just back-What an experience!!

from A TripAdvisor Member
I just returned from Ladera and I must say it was wonderful. The staff is the best I've experienced at any resort. The negative reviews at this site did make me a bit dubious but the vacation lived up to all my positive expectations. I had been to St. Lucia in 2000 but stayed at the Hilton and had a couple of meals at Dasheene. The food prepared by Orlando at Dasheene was excellent. The views from my room and the restaurant of the Pitons were spectacular. I had no problems with bugs, lack of air conditioning,etc. If you want a wonderful,laid-back Caribbean vacation--Ladera is certainly be an answer.

like nothing I ever stayed at

from A TripAdvisor Member
It was just to the best place I ever stayed. I have to say you have to take the helicoter. If you just want peace and quiet this is the place to go. The food is very good we went in November. I have to say sleeping with the tent was hot we went in town and bought a fan for $20.00. We did not do the planned excursions we went on our own. The one thing you have to do is Fish Fry on Friday night in one of the small town. We did not go with the group we had our own taxi driver.
that showed us everything. We also rented a boat and went out and seen the island on the water. It was just a great place. We were suppose to go to Aneshata I am glad we did not becasue there was to many people there. Boats came in there.

Great view, but lots of bugs!

from A TripAdvisor Member
Having stayed at a lot of small, exclusive Caribbean resorts where everything is just perfect, we were just a bit disappointed with Ladera. We expected Ladera's open-air rooms to be a unique experience and were reassured by the resort's claims that bugs are never a problem that high up the cliff, so we were frustrated to have to cope with swarms of moths and other flying bugs in our room every evening whenever we turned on a light. We were looking forward to spending most of our time just relaxing in the "heated" plunge pool in our room, but we (and other guests) were dismayed to discover that virtually all of the plunge pools are ice cold. We couldn't understand why a resort of that caliber would not put even a single chest of drawers in the rooms for clothing, or why it would equip the beds with inexpensive rock-solid mattresses. Also beware: each of the "luxury one-bedroom-suites" is different. We started in unit U, which was tiny and uncomfortable, and we were very unhappy until they switched us to unit R, which is easily three times larger and better equipped.

Despite these grievances, we would still recommend Ladera for those who want to try a unique, intimate, open-air resort where you really feel like you a living in the jungle. The views of the two Pitons are as spectacular as any scenery in the Caribbean, the restaurant is very good, and the staff is extremely friendly. But just be aware of the problems described above....

Not all it cracked up to be...

from A TripAdvisor Member
Ladera was the first place in my search for Honeymoon spots that I came across and was really excited about staying there. We stayed in St.
Lucia for 8 days (4 at LeSport and 4 at Ladera) the first part of November 2003. Our Stay at LeSport was great, including the weather.
We'd go back there one day.

Our last 4 days were spent at Ladera, where it rained almost non-stop, including through the night, which was quite loud and we lost some sleep because of it. We also were woken at 7AM on Friday and Monday mornings due to road work being done right outside our windows. Really annoying when you're on a vacation/honeymoon, trying to relax, but we don't hold that against Ladera. We were just there at the wrong time.

As for Ladera, we stayed in room "Q" a deluxe room, with an awesome view. Can't complain about that. The plunge pool was supposed to be heated, but like all the other people we spoke with there, ours was never even remotely warm. Not sure why that was. Even after asking them, they said it was controlled by solar heat, which, to me, translates into, when the sun is out, it is heated and when it's not out, you don't get a heated plunge pool. My other complaint was having slightly warm water(in the shower/sink) our first night, no hot water the second day, hot water the third day (after mentioning it to the front desk) and the fourth day - no hot water. That was really only a minor thing for me, but for what we paid, you'd think you'd have at least "warm" water at all times. The other thing that I expected was for the room to be a bit cleaner than it was. We found dead bugs on the floors right when we arrived and the walls were dirty. How difficult is it to wipe the walls down and/or repaint to make it fresh looking? My personal opinion: update the furniture, fabric and decor a bit.

Some things we liked: Dasheene was terrific! The service was awesome - everyone there was super nice to us. Of course, the views in the restaurant are awesome. The staff at Ladera were extremely nice as well, from the drivers to the room service staff. The other nice thing that we weren't aware of, is that Ladera has a TV room, next to the front desk, with Intenet access for those of us that just have to check email or what not. They also provide movies (VHS/DVD) to check out as well as games/books/magazines. The grounds are very nice and have a variety of plants and flowers to gaze at. We wished there was more propery to walk around. We really didn't have any problems with mosquitos, just some small bugs and moths around the bathroom lights at night and around the bed lamps. Ladera provides bug spray for that, which we used. Not too many lizards or frogs in our room, but mostly around the plunge pool.

Overall, our stay there was just o.k. We were extremely tired each day, from lack of a sound sleep, due to the rain and wind each night, and construction work, which probably accounts for our average experience at Ladera. We would definately visit Dasheene again one day, but we have agreed that we prefer the all-inclusive resorts/spas, that are a little more luxurious.

I am glad that we stayed there though, as I would have wondered for the rest of my life how it is there.

Nice, but not as perfect as reviews indicate...

from A TripAdvisor Member
First, the positive...Just got back this week from our honeymoon and stayed at three resorts in St. Lucia including Ladera. The service at Ladera is second to none and every member of the staff from the maids to the management were teriffic. The view is as beautiful as promised and the rooms look like the advertisement. The food at Dashnee will not disappoint and the lobster is some of the best I have ever had.
Preparation is inventive withot sacrificing taste or quantity (A+).

Now for the negative...I believe one of the biggest selling points of the resort is the plunge pools in the room. We upgraded to a deluxe 1BR with the heated plunge pool and waterfall. The pool was ice cold our entire trip. Every guest we spoke to had the same problem and several guests, like us were really let down by this problem. Also, water pressure in the showers is awful and is also at best luke warm. Not a whole lot to do without being able to enjoy the pool in your room and without a hot shower it felt a lot like an expensive camping trip.

Would I go back...Not unless they fixed the heat in the plunge pools and shower It would also be nice if there were some options to socialize with other guests. Other than dinner there really is not much to do with the exception of going to the Hilton (nice) or Anse Chastanet (average) beaches.

Paradise for honeymooners!

from A TripAdvisor Member
My husband and I stayed at 2 resorts during our 2 week honeymoon in St.
Lucia. We stayed at Ladera for the first 5 days and all I can say is that it is all that we dreamed of and read about. The ride from the airport was long but it really gives you a feel for how truly beautiful and lush this island really is. When we arrived at Ladera, we were amazed at the dramatic location and the lush beauty at this resort.
Without asking, the friendly staff upgraded our 1-bedroom deluxe plunge pool room to a 2 bedroom deluxe room with plunge pool. The room was 2 levels and furnished and decorated with items made by the local craftspeople - extremely charming! The view in all the rooms are breathtaking as one of the walls is missing from each level and the resort sits high in the mountains between the famous 2 Pitons overlooking the ocean. I can't imagine a more romantic setting for honeymooners or anyone looking for romance on their vacation. The 1 restaurant at the resort Dasheene was fabulous and had the most breathtaking view ever! We read that this is the best on the entire island and I believe it! We went to a few other resorts nearby for lunch and dinner during our stay at Ladera, but always came to Dasheene because the food was fantastic and the menu changed daily. The plunge pool in the room was a bit chilly, but we still went in and enjoyed this as it had a waterfall as well. Waking up to the birds singing and the most incredible views is something we'll never forget. We didn't have any problems with bugs and actually enjoyed when the birds flew in and finding the occasional lizards hanging out. The staff was extremely friendly and very helpful. Service was outstanding! We went to the Hilton beach by way of the hotel's free shuttle a couple of days as it is only about a 20 minute ride. Then we went on some of the local tours such as the botanical garden and drive-in volcano. We also took the free boat shuttle over to the Anse Chastanet for a day of snorkeling and sunning on their beach. When we checked out of Ladera, we rented a jeep for 1 day and drove to the Sandals Grande, which is on the Northern tip of the island. Renting the jeep was one of the best things we did ... we spent the morning and early afternoon site seeing and were able to go off the beaten path and see some waterfalls, other resorts and go thru all the quaint towns. Don't let the bumpy roads or the fact that you drive on the left side intimidate you .. it is so worth it! Upon arrival to Sandals, my husband was so excited because we were greeted with champagne and cool towels and taken to the air conditioned concierge suite for check-in. He was definitely ready for something a little more active and lively. Although we really enjoyed our stay at Sandals Grande (with their beautiful beach, tons of restaurants and endless activities available), we really loved Ladera and would recommend staying at this resort if you are looking for a quiet, romantic, picture perfect getaway. If you have more time to stay on the island and want to mix up your vacation a bit, switch to a more active resort for a change of pace like we did. We feel we got the best of both worlds on our honeymoon. St. Lucian's are some of the friendliness people we've ever met in the Caribbean and are looking forward to returning there.

Ladera was wonderful

from bpobob
We spent 4 days @ Ladera July 23 'to the 26... before going to The Jalousie Hiton for 6 days....... The view is breath taking. Its a wonderful romantic place to spens to have some quality time. We had a deluxe 1bdrm suite w/ a plunge pool. Perfect.... The staff exceptional ...... We never experience any real problems with bugs... not one bite between us. The birds are freindly and daring, but no problem. If your looking for a unque experience in a small setting this is it.

Top Local Tips for Soufriere

Bennies I highly recommend Bennies in Soufriere for a romantic sea side dinner.

Taxi Spend a day site seeing with a good taxi driver and the rest relaxing. It goes fast.

Get out and see the area - don't just stay at the resort! We like to dive so we spent one day at Anse Chastanet, which has a great dive center. Had a fabulous lunch afterwards on the beach. Great cheeseburger's and rum drinks! Also went into town for a quiet little dinner at a local spot. No tourists and great fresh seafood at very reasonable prices. Also there's a local beverage that reputed to be an aphrodisiac called Seventh Heaven. It seemed to work for us . Buy some.

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Other names for Ladera Resort Hotel

  • ladera st lucia
  • ladera reviews
  • ladera resort st lucia
  • ladera resort soufrière
  • ladera resort
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  • ladera
  • Address: Box 225 - Soufriere - St. Lucia
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