The perfect wellness resort in Saint Lucia: The BodyHoliday

I have never been to a wellness resort before. In fact, I had never considered it as an option. It was one of those, hmm I’ve heard these existed but like, where and should I go? 

Ben and I have always kept up the notion and firm stance that we are not all-inclusive people. We hate the idea of going to one resort, staying there for 5-7 days, eating as much as we can, drinking ourselves silly and then coming home. Sure it would be nice to lounge around doing nothing for a week but why would you want to do that?

Then came the wedding. Here’s the thing about wedding planning, quite frankly it’s fucking (excuse the language) exhausting. You know what’s even more exhausting than planning a wedding though? Having about 40 people fly in from England and having to entertain them for a week. That my friends is the cherry on top. Although totally worth it I will say.

After creating the most extensive list of honeymoon options (it grew past that post believe me), we had a lot of trouble trying to narrow down where we actually wanted to go.

I’m not kidding when I say we put all of the destinations in a list and pulled them out of a hat.

There were three front runners: Saint Lucia, Greece and Ecuador. After some more discussions (I swear Ben was ready to lose his mind with my insistent asking) we realized that trekking around for 7 days (that’s all we could afford with our other trips this year) was not smart. Therefore, Saint Lucia, it was.

After some more research, I discovered The BodyHoliday.

The more I read about this place, the more I fell in love. I mean from the start, it’s located in one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean, it’s a 5-star resort and everything is included. However, this is not your typical all-inclusive resort. Read on and you’ll understand why.

Getting there 

From Toronto, New York, Montreal or Boston the flight time is about 5-5.5 hours. Definitely doable. Unless of course you’re flying Air Canada Rouge, then you just need to get drunk and load your phone with all the episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that you can.

I found it surprising to learn how many British people were at the resort until I was told that there are tons of direct flights from London and the flight time is about 7 hours.

The airport is small, like any typical Caribbean airport so you shouldn’t have trouble navigating yourself around.

After finding The BodyHoliday booth, we discovered that we still had a 90-minute car ride until we got to the resort. It’s basically at the other side of the island.

Arriving

I will say the car ride from the airport was well worth it. Once we arrived we were greeted right away by hotel staff on a 1-1 ratio. Each member handed a guest a cold damp towel and a cocktail. Definitely, the way I want to start every trip from now on.

Once you got your bearings for a minute or two you were whisked away by your designated staff member who gave you a run down of everything you needed to know about the resort. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming for having just arrived but really helpful.

We were taken right up to our room where our luggage had already arrived, shown a few important things and left on our own. We booked an Oceanview room and I can honestly say, I don’t think I’ve ever had a room with a few this incredible.

The Good Stuff 

Where do I even begin?

Let’s start with the food and drinks. The resort is all-inclusive so I’m sure you can deduct what that actually means. There are 4 restaurants on-site, which for a smaller resort was plenty. There’s a mix of buffet dining, traditional restaurant dining and of course the grab-and-go style. The food was also some of the best food I’ve eaten while on holiday. That’s no joke.

Make sure to try all of the different places to eat, you won’t regret it.

| Activities | 

There were so many different activities to choose from I swear every day I got stressed about it. As someone who loves waking up early and getting a workout in before the day starts, the schedule at the BodyHoliday was perfect for that. Between 7-10am there were about 2 or 3 classes every hour you could choose.

The workouts aren’t just for the morning though as there are things to do all day. I’ve always laughed at people who do Aquafit but in the 40+ degree heat, I did one of these classes almost every day to cool down from laying on the beach and get some exercise. I will never make fun of those people again, it was actually a tough workout.

Of course, there are tons of water activities to choose from as well. Ben and I even learned how to windsurf together (obviously not that well though).

Best of all you’re not forced to join in any of these activities. If you came to just lay on the beach and get fat, go for it no one cares.

| The Spa |

The included spa treatments were the selling feature for us. Every day for your stay, except your arrival and departure dates, you get a free spa treatment. I honestly assumed they would be 15-minute head massages or something lame like that but boy was I wrong.

The messages are an hour long, the facials were amazing and I even tried a body wrap. Ugh, sitting here thinking about this makes me depressed because I want to go back.

If you end up booking at The BodyHoliday make sure to book your times in advance though because the good slots always get booked up really quickly.

The People 

I’m not sure what Ben and I thought the people at The BodyHoliday were going to be like but to say we were surprised is an understatement. There were actually very little couples.

Most of the resort clientele during our stay was a complete mix up of friends, families (kids over the age of 16) and even single travelers. Actually, this is one of the best places I’ve been to for solo travelers.

The atmosphere is social but not in your face. Seeing as Ben and I didn’t care to make new friends on this trip (honestly we were like different people down there), we mostly kept to ourselves and people respected that.

The Extras 

Any hotel with a full range pillow menu is an amazing hotel in my books. Feel free to try a different pillow every night on your trip if you want. They are only happy to oblige.

I also LOVED that they came around with tea and cookies on a nightly basis for turn down service. There’s nothing quite like getting back to your hotel room after dinner and a few drinks than having your bed turned down and delicious tea waiting for you.

The view at The BodyHoliday has to be one of the best on the island. While you’re not close to the Pitons really, you can get a gorgeous view of Pigeon island, close enough I guess.

** We were not commissioned or asked to write a review for the resort nor were we guests of the hotel we just loved it so much we wanted to write about our experience.