Well I haven't been everywhere, but I can't believe there's another hotel in the world quite like this. The combination of location, room design, palm-fringed beaches and above all the family atmosphere generated by the friendly staff exceeded all our expectations.
The open rooms create a feeling of "oneness" with the environment - the experience of going to sleep serenaded by tree-frogs and waking up to birdsong the next morning is a memory to cherish. And the opportunist bird life was ever-present at breakfast!
Yes, there were a few organisational rough edges, but the point about this place is that it's not a perfectly sanitised, ultra-efficient air-conditioned cocoon - there are plenty of those elsewhere! And when our flight home was delayed until late at night, the hotel happily arranged for us to keep our room until the evening taxi came for the airport.
Both beaches were uncrowded, with the hills as a backdrop giving them a secluded feel. The second beach at Anse Mamin is particularly quiet, and reached by an easy 10 minute walk along a fairly recently-constructed path - or by the hotel's free boat taxi if you prefer.
The estate walk with Meno is a must: entertaining and thought-provoking as you walk through the remains of the old plantation which was run using slave labour.
The only time we left the hotel in the week was on a trip to the nearby drive-in volcano, Diamond botanical gardens and falls. Worth doing, and a bonus was a visit to the Emerald Estate owned by the hotel, where organic food is grown for the restaurants.
The walk down to the beach and back up got easier as the week went on!
Altogether a truly memorable holiday.

Although we had always vacationed to other popular all inclusive resorts in the past, we chanced this smaller unknown (to us) resort, just because. What a find!
It was an excellent experience starting with the transfer from the airport, the warm friendly reception and escort to our room. The accommodations are very private, extremely clean and spacious.
The staff is super friendly and accommodating. Abo on the beach who makes sure you are settled in nicely onto your lounger with towels and no need to compete for beach huts here as there is plenty for everyone! Ready for hydration, water, a beach drink or a bite? Stick your flag in the sand and you are immediately tended to. Be warned, a beach drink is a true full bodied drink, nothing watered down here.
Buffet breakfast, although with limited options was always quite enjoyable for whatever mood struck us and lunch at the beach grill restaurant very good as well. Now for the evening meals, unparalleled anywhere else with true gourmet treats!
There are lot's of various excursions to enjoy and the snorkeling at the beach is excellent. We ventured to "Superman's Flight" for snorkeling at the base of the Pitons which allowed us to see a turtle and an octopus, spotted by our very competent guide "Ezra", on the boat manned by our friendly and professional captain "Jungle".
We also enjoyed hiking and thank you to Meno, our capable and all knowing guide, and his "understudy" Tyson!
Every Tuesday night is meet your management team cocktail party where we had the chance to meet Mrs. Troubetzkoy, owner of the resort who was very warm and genuine. It is quite admirable how she supports many local charities as well.
We were advised to take the Jazzy cruise on Thursday evenings offered by our resort which turned out to be an absolute blast. Thank you Felicia for knocking it out of the park in getting everyone to join in on deck and as for the pole, well let's just leave at that.
The singers in the bar for evening entertainment were truly talented where some of the staff would occasionally join in, break into songs or dances...all amazingly gifted as well!
We are now new believers in smaller is better!
Any downers? The beach is not very wide with a rather quick drop off for weak swimmers although life jackets are readily available.
100 steps from the beach to some of the dining areas. Again, rest areas are available at many levels.
If you are looking for a wild and crazy time, you may want to consider a different destination as this is more a serene, peaceful and mature crowd. But don't be fooled as there was a couple of octogenarians with some really smooth and interesting moves on the dance floor!!
I would also strongly advise an all inclusive plan as the menu items are quite pricey.
Thank you to everyone at AC, management and staff alike and congratulations on your devotion to ensuring your vacationers truly enjoy their stay.
Last note: We toured Jade Mountain, the resort just up the hill from AC, also owned by the Troubetzkoy's and decided to upgrade for our last two days! Can you say F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! I will review Jade Mountain next.

My husband works very hard so that we can enjoy nice holidays. We have as a consequence been to many super places around the world. These have included not only the Caribbean but also many visits to the US, the Maldives, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa together with much of Europe. Both my husband and I would say that our experience at Anse Chastanet surpasses all by some margin. Whilst in part this is of course down to the super location and facilities together with the temperate climate, it is mostly down to the fantastic people that make up the whole team at AC. We absolutely loved the friendly, family atmosphere at AC and the wholehearted commitment and enthusiasm displayed by all to ensure that every guest was looked after and had a good time. Rest assured the best recommendation I can give is that we will certainly be returning to this fabulous place some time soon as it was such a super holiday.

Before considering a holiday at Anse Chastanet, I would advise that you ask yourself the following:
(1) Do I consider the proximity of tree frogs, the occasional lizard and an army of cheeky birds who want to share my breakfast an enhancement to my holiday?
(2) Do I want to escape from children (my own and/or other people's)?
(3) Do I admire the early cover-art of Joni Mitchell and the Grateful Dead?
(4) Do I prefer to be cooled by the breeze than to be kept awake by a noisy air-conditioning unit?
(5) Am I happy to walk off the generous meals up a few steps?
(6) Am I less concerned with airbrushed perfection than I am with character?
(7) Am I relishing the prospect of leaving TV and phones behind?

If you answered 'no' to more than one of these questions, I suggest you look for somewhere else. But if, like us, you love nature, adore Caribbean hospitality and are stimulated by a bit of quirkiness, then read on...

This was our second trip to Anse Chastanet. We don't usually return to places we've been to before – there's so much of the world to see – but we made an exception for Anse Chastanet and enjoyed every minute of our week-long stay.

Our warmest memory of our first visit was the staff and we found them unchanged: they are friendly, informal and charming. Everyone, from junior gardener to duty manager, seems hell bent on ensuring that you have a great time and don't have to worry about a single thing. For example, one evening our waitress asked whether there was anything they could be doing better; I had to wrack my brains but eventually said 'well, it would be great to have a bit of extra drying space for our swimwear'; this was immediately followed up and the next day we had a washing line on our balcony.

The decor of the rooms and the public areas is inspired by local fauna and flora – a rampant, slightly hippy-dippy swirl of primary colours and organic shapes. We find it uplifting, fun and totally in keeping with the mood of the place. I've read reviews that describe it as 'dated'. It probably is, but it's also unique.

Anse Chastanet residents can access two beaches of black volcanic sand. They're not the most stunning beaches in the world but the course-grained nature of the sand keeps visibility very high for snorkelers. The main beach is a public beach, so there were occasional boatloads from other hotels; the other beach (Anse Mamin) can be reached by a new path or by water taxi and is very secluded. On the main beach, residents are provided with loungers, towels, thatched sun-shades and the opportunity to stick a flag in the sand if you want to order food or drink from your lounger. One of the beach attendants, Junior, does his rounds 'spreading a little happiness' with ice-cold peppermint-scented towels and spray. If you can summon up the energy to get off your lounger there's a beach bar with a really good menu. The popcorn squid, sweet potato fries and rotis were among my favourites. Anse Mamin has a smaller bar and the food is fresh from the charcoal grill – usually catch of the day and superb burgers.

Activity wise, there's almost too much to choose from right there at the resort. There are several complimentary walks with the resort's resident guides, Meno and Tyson, both of whom are knowledgeable and funny (ha ha, not peculiar). We did an early morning birdwatching walk, a trip to the nearby Town of Soufrière on market day and a walk up to the home of (now sadly deceased) local character Miss Ina, with stunning views of the Piton mountains. We've previously also done the plantation walk, which is thought provoking and informative.

Aside from the walk to Soufrière, the only other reason we found to stray away from the resort was a trip to the Emerald Estate, which produces organically grown food for both Anse Chastanet and its sister resort, Jade Mountain. We met the head gardener, Paul, and were given a cookery demonstration by Jade's head chef, Jonathan. I'm a keen veg gardener and consider myself to be a pretty good cook but I learned all sorts from both of them. Jonathan's cooking was utterly delicious and could readily be reproduced at home with no fancy equipment.

We also went up to Jade Mountain for a private rum tasting with Jade's sommelier, Eric. Again, this was informative and entertaining. We were amused by the fact that this appeared as 'afternoon tea' on our final bill (although regrettably not at an afternoon tea price).

You can snorkel right off the beach on both sides of the bay. There's a good range, and reasonable abundance, of sea fauna. It can't compare with the Maldives but it held our interest enough for us to go snorkelling at least once a day, and the visibility is reliably good. We were lucky enough to see a turtle twice on our beach snorkelling trips. We took two other snorkelling trips organised by the resort's dive centre, Scuba St Lucia. These were good value for money and the guides pointed out lots of things, including some species that we've not seen before.

Finally, I come to the food and drink. Thank goodness for the steps, the walks and the swimming because if it weren't for those I don't think I'd be able to fit into any of my clothes any more. The tree house restaurant serves European-style food using local ingredients. The setting is lovely, especially if you get a table at the old treehouse, which overlooks former plantation, now reverted to rainforest. You can hear the tree frogs singing and the occasional bat swoops in as you tuck into three kinds of home-made bread, a different flavoured butter every night, and peruse a menu that changes nightly. The second option, on the beach, is Apsara, which serves food inspired in equal measure by India and the Caribbean. The menu here doesn't change nightly, but is very imaginative and utterly delicious. They have their own tandoor and will happily show you it in action; consequently they serve nan bread that is most definitely a cut above anything that we can get at home. There are two other options that we didn't try: the beach bar becomes an American-style grill at night, and the new tree house also has a second, exclusively vegetarian menu. There are also interesting veggie options on the regular menus at tree house and Apsara.

All the bars serve a great range of cocktails; importantly for me, the fruit-based ones all have real fresh fruit in. I especially like the daiquiris (the banana one makes a good 'pudding cocktail'), mohitos, and a house concoction (I think) known as the stairway to heaven. I'm also rather partial to the St Lucian Guinness (not really a session beer at 7%) and the Piton beer is a very quaffable pils-style beer. The house wines aren't wildly special but a glass of the sauvignon blanc slips down nicely with dinner.

I'd recommend taking the all-inclusive package – something that I wouldn't do anywhere else. It allows you to eat at any of the restaurants without paying a premium (unless you want lobster or you want to go up the hill to Jade) and all the regular cocktails are included. If you've paid up front, somehow you worry less about that mid-afternoon mohito served at your lounger. Daft but true. Besides, unless you want a long ride in a car or a water taxi you don't have easy access to anywhere else to eat.

The only slight disappointment is breakfast: there's a good buffet and the 'egg lady' will do your eggs however you like them but it doesn't quite have the sparkle of the other meals. When we came in 2009 the resort was a lot fuller and breakfasts were a bit more luxurious, with a local special on the menu and a 'fruit lady' who'd chop you a platter of fresh tropical fruit to your specifications. I guess the recession has forced them to lose these little touches.

I haven't mentioned the spa, yoga and other exercise classes, art gallery, shops, jungle biking and a good range of other excursions for those who want to see more of the island. One word of caution for adventurous walkers and wildlife lovers: if you want to explore some of the other rainforest trails, leave it another year or two as they're still clearing up after the 2010 tropical storm, in which several Soufrière residents tragically lost their lives.

To sum up, after a week at Anse Chastanet I feel relaxed and full of laughter. When work gets tough I'll try to think about swimming with turtles, gazing at rainbows over the bay after a shower of what the locals call 'liquid sunshine', and dancing in the Piton bar with the smiliest bar staff you could ever hope to meet. If that doesn't see me through to our next trip there, nothing will!