Hike St. Lucia – Gros Piton Trail Description & Local Hiking Guides
Overview of hiking Saint Lucia’s Gros Piton:
- Time required: 3 – 6 hours round trip
- Degree of Difficulty: 8 out of 10
- Elevation: Approximately 2,600 feet (786 meters)
- Distance: Just under 3 miles (4.4km) round trip
- Guide Required: YES – This trail is well marked, however it is St. Lucian law for visitors to the island to be accompanied by an official guide from the Forestry Department. Guides are typically available on the beach at Anse Ivrogne or in the nearest town, west of Fond Doux. Officially, a St. Lucia Forestry Department Service guide will charge you $25usd per person, although there are plenty of local tour operators charging more, although they usually include transportation and other value-add services.
The St. Lucia Pitons, located on the Piton Mitan ridge, are one of the most photographed landmarks in the Caribbean, and are an UNESCO World Heritage site. Hiking the Gros Piton is by far the most popular Saint Lucia hike, so there will likely be others on the trail, however the Pitons are an icon of the island, and therefore great to tell the story of having hiked one – Oh, and it’s a fun hike too!
There are multiple trailheads. One starts from the beach near Anse Ivrogne, while an alternative starting point, although perhaps not as fun or challenging, is to start from the village of Fond Gen Libre, west of Fond Doux (although un-named, it can be seen on Google Maps, in Earth view). Starting from the town probably shaves off about 650 vertical feet (200m) relative to the beach starting point.
From the beach, it’s just a short walk inland to the true trailhead. The trail starts in a wooded area on a nice natural dirt trail. The first 30 minutes or so of the hike is a gradual incline winding around the piton a bit. About a third of the way up the mountain, the trail meets the trail from the east, coming from the nearby village. It starts to get steeper here, and the next half an hour is a tougher climb. There are a couple of good spots to take a water and picture break. There’s a viewing area where you can see the beautiful south-east coastline of St. Lucia, with the island of St. Vincent faintly visible in the background.
The last 30 minutes or so is pretty steep, with some areas where you will literally crawl on your hands and feet, up-and-over boulders… and there were other portions of the trail, where the mountain has eroded, so there were rough man-made stairs and stick/rope railings in place – please don’t put too much of your faith (or weight) on those sticks/ropes… There’s another picture-taking area on this section of the trail, this time with a clear view of the Petit Piton. From this vantage point, it’s obvious that climbing those steep slopes would be tougher, and more dangerous, than the Gros piton.
Once you reach the top and catch your breath, you can enjoy spectacular views of the south end of the island. You can see the outline of Vieux Fort, along with a clear view of St. Vincent from the top of the Piton. The path down is the same path as the way up… If you keep on the move most of the time, you can make the round trip hike in just about 3 hours.
In summary, this is a somewhat short St. Lucia hike, lacking some of the flora variation found elsewhere on the island. Most mountain / volcano hikes have a few ups and downs, however this hike is pretty much up-hill all the way with ever-increasing steepness – It’s a fairly tough hike requiring decent leg strength and excellent cardio. Alternatively, take your time (if you don’t literally, have a plane (or boat) to catch).
For a more colourful review, check out our personal St. Lucia hiking experience with our Gros Piton Trail Blog post
For a guide / tour to hike Saint Lucia’s Gros Piton Trail, these local Tour Operators will take good care of you (Click on a Tour Operator name below for more details):
- Treasure Tours Ltd (access by land or sea)
- Spencer Ambrose Tours (access by sea plus Beach Excursion with lunch)
- Real St. Lucia Tours (with Soufriere Waterfall or Volcano)
- Fabian’s Tours
- Christopher Taxi Service
- Island Routes Caribbean Adventures (with Lunch)
- Joy’s Adventure Excursions and Coastal Cruises (access by land or sea, with lunch and Soufriere Waterfall or Mud-bath)
- St. Lucia Best Experience Tours
- Shashamané Experience
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