St Lucia Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Driving in St Lucia –
St Lucia drives on the left and you need a temporary local licence to drive here. Minimum age is 25 and the cost is $20 USD or $54 EC. Car rental companies can arrange the local licence after seeing your own licence.
St Lucia has a generally good road network and the island’s government continues to invest in road infrastructure with a programme of developments on the Millenium Highway including a tunnel that links Castries to the south of the island via the Cul-De-Sac Valley. The West Coast road is also seeing investment to upgrade it. Main roads head from Castries north to Gros Islet and south to Anse la Raye and Soufriere.Another main road crosses the island to the east coast and south to Vieux Fort. Roads can be narrow, steep with some hairpin bends, some of which are not clearly marked. Generally roads are in passable condition, though expect the odd pot hole. 4WD vehicles are generally available and will be needed if you’re doing to be driving on smaller roads, particularly after rain.It’s worth mentioning that roads to some of the top resorts can be in a poor condition so if you’re planning on renting a car at the airport and driving to the hotel it may be worth checking this. A couple of examples are Anse Chastanet Road, near Soufriere, that takes you to the resort of the same name, and the road from the west coast highway to the Ti Kaye resort (Anse Cochon).
Driving standards are variable and you should drive cautiously and expect the unexpected such as locals stopping without warning. Locals may hitch lifts but its not advisable to pick up strangers. In general St Lucia is a fairly laid back driving experience, even in Castries, and shouldn’t cause any stress to drivers used to roads in Europe and USA.
Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.
St Lucia Car Rental –
Hertz have 3 branches in Castries. Budget have branches at Castries and Vieux Fort. Avis have outlets at both those locations plus Gros Islet and Pigeon Island. Thrifty have a branch at Hewenorra.St Lucia also seems to feature on the main international broker sites.
We currently have no local car rental partners in St Lucia. If you are a local car rental company who would like to feature on DriverAbroad.com please check details on our Partnering page or contact us on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com
St Lucia Self Drive Rules-
None of the companies allow cars to be taken from the Island.
