• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Mail
+44 (0)20 7604 4408
Nomadic Thoughts
  • Inspiration
    • Introduction
    • Accommodation
    • Activities & Sports
    • Beaches
    • Culture
    • Deserts
    • Family Holidays
    • Gastronomy
    • Mountains
    • Special Events & Festivals
    • Wildlife
  • Destination
    • Introduction
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Caribbean
    • Central & North America
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • Oceania
    • South America
  • Experience
    • Introduction
    • Adventure
    • City Breaks
    • Cruises
    • Honeymoons
    • Luxury Holidays
    • Sabbaticals
    • Self-Drive Holidays
    • Spa & Treatments
    • Total Escape
    • Train Journeys
  • Expertise
    • Introduction
    • About Us
    • AITO Member
    • Award Winners
    • Consumer Protection
    • Contact Us
    • Jono’s Travel Blog
    • LGBTQ Travellers
    • Make An Appointment
    • Our UK Holiday House – Brecon Beacons, Wales
    • Pre-Departure Info
    • Sustainable Tourism
    • Travelling Solo
    • Travel Presentations
    • Useful Links
    • Welcome
    • What Our Clients Say
    • Where To Go When
    • Why Nomadic Thoughts?
    • World Weather Guide
    • EU General Data Protection and Nomadic Thoughts Compliance
  • Blog
  • Discover
  • Menu Menu

St Vincent and the Grenadines

Top tip: Big drum, calypso, soca, steelpan & reggae

Geography

Geography


St Vincent & the Grenadines make up part of the Windward Islands and lie south of St Lucia. The highest point on St Vincent is the volcanic peak of La Soufrière (1,219m/4,000ft). The ‘tail’ of the comet of St Vincent (the Grenadines) is a string of islands and cays that splays south from Bequia (pronounced Beck-Way), Petit Nevis, Isle à Quatre and Pigeon Island to Battowia, Baliceaux, Mustique, Petit Mustique, Savan, Canouan, Petit Canouan, Mayreau and the Tobago Cays, Union Island, Palm Island and Petit St Vincent.

The climate is tropical, with trade winds tempering the hottest months of June and July. The best time to visit St Vincent and the Grenadines is from December to April, when the nights are cooler and the days hot. The rainy season is from June, with rainfull heavy in the mountains and short, sharp bursts on the coast.

Aruba is basically dry and therefore has an abundance of cacti as well as the wind shaped Watapana (divi divi) trees, the highly medicinal aloe and the Flamboyant trees in bloom from June to August. The small but well kept gardens of Aruban homes also have a variety of tropical flowers and foliage.


Facts and Figures


Area
Population
Capital
Language
Religion
Time
Highlights

Highlights


Water sports abound: windsurfing, sunfish sailing, snorkelling and kayaking. Observe Bequia’s age-old traditions of boat building by hand. Visit the oldest Botanical Gardens in the western hemisphere, which occupy 8.1 hectares to the north of Kingstown, St Vincent, the capital, a lively town peppered with colonial architecture. Take in the beautiful stretches of powder white sands on Canouanisland, with its wide shallows and coral reefs, or stay on glamorous Mustique, long a hiding place for the rich and famous, including members of the British Royal Family. Take a boat trip to the Falls of Baleine, at the northern tip of St Vincent, a waterfall streaming from volcanic slopes to form a series of shallow pools. Head to the numerous islets and coves of the TobagoCays where you can see some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the world. Hike up La Soufrière volcano in the north of St Vincent, a 5km journey which rewards you with a wonderful bird’s-eye view of the crater and its islands, and all of St Vincent.

History

History


By the time St Vincent was discovered by Christopher Columbus in January 1498, the island had been occupied for nearly 200 years – by Carib Indians from South America, who had subjugated the original Arawak Indian inhabitants. The island remained a Spanish possession until 1627, when it was granted to the British Lord Carlisle. However, the Caribs fought furiously to keep possession of it. In 1783, the Treaty of Versailles restored St Vincent to Britain, after the French had temporarily taken it. Carib resistance was finally crushed in 1795, after which the settlement of St Vincent proceeded on more conventional lines.

During the late 19th and 20th centuries, St Vincent endured a series of natural disasters: in 1812, the first recorded eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, during which many lives were lost; in 1896, floods; two years later, a hurricane; and in 1902, the second eruption of La Soufrière, killing 2000 inhabitants. The next eruptions, neither of which caused loss of life, occurred in the 1970s.

Soon after World War II, the right to vote was extended to the entire adult population, after decades of restriction. This was an essential preparatory move towards independence – the key issue of the day. For small Caribbean islands like St Vincent & the Grenadines, a variety of proposals were studied during the 1960s, leading to St Vincent’s adoption of Associate Statehood with the UK in 1969. Under this agreement the island was internally self-governing, while London looked after foreign and defence matters. It also gave St Vincent the right to declare full independence at any time, which it finally did in October 1979. The viability of St Vincent as a nation state has been the subject of constant debate ever since.

In 1992, the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration of James Mitchell committed itself to the pursuit of a limited political and economic union with three other countries in the region – St Lucia, Dominica and Grenada. The NDP remained in power for almost two decades. It was finally ousted in March 2001, when the United Labour Party won an absolute parliamentary majority. The new premier was ULP party leader Ralph Gonsalves, a former lawyer known to many as ‘Comrade Ralph’. Under the new government, St. Vincent joined the Non-Aligned Movement in February 2003 and, later in the year, introduced anti-money laundering measures which ensured its removal from a ‘blacklist’ of countries which had failed to take sufficient measures to deal with the problem. Gonsalves won a second term in office in the December 2005 elections.

Interested in St Vincent and the Grenadines? Call +44 (0)20 7604 4408 for expert holiday advice

+44 (0)20 7604 4408



Travel News
Thoughts

Destination
Introduction
Africa
Algeria
Botswana
Comoros
Democratic Republic of Congo
Egypt
Ethiopia
Kenya
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Reunion
Rwanda
Seychelles
South Africa
Tanzania
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia
Bhutan
Burma (Myanmar)
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Japan
Kazakhstan
Laos
Malaysia
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tibet
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Caribbean
Anguilla
Antigua
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Bonaire
British Virgin Islands
Curacao
Grenada
Jamaica
St Kitts and Nevis
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos
Central & North America
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
United States of America
Europe
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Turkey
Middle East
Iran
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Oman
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Oceania
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Tahiti
South America
Antarctica
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Venezuela

For expert, first class holiday advice contact us today:
+44 (0)20 7604 4408
Email us now


  • AFRICA
  • Algeria
  • Botswana
  • Comoros
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • Kenya
  • Libya
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Reunion
  • Rwanda
  • Seychelles
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • ASIA
  • Bhutan
  • Burma (Myanmar)
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Laos
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Sri Lanka
  • Taiwan
  • Tajikistan
  • Thailand
  • Tibet
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vietnam
  • CARIBBEAN
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua
  • Aruba
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • Bonaire
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Curacao
  • Jamaica
  • St Kitts and Nevis
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Turks and Caicos
  • OCEANIA
  • Australia
  • Fiji
  • New Zealand
  • Tahiti
  • EUROPE
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Turkey
  • NORTH AMERICA
  • Belize
  • Canada
  • Costa Rica
  • Cuba
  • El Salvador
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • United States of America
  • SOUTH AMERICA
  • Antarctica
  • Argentina
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Ecuador
  • Peru
  • Venezuela
  • MIDDLE EAST
  • Iran
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Lebanon
  • Oman
  • Syria
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Yemen
© Nomadic Thoughts Ltd. All rights reserved.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Mail
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies Policy
  • Contact +44 (0)20 7604 4408
Scroll to top
This site uses cookies: Find out more.