Jade Mountain, St Lucia

_Location: Views as heavenly as Jade Mountain’s don’t come without a little effort. Set high on a secluded section of St Lucia’s west coast, it’s more than an hour’s picturesque drive from the airport, and the final section of road out of Soufriere is winding and unpaved. Guests of an impatient temperament can chopper in to the hotel’s private helipad in just 15 minutes.

FIRST IMPRESSION: This is no ordinary hotel – no boxy shell, no enclosed, Shining-esque corridors, and fewer walls than one might expect. This is a truly unique place, designed by its architect owner to make the very best use of its very best feature – picture perfect views of St Lucia’s iconic Piton Mountains.

_{The facts:} There are 29 rooms, but the word doesn’t really do it justice. The hotel calls them sanctuaries, and it’s a bit like having your own personal holiday bat-cave. Each is vast, and equipped with all you might expect from one of the Caribbean’s most luxurious properties – rainshowers, sunken whirlpool baths, four-posters with billowing white curtains, tasteful sofas and furniture made from sustainable timber. Just one thing is missing – the fourth wall of every room. Instead, there’s your own private infinity pool – one big enough to swim lengths in – tumbling over the edge of the sanctuary, and beyond it nothing but the living wallpaper of your Piton view.

Service is faultless. Your butler can be summoned by a special mobile phone from anywhere on the island, let alone anywhere on the property. The food is exceptional, and can be taken in the rooftop restaurant – more stunning views – or in the privacy of your sanctuary, ferried by smiling waiters up and down a network of hanging bridges that criss-cross the area behind the closed rear wall of the rooms. Here hummingbirds dart amongst the brightly flowering plants, and tiny ponds full of fish sit alongside the networks of steps.

Guests can also eat in the restaurants of sister property Anse Chastanet, which sits just below Jade at the bottom of the hill. Both properties share two black sand beaches, one of which is home to a dive school. There’s a gym and spa, and tours available of Anse Mamin, a former sugar plantation within the grounds of the hotel.

WHO'S IT FOR: St Lucia is renowned as the island of romance, and Jade Mountain is its most wildly romantic property. The hotel doesn’t accept children under 15, and this is really a couples’ retreat. Wealthy honeymooners will be in paradise.

_{A good base for:} Doing as much or as little as you like. The hotel can organise excursions ziplining in the rainforest or visiting the island’s hot sulphur springs, and there’s a yacht for day or sunset cruises from the jetty on the beach. But the hotel is so stunning that many guests cherry pick just a few activities and spend the rest of the time making the most of their luxurious sanctuaries.

_Wow: You did the read the part before about having an actual infinity pool in the room, didn’t you Breath-takingly, spine-tinglingly, jaw-droppingly wow.

HOW MUCH: Seven nights bed and breakfast starts from £2,250
caribtours.co.uk