The drive-in volcano – Soufriere sulphur springs, St Lucia
In my head, the thought of a drive-in volcano conjures up speeding round the edge of some kind of B-movie crater, spewing lava. Presumably courtesy of some sort of mental mix-up between drive-in cinema and your typical erupting cone.
There would be major flaws if this picture was reality, obviously. So it’s probably fortunate that the St Lucia ‘volcano’ at Soufriere doesn’t quite live up to this image.
It’s not that you’re being mis-sold exactly. The area is certainly volcanic – magma lies around 1.5 miles deep, while one eruption millennia ago created a caldera almost eight miles across, covering the whole of the Soufriere region.
The last eruption in 1766 blew steam, rock and ash into the air, with the hill collapsing in on itself and a series of steam vents – like Yellowstone or Rotorua, albeit smaller – puffing hydrogen sulphide into the air.
But enjoy that rotten egg smell… if the concentration of the gas is too high, as well as losing its smell, it becomes lethal…
The drive-in bit is certainly true, and we sailed almost to the edge of the fenced off area, above the pretty colourful seafront town of Soufriere itself.
There are guides to walk you around to the viewpoint on the other side (with steps, so be prepared to carry any buggies), including the baths built in 1902 where the water is a nice toasty 45C.
The steam, meanwhile is around 100-170C as one guide tragically found out after an accident where one foot broke through the crust. A few years later, they closed the area to avoid anything similar happening again.
Minnie looked magnificently nonplussed by the whole thing, perhaps because she’s now on about volcano three of her life (admittedly none of them yet spewing fire).
The finishing touch – hot springs where you can cover yourself in mud and bathe. Good for various skin conditions, including psoriasis, the mud is supposed to help mosquito bites too, which was all the excuse I needed to cover myself in light grey, exfoliating gunk.
I’d been warned there were three steps into the pool, as the water is totally opaque so it’s impossible to tell. I’d also been advised to take it one step at a time – advice I passed on to an American group who turned up shortly afterwards, and who looked distinctly unconvinced that the shock of the hot water would pass.
But while it felt higher than the 35-38C I was quoted, you definitely get used to it pretty quickly, and on a rainy Caribbean morning, it was blissful to float around and let all the tension leave me. Nice volcano mud bath, St Lucia!
Minnie, sitting in her buggy by the side with my Mum (waiting patiently for her turn) had moved from nonplussed to baffled, but seemed relatively happy to wait until I emerged, skin all tight and squeaky to hop under the tepid shower and get changed.
And the mosquito bites? Slightly less itchy. Just another reason for me to love volcanoes…
St Lucia volcano: Need to know
It costs $9 (around £7) for a tour, $5.50 (£4) for a bath or $13 (£10) for the combo ticket. For more details, visit the website here.
For more ideas of things to do in St Lucia, check out my guide to the island
PIN FOR LATER: SULPHUR SPRINGS, ST LUCIA
Images copyright MummyTravels
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What I wouldn’t give to have a dip in some hot springs!
Absolutely! You have to take your spa experiences where you find them 🙂
Excellent article on the Sulphur Springs in Soufriere St Lucia. You probably haven’t visited Saint Lucia till you’ve been to the Sulfur Springs. And you certainly haven’t visited visited the Sulphur Springs till you’ve taken a mud bath. Its not just fun but also highly therapeutic. It’s nature’s perfect spa experience.
Thank you – and definitely one of my top things to do on the island.
I love visiting volcanoes – might be that I didn’t see my first until I was in my 20’s but that did have lava and fire, great advice on the hot springs even when it’s hot outside they can shock your system.
Me too – seeing sparks coming from Stromboli is about the closest I’ve come to an active one (so far), although there are a few I’ve visited where the effects are still very evident even if you’re not dodging lava.
Super cool that Minnie watched mummy in a hot spring! You are living proof there is NOWHERE you cannot travel to with the kids. Driving through the volcano was still an experience I bet – although I don’t think I’d be keen on the ‘rotten egg’ smell (even if it means I’m not going to die! -lol). Thanks for linking to #traveltales
Definitely – these days I think she’d be trying to come in after me! And my stubborn streak does mean that unless someone says, no you absolutely cannot do this (or it’s obvious even to me), I’m finding you can take kids all kinds of places if you try. Shallow breaths recommended though 🙂
There’s something quite hypnotic about volcano’s – I’m not sure what it is, perhaps the fact that we all know they’re dangerous, but most of the time look so innocent (and often beautiful and lush)?
I was just in Iceland and so they’re all over the place – amazing landscape though we just passed them rather than went up any. We did do the whole smelly egg thing at Geysir though, haha.
How fun to have a little spa treatment up there too 🙂
#traveltales
I love Iceland too (Geysir and a bit of a spa experience in the Blue Lagoon as well). Volcano tourism is obviously a bit of a thing!
Going to Soufriere soon with my 3-year old… is it ok to bring a stroller to go to the springs? My little guy becomes tired quickly. I also have a baby carrier but I’m not sure how to handle it in addition with my backpack (toddler in the back and bag on the front ? -traveling alone with him) Thanks for any tip 😉
Absolutely – my daughter was about 23 months, so she was in her stroller the whole time we were at Soufriere. There are a few steps at the start, but our guide helped carry it up and down (you’ll need a guide to look around anyway). The site isn’t too huge either, so it might be you can leave it up top for the first bit by the sulphur springs and then put him back in if you want to go to the other section to the hot pools. Hope you have a great time there.
thanks for your tips 😉
Pleasure!