This hacienda-style property is the most stylish and luxurious hotel in northern St Lucia. It’s also an immensely attractive little complex of arches and courtyards, fountains and decorative tilework, and the cliff-top location, near the island’s northern tip on the Cap Estate, is really spectacular. Bedrooms exude Spanish colonial elegance and they range from Garden View Rooms to palatial Oceanview Villa Suites, complete with a state-of-the-art kitchen, private pool and rooftop terrace. All the rooms are extremely comfortable and are furnished and equipped to a luxurious standard.

Cap Maison’s restaurant, The Cliff at Cap, serves delicious and creative French/West Indian food in an unforgettable setting – the panoramic ocean views stretch as far as Martinique. Guests can enjoy sundowners on a wooden deck on the rocky outcrop below the restaurant, you can even have your champagne delivered down from the bar above on a zip-wire.

Lying beneath the hotel is Smuggler’s Cove, a pretty, secluded little tawny-sand beach reached via flights of wooden steps. Cap Maison runs a Caribbean beach bar here, and there are sun loungers, kayaks, windsurfing equipment and snorkelling gear for guests to use.

One of the most appealing things about Cap Maison is the genial and relaxed atmosphere that has been created by the English General Manager Ross Stevenson and his delightful staff. There is a casual elegance about the hotel which brings many guests back for another stay here – it is easy to see why.