Kingstown market A bustling, vibrant market carrying a superb selection of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish. Particularly well stocked on Fridays and Saturdays. Local arts and crafts are frequently displayed in the courtyard.

What to do:
St. George’s Anglican Cathedral
Built in the early 1800s in the Georgian architectural style it features spectacular stained-glass windows, one of which was originally commissioned by Queen Victoria to hang in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral. Eventually the window found its way to Kingstown as a gift to the bishop.

St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral
Built in 1823, and rebuilt most recently in the 1930s by a Flemish monk, the cathedral displays an amazing mixture of styles, including Moorish, Romanesque, and Georgian, all fashioned out of dark volcanic-sand bricks.

The Botanical Gardens
The Leeward (west) coast of St. Vincent leads to many interesting sights. A visit to the Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, is a favourite stop for both visitors and Locals. Here, rare and exotic flowers, plants and trees abound. The garden was founded in 1762 as a commercial breeding ground for plants brought from other parts of the world. St. Vincent was Captain Bligh’s original destination when the mutiny on HMS Bounty delayed his first scheduled arrival. He eventually completed a second voyage, and a descendant of one of his original breadfruit trees thrives in today’s garden. There is also an aviary for a close-up view of the majestically coloured national bird, the St. Vincent parrot (Amazona Guildingii). Guides are available and will happily escort you on a short, half-hour tour of the grounds for US$2 a person, longer tours are available for US$3 a person

Fort Charlotte
On Berkshire Hill, just west of town, and over 600 feet above the bay, is Fort Charlotte. Named after King George III’s wife, the fortification was constructed in 1806. In its heyday, it supported 600 troops and 34 guns. Some of the old barracks now house a museum with the colourful history of the Black Caribs depicted on its walls.

Eco-Tours
Since primeval times, St. Vincent has been blessed with lush mountains, volcanic-rich soil and unspoiled landscapes of brilliant flora and beautiful crystal clear waters. Add to this the idyllic islands and deserted cays of the Grenadines, and the entire country emerges as a prime eco-playground.There’s something here for one and all from sailing and dolphin-watching, to hiking the nature trails and swimming in waterfalls. You can climb to the top of a volcano, or explore the fascinating underwater gardens surrounding this pristine archipelago.  From Bequia you can catch a quick flight to mainland St. Vincent (nine miles away) or take a regularly scheduled hour-long ferry trip .Occasionally during sea crossings a school of dolphin will leap and twirl to the delight of passengers. Six types of dolphin are found in Vincentian waters, including spinner, spotted, Fraser and bottlenose.  Whales, such as Orcas and pilot, can also be observed.

Diving sites abound in the turquoise waters surrounding these volcanic islands. Abundant reef-life, normally found at 80-ft in most dive destinations around the world, flourishes here at depths of only 25-ft, with an extraordinary variety of tropical reef fish such as angelfish, sargeant majors and peacock flounder. The shallow-water reefs surrounding almost every island make snorkelling an exciting adventure. Local dive shops and tour operators are both knowledgeable and experienced at making arrangements, according to each individual’s requirements. If land activities are more to your liking, venture first to Bequia, the largest of The Grenadines.

The perfect way to get “off-thebeaten-track” and see the serene countryside, including a visit to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary where former seaman, Orton King, saves endangered Hawksbill turtles from extinction.

The second must-see along this coast is the Owia Salt Pond. This unusual gift of nature consists of a huge bathing pool enclosed by lava peaks and ridges. The pounding waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash into this barrier and then gently cascade into the pool. Surrounded by mountains and the thundering surf, this area is an ideal stop for a picnic lunch, swimming and snorkelling.   The Leeward (west) coast of St. Vincent leads to many interesting sights. A visit to the Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, is a favourite stop for both visitors and locals. Here, rare and exotic flowers, plants and trees abound.

The garden was founded in 1762 as a commercial breeding ground for plants brought from other parts of the world. St. Vincent was Captain Bligh’s original destination when the mutiny on HMS Bounty delayed his first scheduled arrival. He eventually completed a second voyage, and a descendant of one of his original breadfruit trees thrives in today’s garden. There is also an aviary for a close-up view of the majestically coloured national bird, the St. Vincent parrot (Amazona Guildingii). Guides are available and will happily escort you on a short, half-hour tour of the grounds for US$2 a person, longer tours are available for US$3 a person.

La Soufriêre
Not just Another Volcano 
The adventure to La Soufrière starts with a drive along the rugged Windward coastline, passing Georgetown, once the centre of the sugar industry, and then turning inland through the Orange Hill banana plantation. There, at about a 1,200-ft elevation, a three-mile trail to the rim, at 4,048-ft, begins. It is highly recommended to have an experienced guide along not only for safety, but also to point out the amazing flora and fauna along the route.

 The approximately two and a half hour hike takes you through bamboo groves, a tropical rain forest, a landscape of scrub-like vegetation and then the final trudge up a rocky lava field. The temperature drops; the wind gusts; you wait a few moments for the cloud cover to pass and then there before you, in all its glory, is La Soufriêre. One of the most awe-inspiring sights on this planet.

To see St. Vincent’s parrot and other birds in their natural habitat, ornithologists should strike out for the Buccament Valley’s Vermont Nature Trails. This reserve is a superb area for hiking and bird watching, with more than 35 species having been spotted throughout the valley. A comfortable two-hour walk along the trails, pass cultivated fields and through evergreen and tropical rain forests, provides an opportunity to observe many species of wildlife, like the iguana and armadillo and more than 250 plant species.

Diving
Your attention swings from wonders to marvels and back again. You begin to say things to yourself, gasps of surprise, inarticulate sounds of awe, you are troubled with a terrible sense of loss that (as the case maybe) 20,30, or 50 years of your life have passed and gone without you knowing of the ease of entry into this new world...All I ask of each reader is this- don't die without having borrowed, stolen, purchased or made a helmet of sorts, to glimpse for yourself this new world...this unsuspected realm ofgorgeous life and colour existing with us today on the self-same planet earth."  William Beebe, Beneath the Tropic Seas, 1928

St. Vincent, home to a volcano and a rain forest, boasts an almost infinite selection of wall diving sites, and the underwater scenery, complete with pristine corals, will take your breath away (though hopefully not for long!). Nicknamed "Critter Country", make sure you have a fish I.D. book close at hand

The odds are, however, that when you've spotted all the frogfish, slipper lobster, chain morays, octopus and scorpion fish therein, you'll have to start writing one of your own. Fish behaviour will fascinate you - friendly spot fin butterfly fish may treat you as a protective floating reef and sargeant majors may chase you from their eggs. Even the end of the dives in St. Vincent are stunning, with sheer cliffs plunging to the depths, and century plants clinging precariously - a death-defying hanging garden. Bequia, with its beautiful beaches, friendly people and gentle nature, offers a wonderful array of sloping reefs. The pelagics range from Hawksbill turtles to black-tip sharks and eagle rays. In the shallows, take time to spot the near invisible little creatures like sea horses and basket stars, the harlequin pipefish and the odd grumpy bat fish. Mustique, "escape island" of the rich and famous, also presents underwater relief from sunbathing and ice cream sundaes. Sloping reefs and flat expanses of coral reveal shy spotted drums, spiny lobsters, and banded coral shrimp  gathered ready for action at a cleaning station.