Jump Up is the weekly street party where a massive sound system is set up in the middle of the road and a crowd of high-spirited revellers – locals and tourists alike – groove to the soca and reggae sounds in between trips to the bars and barbecue vendors.

Ophra Winfrey once declared the Pitons as one of the wonders of the world, but she presumably wasn't referring to the beer brewed on the island but the pair of majestic mountain peaks which are the beautiful Caribbean island's most distinctive landmarks.

And there you have St Lucia's winning combination of its friendly relaxed atmosphere and visual splendour of a lush tropical rain forest flanked by sandy beaches and secluded coves.

St Lucia is one of the Windward Islands halfway down the chain of the eastern Caribbean archipelago. The Atlantic Ocean laps the eastern shore and the Caribbean Sea lines the west coast.

Should you ever get disorientated if you can see tidal waves you're looking at the Atlantic.

Appropriately shaped like a mango (a fruit in abundance), the island is 27 miles long and 14 miles wide but actually seems bigger because it takes time getting from one place to another on the hilly winding roads.

Accommodation ranges from luxurious all-inclusive hotels catering for couples (St Lucia is a big honeymoon destination) to family-orientated resorts – and there are guest houses and even a campsite for the budget tourist.

At the very top end of the scale is Jade Mountain with "infinity pool sanctuaries" individually designed by architect owner Nick Troubetzkoy and entirely techno-free. The height of luxury enjoyed by the likes of Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford is classified four star because the lack of a need for air conditioning disqualifies it from five stars!

We were quite content to experience the traditional splendour of the Royal by Rex at Rodney Bay (a bar in the middle of the pool – how cool is that?), the all-inclusive village-style resort of Almond Smugglers Cove in the North West, and the Coconut Bay Resort and Spa at Vieux Point down south which divides itself down the middle between an upmarket holiday camp for kids and families on one side and an adult-only oasis on the other.

The temptation, of course, is not to venture far from the poolside or beach near where you are staying. But there are plenty of things to do.

We were taken horse-riding along the beach and zip-lining in the tropical rainforest Treetop Adventure Park, a potentially scary prospect which proved exhilaratingly enjoyable thanks to being in the safe hands of the good-humoured, laid-back but efficient guides who typified the St Lucians we encountered.

We also visited the Sulphur Springs, dubbed the world's only "drive-in" volcano, where you can get up close to a volcanic crater with bubbling pools shooting steam clouds 50ft in the air.