Soufriere

Tourism is quietly mingling with the laid-back lifestyle of the residents of this gently sunbaked village in the southwest, near one of the island's two marine reserves. Although it was first settled by French lumbermen in the 17th century, it's mainly fishermen you'll find here today. In the village sits one of the island's prettiest churches, a historic 18th-century Catholic church built of volcanic stone. The ruins of the L. Rose Lime Oil factory; Sulphur Springs, with its hot mineral baths to the east; and some of the best diving and snorkeling on the island is within the Soufrière/Scotts Head Marine Reserve. To the west is Bois Cotlette (a historic plantation house) and to the south the Scotts Head Peninsula—at the island's southern tip—which separates the Caribbean from the Atlantic. So if there isn't enough treasure here to satisfy you, there's always the rain forest waiting to be challenged.