RSSGros Islet is a small fishing village centred around a beach and is located just across the harbour channel from Rodney Bay. The town has old, dilapidated wooden homes along the narrow and sometimes crowded streets. These streets remain busy with vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables.
The town is a favourite with the tourists and locals alike for the Friday night street party that is locally popular as jump-up. This is the village's most alluring and also the most popular feature. The area around main drag Dauphine Street, perpendicular to the Castries-Gros Islet Highway to Bay Street and the sea, is blocked off to make way for the partygoers and the snack vendors selling everything from barbecue to fried fich, conch kebabs and cold beers. The bars come alive every weekend and speakers set up on street corners are blaring with loud and peppy music throughout the night.
The crowd gathers late in the evening and the party continues until the early hours, consisting mainly of moving between vendors and dancing with a beer in one hand and a juicy barbecued chicken leg dribbling down the other. The wild party is a memorable experience and is quite safe and usually a good-natured affair.
The imposing St Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church on Church Street, a block north of Dauphine Street, is a remarkable structure that was built in 1926. It's an ornate church with a cement façade built on the site of a church destroyed by a 1906 earthquake. There's also a public library on Marie Theresa Street across from Daphil's Hotel.
The public beach along Bay Street is dotted with fishing boats, drying nets, and small vendor huts. It is generally quiet and proves to be suitable for swimming.
A better beach is the Reduit Beach at Rodney Bay town, or the Causeway Beach at Pigeon Island on the north side of Gros Islet. There are several lodging facilities available in Gros Islet with several guesthouses along Marie Therese and Bay streets. The modest local restaurants around town offer authentic Creole cuisine.
