Frequently Asked Questions

How did it start?
Norun Persson, founder of Hibiscus Valley Inn, had always nourished a dream of another existence far away from the grey skies of Sweden. She has always been very interested in the Caribbean culture and way of life so different from the Swedish one. The difference with Norun Person is that she dared to make a try to reach her goal and fulfil her dream. After starting up an own software company by the name of EMDS Consulting she raised the funding necessary to start her project.

The simple reason why she chose Dominica is because the island reminded her of the experience when she first came to the Caribbean's 35 years ago. Dominica is one of the few islands that have not suffered from mass tourism. She came in contact with the island as her husband originated from Dominica and the family was living in nearby Saint Thomas (USVI) for a year. She and the family went to Dominica on a December vacation and Norun fell in love immediately with this untouched paradise.

She started her project 1995 and along the way she built up the cultural knowledge base that was necessary to succeed in Dominica. One of the main strengths of the Hibiscus Valley Inn organization was the ability to combine Swedish culture with the Dominican, extracting the best out of both of them. She could provide and teach her staff on how the Western guests wanted to be treated and she knew what the guests were looking for when taking a vacation to Dominica. She showed the staff that it was the little things that made a difference; the everyday routine for a Dominican can be an exiting experience for a guest.

How do I get to Hibiscus Valley Inn?
Getting to Hibiscus Valley Inn is easy. There are not to many roads on Dominica so it is quite hard to miss. If you click on the map on the starting page on this web site we have a map showing where we are situated. If you arrive in Mellville Hall the larger airport we will pick you up for 10USD / person. If you come to Roseau we have a charge of $25 US/person since this is a two-hour drive for us back and forward ( min 2 persons).  

Which are Hibiscus Valley Inn’s purpose and objectives?
 - The Dream of another reality -
The purpose and objectives with Hibiscus Valley Inn is to provide an opportunity to live life close to the nature in an untouched environment far away from the daily stress of the modern society. Coming to Hibiscus Valley Inn is like going back in time to the way humans were suppose to live their lives.

We have as objectives to provide our guest with an extensive tours program to choose from making their stay at Hibiscus Valley Inn as exiting and adventurous as you want it to be.

When building Hibiscus Valley Inn, Norun Persson the founder, had a dream of another reality far away from the grey skies of Sweden. Hibiscus Valley Inn is simply the result from this dream and our objective is to share this dream with our guests.

We have as main objective to make sure that you will have a great stay at Hibiscus Valley Inn and our staffs are committed in making your stay a memorable vacation.

What is the difference between Hibiscus Valley Inn and other accommodations on Dominica?
Hibiscus Valley Inn is situated on the north east part of Dominica approximately one hour drive from Roseau. This fact alone differentiates our guesthouse from most of the other hotels and guesthouses. We live by that when people comes to Dominica “the Nature island”, people would want to live in the nature and not in a city far away from what makes Dominica Special. Hibiscus Valley Inn is situated by the side of the rainforest close to the Carib reserve with an exotic river as closest neighbour.  This river forms like a natural pool where you can take a morning swim before breakfast.

Most hotels would tell you that there are no beautiful beaches on Dominica. There are some very pretty beaches on Dominica only that they are situated in our part of the island. We have a natural hidden beach just five minutes by car from our accommodation where we take guests free of charge. Other than this we have the Secret-pools, Twin-falls, Carib reserve, L´escalier Tetien, The villaged of Marigot. We are close to the airport, which will save you a substantial amount of money ($20-30 US/person) since we have free pick up.

Hibiscus Valley Inn is a Swedish owned guesthouse, which gives us the advantage of having a muli-cultural organization. Since we come from abroad we know what people that visit Dominica wants that some times falls quite strange to the local Dominicans. An every-day task for a Dominican could be a lifetime experience for a guest.

We have tours and restaurant. The guesthouse have tours to all of the landmarks of Dominica such as boiling lake and emerald pool but we also have some unique ones that only we know the location of such as the Secret Pool and a hot volcanic waterfall. In the restaurant you can choose from a range of local Dominican dishes. A popular thing is to follow the chef to the Village harbour and pick out the days catch yourself.

You can read about more differences in the other questions.

Who would like Hibiscus Valley Inn?
Hibiscus Valley Inn is for the traveller and not for the tourist. Hibiscus Valley Inn is not the place to turn to if you want to have an exiting nightlife or lie by the beach all day. Then there are better islands in the Caribbean’s or hotels in Dominica that can provide you with that.

Hibiscus Valley Inn is not for the traveller that put high emphasis on comfortable items such as TV and radio.

Our guesthouse consists of locally built bungalows that are made to melt into the surrounding nature. Although we have simple standards you have the basic facilities to provide you with the basic needs such as toilet,  shower and fans in each bungalows.

Hibiscus Valley Inn is really for the traveller who really wants to unwind and de-stress in a calm and exotic environment, the adventurer who looks upon accommodation as a starting point to adventures or the romantic couples who wants to separate themselves from the outer world and only mind for each other.

In short you can choose to do as much as you want at Hibiscus Valley Inn or just let the time past by.


Why is Hibiscus Valley Inn suitable for small groups?
Hibiscus Valley Inn is idealistic for group travelling. When ever we have groups Hibiscus Valley Inn becomes a small bungalow village strictly for our guests. It is a great concept and starting point to the Dominican adventures. We have professional guides who will guide your group to known attractions and unknown secrets of the Dominican rainforest. We have packages specially designed for groups travelling where everything is included. These packages can be personalised to your requirements whether it is with a focus on diving, rainforest, hiking, whales/dolphins, turtel watching or culture .

Why is Hibiscus Valley Inn an Eco-tourist accommodation?
Hibiscus Valley Inn takes pride and great responsibility to fulfil all aspects of what is required to be allowed to be called an Eco-tourism accommodation. We do not use the concept ecotourism as simply a selling tool!

We are certified by the Ecoclub, which means that we fulfil all four criterions required to be able to call us an ecotourism accommodation:

“Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but foot prints”

Environmentally sustainable: Hibiscus Valley Inn is one of the few accommodation in Dominica that is using the ecotourism concept all the way out, by using solar cells ( partly) for electricity.  We use fresh spring water from a spring in the mountains that we tested in Sweden for purity. We take care of all disposure to reduce the impact on nature ect. Compost for our organic vegetables garden .

Promoting Environmental & Cultural Education: Our guide will share the Dominican cultural heritage with our guests. Further aspects of Hibiscus Valley Inn´s support is that we arrange the possibility to meet a Carib family where the Caribs naturally get increase the general knowledge of the last Carib Indians in the world.

Conservation – supporting the local community:  Hibiscus Valley Inn are very cautious not to disturb the well-being of the local Carib Indians. We support both parts of the local community in ways of employment and education. Hibiscus Valley Inn is planning a major sponsor project with two schools in the surrounding area; one in Marigot and one in the Carib territory. Our objective is to teach students the importance of ecological farming, showing them that a market exist for food processed in a nature friendly way.

Benefiting the local community: This factor is supported to what have just been mentioned above with our school project, only local employment, and cultural visits to the Carib territory which naturally benefit the local community in a financial way but also in many other aspects.

Hibiscus Valley Inn was built to melt into the surrounding nature. We want to intrude as little as possible in the lush and exotic environment where we have the privilege to exist.

General Visitor Information