St Kitts and Nevis is one country and two islands separated by a strait three kilometres wide called The Narrows. They are the smallest sovereign state in the Americas by both area and population, and the two halves have almost nothing in common.
St Kitts is the larger, with the capital at Basseterre, a cruise port, an international airport and a scenic railway built to carry sugar cane. It has development, resorts and a working economy.
Nevis is a single volcano, Nevis Peak at 985 metres, usually with cloud on the summit. It has around 11,000 people, no cruise dock, no traffic to speak of, and a ring road you can drive in forty minutes.
The ferry between them takes about forty minutes and runs several times a day.
The plantation inns
Nevis has a form of hotel that barely exists elsewhere in the Caribbean. Sugar estates on the mountain slopes were abandoned as the industry collapsed, and from the 1960s onward a number of the great houses and sugar mills were converted into small hotels — usually under twenty rooms, in gardens, at 200 to 300 metres above the sea with the trade winds through them.
They are not beach hotels. Most run a shuttle down to a beach club on the coast, the rooms are in cottages spread through the grounds, and the cooking is often the reason people return year after year.
That combination — small, high, old and owner-run — is what Nevis has and what makes it worth the extra ferry.
What the islands share
Both were British, both ran on sugar, and both have the ruins to show it. Nevis was known as the Queen of the Caribbees in the eighteenth century and Alexander Hamilton was born there.
The seven below are split between them.
Nevis
The volcano island. Plantation inns and one large resort.
Four Seasons Resort Nevis occupies a beachfront site on Pinney's Beach with a golf course climbing the volcano, several pools, a spa and full family facilities. It is the only large resort on the island and the beach is the best one.
Four Seasons Resort Nevis
Pinney's Beach, Nevis · 5★ · $$$$
The island's only large resort, on its best beach
Check availabilityMontpelier Nevis sits at 230 metres on the slopes in a former sugar estate with a great house, gardens, a pool and a beach club below. The kitchen is among the best in the eastern Caribbean.
Montpelier Nevis
Nevis slopes, 230m · 5★ · $$$$
A sugar estate with one of the region's best kitchens
Check availabilityNisbet Plantation Beach Club occupies a coconut grove on the northern coast with cottages spread across a lawn running to the sea, and a great house at the top of it. It is the one plantation-style property that is actually on the beach.
Golden Rock Nevis sits high on the mountain in gardens designed around a 1801 sugar mill, with the sea below and a level of planting that is the reason to be there. The rooms are in scattered cottages and the setting is the product.
Golden Rock Nevis
Nevis mountainside · 4★ · $$$
Gardens designed around an 1801 sugar mill
Check availabilityHermitage Nevis occupies a plantation estate on the slopes with a great house dating to the eighteenth century, cottages in the grounds, horses and a long-running family operation.
Hermitage Nevis
Nevis slopes · 4★ · $$$
An eighteenth-century great house with cottages and horses
Check availabilitySt Kitts
The larger island, with the airport and the resorts.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts occupies a beachfront position at Christophe Harbour on the southeast peninsula with a large pool, a spa and views across The Narrows to Nevis. It is the best hotel on St Kitts.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts
Christophe Harbour, St Kitts · 5★ · $$$$
Looking across The Narrows to Nevis Peak
Check availabilityMarriott's St. Kitts Beach Club sits on Frigate Bay with several pools, a golf course and full facilities at a considerably lower rate.
Marriott's St. Kitts Beach Club
Frigate Bay, St Kitts · 4★ · $$$
Golf and several pools at a much lower rate
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The villa rentals across both islands are excluded, and on Nevis in particular they are a substantial part of the accommodation. They are houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Take the ferry between the islands. Forty minutes across The Narrows, several times a day, and it costs very little.
Climb Nevis Peak if you are fit and take a guide. It is a genuine scramble through rainforest with ropes on the upper section, about four hours return, and the summit is usually in cloud.
See Brimstone Hill on St Kitts, a British fortress on a volcanic outcrop that is a UNESCO site and one of the best preserved in the Americas.
Ride the St Kitts Scenic Railway, built to carry sugar cane and now running as a three-hour circuit of the island.
Eat at the plantation inns even if you are not staying. Several take outside dinner reservations and the cooking is the island's real culture.
Practical notes
St Kitts has the international airport with connections from North America and the UK. Nevis has a small airstrip and most visitors arrive via St Kitts and the ferry, or a water taxi.
December to April is the dry season and peak. May, June and November are much better value. Hurricane season runs June to November with the peak from August to October.
Nevis is very quiet. That is the appeal and it is worth being sure of before booking.
Explore 4 & 5 Star St Kitts and Nevis Hotels
Questions people actually ask
What is a plantation inn?
A converted sugar estate great house on the mountain slopes, usually under twenty rooms, in gardens, with a shuttle to a beach club.
St Kitts or Nevis?
St Kitts for the airport, the fortress and more to do. Nevis for quiet, the inns and the volcano. Forty minutes apart by ferry.
Are the inns on the beach?
Mostly not. They sit at 200 to 300 metres with beach clubs below and shuttles between.
How many nights?
Seven. Five on Nevis and two on St Kitts, or the reverse.