Things to Do in St Kitts

One of the oldest towns in the Eastern Caribbean, Basseterre is the capital of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies, making it an excellent jumping off point for exploration in the area. Owing to centuries of French and British colonial rule, this small hub of a now sovereign state is a delightful combination of European history and culture and island living, tourism and opportunities for repose. 

Basseterre’s small, protected harbor is its most distinctive physical feature. The city itself is dived into two main areas, The Circus, which is geared towards tourists, and Independence Square, which contains the cathedral, courthouse and most of the older buildings. As the cultural and commercial center of the Federation, there are an assortment of iconic regional businesses, breweries, craft markets, museums, monuments, heritage sites, eateries and pubs. Points of interest include St. George's Anglican Church, which has endured fires, demolition, and hurricanes since 1670, the National Museum, Fort Thomas, and the Springfield Cemetery and Chapel.

Outside of the southeastern peninsula of St. Kitts, Frigate Bay has long been considered the best beach on the island. Located just 3 miles from Basseterre, there is something going on day or night all year round. Swimming, windsurfing, kayaking, jet skiing and beach volleyball are all popular activities at this golden sand beach. After nightfall, the beach bars of South Frigate Bay come alive. Live music, dancing, bonfires, karaoke, food and fun alternate on different nights of the week.

This section of the beach also hosts the annual St. Kitts Music Festival. The western end of the beach is home to various sports bars, restaurants and nightclubs for visitors and locals seeking some excitement.  Things really heat up with events sponsored by area businesses that coincide with the end of semester at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (mud wrestling, anyone?).  

Originally constructed in the late 1700s for slave auctions and council meetings, the public square in Basseterre was officially rechristened in 1983 to commemorate the independence of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis from Great Britain. In darker days, human chattel were kept in tunnels under the Georgian House (now a gourmet restaurant) on the south side of the square before being brought up for bidding. Today the space is a gathering place for promenaders, family outings, impromptu gatherings, and any number of parades, parties and festivals.

Adorned with a large fountain at its center, the formerly named Pall Mall Square is surrounded by excellent examples of British Colonial architecture. The perimeters are bordered by old stone buildings and period appropriate wooden structures painted in white and pastels that make Independence Square one of the central hubs of the cultural life of the region.

Vacationers in search of some sand and surf will treasure the undeveloped beaches of the southeast peninsula of St. Kitts. Among these, Turtle Beach offers opportunities for stalking monkeys and swimming within sight of neighboring Nevis. Open-air cafes offer margaritas, buckets of chilled Carib beer, grilled mahi mahi and other local favorites just feet from the water, and while the service can be a little slow, the food and the views are well worth the wait. A menagerie of chickens, goats and local legend Wilbur the pig, who is famously friendly to fault, is on hand.

One of the smallest popular beaches on the island, Turtle Beach nonetheless has live local music on Sunday afternoons. Pleasure seekers looking for unspoiled paradise may be disappointed due to the crowds of tourists and hawkers pushing massage and braided hair extensions, but travelers interested in soaking up some local color along with an allotment of sun should head straight for Turtle Beach. 

Located on the west coast of Saint Kitts, just to the south of Middle Island, Old Road Town was settled in 1624 by Thomas Warner, his wife, and a small group of settlers interested in trying their hand at tobacco farming. Though dwarfed in size and significance by the capital Basseterre, Old Road is nonetheless blessed with healthy tourism and farming industries, including a massive local investment from the Taiwanese government in a new fisheries complex that has modernized the local industry.

Just outside of Old Road are a number of interesting Carib petroglyphs, testifying to the once dominant native population. Area residents are more approachable and laid back than in more bustling parts of the island. While visiting Old Road, be sure to stop off at Wingfield Estate, recipient of the first land grant given by the King of England in the entire English-speaking West Indies and an active archeological and historical site.

Like its neighbor Nevis, St. Kitts is a Caribbean haven in the Leeward Islands. Miami is around 2,100km (1,300 miles) away, and nearby islands include St. Barts and Antigua. You’ll dock at Port Zante in the historic capital, Basseterre, towards the island’s southern tip. The port’s sparkling-new facilities include restaurants and boutiques, jewelry shops, souvenirs and a duty-free plaza.

How to Get to Basseterre
Downtown Basseterre is just a 15-minute stroll away from Port Zante. If you take a taxi, agree on the fare upfront as cabs don’t tend to be metered. Minibuses also takes passengers downtown. If you’re driving, keep a lookout for goats, cows and other wildlife that might wander into your path. St. Kitts’ tourism operations are based at the port, a good spot to pick up maps and island information.

One Day in St. Kitts
The French and the British have both left their mark on St. Kitts, and a stream of pirates and slave traders visited over the centuries. Today the island offers cruise passengers a taste of colonial history, rainforest scenery and snorkel adventures in the Eastern Caribbean. To get your bearings, a Discover St. Kitts shore excursion tour takes in the capital’s Independence Square, the Romney Manor batik factory and gorgeous Caribbean beaches. There’s time for shopping or a visit to Brimstone Hill Fortress on a panoramic island tour.

Away from the coast, behind the green mountains fringing Basseterre, St. Kitts is a lushly rainforested island with waterfalls and exotic wildlife, highlighted on a half-day tour. If the call of the crystal-clear water is too tempting to resist, go kayaking and reef snorkeling with tropical fish and sea turtles for a relaxing St. Kitts shore excursion.

Port Information
Cruise lines sailing to St. Kitts include Carnival, Azmara, Celebrity, Seabourn, Norwegian and Princess. Port Zante’s extensive port facilities can handle the world’s largest liners, including the QM2. St. Kitts’ currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, but US dollars are just as widely accepted. You’ll find banks with ATMs in central Basseterre. English is spoken with a distinctive Caribbean lilt on St. Kitts.

The 3,792 foot summit of Mt Liamuiga is the highest point in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis and the entire British Leeward Islands. Naturally, this makes it an unparalleled vantage point for taking in the stunning expanses of the Eastern Caribbean. Formerly possessed of the discouraging moniker Mount Misery, Liamuiga comes from the Kalinago name for the island itself, which means “fertile land.” And the mountainsides surrounding this peak are certainly fertile.

Nearly half way up the mountain, the land is a patchwork of farmland and small villages, beyond which tropical rainforest covers the slopes before giving way to cloud forest. Guided tours to the summit are readily available starting from Belmont Estate in St. Pauls. The whole of the island is easily visible from the top, as well as the nearby islands of Saba, Statia, St. Barths, St. Martin, Antigua, and Nevis.

You can spend hours exploring the various sights and attractions at Romney Manor, a 17th century estate that was once a slave-holding sugar plantation. Today, it has been given new life as one of the island’s most beloved local craft shops, Caribelle Batik, where you can watch women expertly applying a traditional Indonesian style of fabric treatment that uses wax and dye to create beautiful patterns. Surrounding the main building, you’ll find one of St. Kitts’ best botanical gardens—six acres of tropical flowers and a 350-year-old saman tree. Also at this site, you’ll find large lava rocks carved with ancient Carib petroglyphs—reputedly these are fertility rocks that help bestow parenthood on those who touch them.

Those seeking a stimulating day trip on St. Kitts couldn’t do better than the Great Salt Pond located on the southeastern tip of the island. Bordered by both the Atlantic and the Caribbean, brilliant white sands line the beach on both sides. Body surfing is popular in the turbulent Atlantic waters, while snorkeling and swimming are preferable in the Caribbean. An array of birds frequent the shore, and while there may be more secluded beaches on the island, the combination of personality and natural beauty more than make up for what it occasionally lacks in seclusion. 

However populated, the Great Salt Pond is far from urbanized. The occasional blight of garbage and pollution that mar many St. Kitts destinations don’t touch this pristine spot. Families casting about for a truly beautiful shore-front free from the clatter of business and entertainment will likely find that this beach fits the bill to perfection.

There are few better and more relaxing ways to see the island of St. Kitts than by one of the double-decked cars of the St. Kitts Scenic Railway. Choose between the splendor of the lower level “parlor” car, complete with air-conditioning, complimentary cocktails, and cushioned rattan chairs and inlaid tables, or the unobstructed 360-degree viewing of the open-air observation deck. Built between 1912 and 1926 to carry sugar cane from outlying plantations to the capital Basseterre, the St. Kitts Scenic is among the last railroads left in the West Indies.

The tour begins at the pier at Port Zante, where passengers board railway transfer buses to join the train. Leaving the station, passengers are soon surrounded by cane fields. As the train ascends the slopes of Mt. Liamuiga, the train passes black sand beaches, ruinous plantation estates, tall steel girder bridges, deep ravines and sweeping vistas of nearby islands.