ArtsyJudi

We will be flying to St kitts this spring. I love the West Indies! Although I like the beach, I am more of a mountain and nature person, so I'm thinking a mountain hotel in either Nevis or St Kitts would be great. We will probably opt to eat most dinners at the hotel, and have lunches out. Although we could split the time, it would probably be cheaper and easier to stay at just one place.
Any advice? Nevis or St Kitt's, Golden rock or Ottley's? They both look wonderful. I just can't Seem to determine the advantages or major differences of one or the other.
Thanks!

Callaloo

I split my time on my last trip (though on the trip before, I stayed for a full week at Nisbet on Nevis). This time around, I did 4 days on Nevis at Nisbet Plantation (on the beach) and 3 days on St. Kitts at Ottley's (in the mountains). I also visited Golden Rock, which is in a beautiful setting on Nevis. All 3 of these have great food and have lots of nature close at hand -- especially those wildly entertaining green vervet monkeys (which some islanders don't love so much...).

While it may be easier to stay in one place, I don't think it's necessarily cheaper (unless you fly into St. Kitts and stay there, in which case you're saving the cost of round trip ferry and transfers).

You can read my trip reports here:

http://islandtime.homestead.com/NevisSKB2010.html
http://islandtime.homestead.com/Nevis2008.html

Regardless of what you decide, the plantation experience on either St. Kitts or Nevis is fantastic. I personally find Nisbet Plantation to be one of my favorite hotels in all of the Caribbean, and would choose it if I could only choose one place.

cw

ArtsyJudy,

We, too, are fans of plantation inns. We stayed for years at Rawlins Plantation but left for Nevis after the change in ownership. We have stayed three times at the Hermitage.

Like you, I like staying on the mountainside, and driving to the beach during the day.

It's hard to advise you since all the plantation inns are lovely in their own way.

Ottley's has beautiful grounds. We often stopped by there for a drink but preferred the atmosphere of Rawlins. When we decided to find another place we decided on Nevis. The Hermitage was our choice. It came highly recommended, is a good mix of hospitality and good food, but is not pretentious. It's a nice size, has lovely cottages, and is convenient to the beaches and other restaurants.

Montpelier is beautiful but a little too high priced for us. Golden Rock has a beautiful location and, I hear, since the renovation and change in ownership is ever better than it was. We love going to Nisbet for lunch and the beach, but I do like staying higher up.

Basically, you won't go wrong with any of your choices. No place on Nevis is far from any other place, and it's fun to visit the other inns and restaurants for lunch and dinner.

I'm glad to answer any specific questions you might have.

Caribheart

Sadly I am not in the position in life yet to enjoy the plantation options for stays...children, finances being main restrictions.

I have not seen the Nevis options but I will say that in my 20+ years of going to St. Kitts and my main short term stops by Ottleys (dinner, breakfast, coffee, rainforest trek with family, picture taking) it remains one of my absolute favorite places in the Caribbean to just be. The views, the quality and the easiness combined with the peace and the palm trees and the location all add up to make it one of my mental "happy places".

That is just my two cents....have a wonderful decadent time at your chosen location Nevis is quite fantastic as an island as well!

Knowing

Nevis! It is such a romantic island. I swear they have more stars at night than anywhere we've ever been before! Can't help much with a hotel as our pick is the Four Seasons. We like the long walks at sunset.
We did eat dinners at Montpelier and the Hermitage. We had a very romantic candlelight dinner in the sugar mill at Montpelier and liked the ambiance there. Very friendly and warm hosts and the guests were the same. The Hermitage messed up our entire meal and we just didn't have as warm of a feeling there. But again, we weren't staying there, so we only got a glimpse of what it would feel like to stay at either one.

ArtsyJudi

You have all been so helpful! Thanks for the input. It sounds like I can't go too far wrong.
I do have a couple of question for now, though: is it necessary to rent a car? I haven't been in the West Indies for a number of years and remember some pretty crazy driving back in the day... Whether it is Nevis or St Kitts, we will want a couple of beach days, hikes, possibly horseback riding, a couple of funky lunch places. I don't know about distances and cost of taxis, etc.
If we go to Ottley's, they have deluxe and supreme rooms available at present. I don't doubt that it would be great fun to have our own plunge pool, but it is quite a bit more expensive. Does anyone have any experience with the deluxe rooms?

Thanks again!

Callaloo

We didn't find the driving in either Nevis or St. Kitts to be "crazy" (as compared to, say, Grenada). There's just not that much traffic. Nevis is a smaller island than St. Kitts, so the distances are short. St. Kitts can have some traffic in Basseterre, has some awful roads (especially in the southeastern end, where there is a lot of development going on) and is a larger island; moreover, the sites in the mountains take a bit more effort to reach. I, personally, would rent a car.

Lots of good, funky lunch places on both islands. My absolute favorite is Sunshine's in Nevis. If you stay in Nevis, or take a daytrip, it's a must. One of the quintessential beach bars in the Caribbean, and the food is very good -- especially if you're lucky enough to find lobster salad on the menu when you're visiting.

cd

We were in St Kitts recently and spent a day doing a tour. Our tour quide said that all the palms trees in Nevis have died from a disease. We noticed the palms in St Kitts beginning to die and asked about it. He said they will eventually be dead just like the palms on Nevis.

RoamsAround

The disease you are talking about is called Lethal Yellow and attacks certain (but not all) palm trees. It is airborne in nature. It is found in many tropical climates throughout the world. There is no cure and the only treatment is more "preventative" in nature but it's not 100% effective. The statement "all the palms trees in Nevis have died" is a bit of an exaggeration. True thousands of palm tree have been lost but many, many thousands more were spared.

It first showed up on Nevis about 5 years ago and was pretty devastating as it killed thousands of trees over the next 2 or so years - mostly on the western side of the island. While most of the dead trees have been cut down and replaced (a process that took a couple more years to accomplish) there are still some dead tress standing around the island.

The disease has migrated it's way over to St. Kitts so that island will go through a similar cycle.

Most newly planted palm trees on both Nevis and St. Kitts are of varieties that are resistant to Lethal Yellow.

cd

Thanks RoamsAround for the name and correct information regarding the disease Lethal Yellow. It is good to know that our quide was in error and that not all palms have died.

cw

ArtsyJudi,

I think you'll need a car in either St. Kitts or Nevis to have the freedom to come and go as you wish. We've always rented a car though some people reserve taxis to take them around.

Nevis is smaller than St. Kitts and the driving distances between restaurants and sites are not far and the traffic is not bad at all. St. Kitts has more traffic, and especially a lot of the bus/vans that serve as local transportation. If you stay at Ottley's you'll run into them. Since you're not going in high season, you could probably wait until you are on the island before deciding whether to take taxis or rent a car.

The advantage to having a car is that you can stop off at any place that interests you. It you take a taxi to a beach and give them a time to pick you up, you're locked into that. So the car is freedom but may not be necessary if you venture out only once a day.

Dianebridles

A book that you might find interesting is"Live de Life"by Joan Harrington. It has interesting stories about experiences of a couple who moved to St. Ktts and have lived there for some time. It is not only a fun beach read but gives much information and descriptions of a number of plantation inns including Ottleys, Golden Lemon and others. It also gives info an a number of restaurants. See pgs. 192 and on.

Have fun

BellaClaire

I love St. Kitts and Nevis.....yet why not throw another option in the mix...if you prefer a "mountain view" and like nature.....check out Saba - the jewel of the caribbean....fly into St. Maarten and take the ferry over - or you can fly into Saba as well.....via WinAir I think....I was there last February - it's a magical place.

ArtsyJudi

I am now leaning towards staying at The Hermitage. The problem is that too many places look great with different things to offer.
We are likely to take the adventure option, which includes a couple of dinners and several activities we would like. That will be a bit of a splurge for me, so I am looking for some inexpensive options without too much sacrifice. For instance: should we upgrade to the higher priced cabins with a kitchenette and make some of our own meals, or pay less for the room and eat out? I am sure we'll be happy with beach shack style and food, but are they very expensive? I think we will have a car for about 3 days.
For those of you who have stayed at the Hermitage, do you know of other differences between the different cabins? Again, trying to figure out where I want to put my money.
Any other "must do" , "must see"' "must try" suggestions?
I really appreciate all the feedback!

ArtsyJudi

Oops! I forgot another question.
Does anyone know of places to hear some good music during shoulder season (mid-April)? I am not interested in a Four Seasons over produced or night club place. Just casual West Indies music.

cw

We've stayed three times at the Hermitage--twice in the regular rooms (Tower Up and Tower Down), and once in Pasture House, which has a kitchenette. I think the kitchenette might be convenient if you were traveling with children but it could serve to make some basic meals. The regular rooms all have small refrigerators and kettles for boiling water--so we found that sufficient.

I actually liked staying at Tower Up the best. It's one large bedroom with a four-poster bed, chair and couch. We spend most of our time on the verandah. You have a nice view from the verandah here. So I'd opt for the lower priced unit--you spend almost all your waking hours outside anyway.

We've never eaten at Mem's Pizza, but it gets good reviews and is right on the way "home" to the Hermitage. There are other lower cost options on the island, though these are not usually the beach bars--though not high-priced, they are not inexpensive. The breakfast (included) at the Hermitage is fantastic. You have a choice of cold and hot items. You can try something different every morning. Wish I had one of those West Indian omelets right now.

The music tends to be spread around different places so you can wait until you get on the island and ask. For instance, the beach bars often have music on different nights. These are local bands.

RoamsAround

Artsy - if you stay at Hermitage you might consider budgeting for a rental car for your entire stay rather than just 3 days. There is nothing within walking distance of the Hermitage so if you want to leave the Inn's grounds on the days you don't have a car your only option will be to take a taxi and quite honestly going anywhere of interest in a cab will end up costing you almost as much as the car rental.

The "kitchenette" units at Hermitage are pretty spartan and good for preparing only the very basic of items - best for simple breakfast and/or lunch. I wouldn't count on using it to prepare dinner unless you are into things like macaroni & cheese, canned soups, hot dogs, etc. Personally, if budget was a consideration I'd opt for the lower priced room and "dine out" but that's a decision only you can make. You have to ask yourself this question "Do I really want to cook while I'm on vacation?"

There are some fairly reasonable priced "local" places you can eat on Nevis but you will need transportation to get to any of them from Hermitage. Try the following (the staff at Hermitage will gladly give you directions):

Mem's Pizza
Pemo's
Rodney's Cousine
Old House Cafe
Water Department (akaPump Road) BBQ (Friday Nights only)
Pizza Beach
Sunrise Beach Bar
Rumors
Island Breeze
Ocean Bistro
Manza's (for BBQ chicken).
Seafood Madness (currently closed for renovation but should reopen shortly)
Gold Coast Chinese Restaurant
Tea House Chinese Restaurant
The Patio (lunch only)

By the way, there's a "Yellow Truck" at the ferry dock in Charlestown that sells some very good BBQ chicken - it's very reasonably priced.

There are a few beach bars along Pinney's Beach that have some reasonably priced items on their menus but be aware there are pricey items too. Check out:

Sunshine's
Chevy's
Lime
Double Deuce.

cw was right about the music - many places have some music in the evenings but it varies from place to place and week to week. Just ask the staff at Hermitage to tell you who's playing where the week or so you are on-island or stop at the tourist office in Charlestown and pick up that week's "Event Calendar" and you'll know as much as anyone.

ArtsyJudi

At the moment I am hoping to book a week at the Hermitage. They seem to have just the right combination of activities and a relaxed style I am looking for. I have already booked a flight into SKB. Now I am trying to figure out how to get to and from Nevis from the airport in St Kitts. I understand there are ferries, but are they frequent and reliable? Our airfare and the hotel - whichever we choose - will be a splurge for me, so spending a few hundred more for water taxis is making me nervous. I noticed that airport pick up is included at Nisbet now, but it is so much more expensive to begin with... I am also more of a mountain than a beach person.
Do any of you Nevis fans know whether getting there from St Kitts is very difficult or expensive?

Callaloo

While we used the Nisbet water taxi service for our trip this year, for our last trip we used the regular ferry from St. Kitts to Nevis. If I recall correctly, there are several ferries, and they seem to run every 30 minutes or so ending around 6 or 6:30 p.m.; the trip over is about an hour (maybe less?) and arrives in Charlestown. You'll have to pay for taxis at both ends, and the ferry itself; probably under $100 for a couple all told.

I would check with the Hermitage to see what they suggest.

RoamsAround

The passenger ferry between St. Kitts and Nevis is much cheaper than the water taxi. It runs about $9US/PP each way. The trip takes about 45 minutes and the ferries are pretty reliable usually leaving within 5 minutes of scheduled departure time. The ferry dock in St. Kitts is about a 10 minute drive from the airport and will cost you about $10US for the taxi. The ferry will arrive in Charlestown which is about a 15 minute ride from Hermitage - taxi fare will run you about $12US.

There are numerous ferries throughout the day although the schedules do vary slightly depending on the day of the week. You can check ferry schedules here: http://boatschedule.leytonms.com/index.php