rimoxie

My husband will be staying at the Montpelier Plantation soon for 6 nights. (www.montpeliernevis.com) Does anyone have any experience with the meal plans - without knowing how much food costs on the regular menu of the inn's restaurant, it's hard to know whether it's a "value" to sign up for a daily plan. I can see the convenience of not having to think about it, but since our room fee includes breakfast and tea, it ends up being around $65 (+ tax/service) per person for a plan that includes dinner and $105 (+ tax/service) per person for a plan that includes lunch and dinner.

Alternatively, if you have any suggestions of other places to eat on the island, we would appreciate your ideas.

And finally, is renting a car easy to do? And is having a car useful?

thank you for any suggestions you have!

doug_stallings

The question you really have to ask is whether or not you want to have all your meals at one place or to dine around. And that's not something I can tell you. There are several other really good restaurants on Nevis, and you might not want to be limited to all your meals in your inn. I probably would not opt for a lunch plan if that costs an extra $40, but food on Nevis is not cheap, so consider that you have to be willing to get outside of the resort if you don't opt for lunch. A car would give you that capability.

The roads on Nevis are not well marked, but it's easy enough to get around. Most of the inns offer transportation to the beach, and you might want to take tours to do sightseeing otherwise, so I don't know if a car is strictly necessary. The real hassle is that you have to buy a temporary driving permit on top of the car-rental price. You probably do want a car for at least a day or two, but perhaps not for the entire stay; if you get a full meal plan, then a car might not be a good investment. I'd make the decision based on that.

RoamsAround

First off, when staying at Montpelier you'll want to rent a car if you want to fully explore the island and be able to come and go as you please. FYI - other than the Botanical Gardens there's nothing within walking distance of the Inn. You could use taxis to get around but they are not always convenient and besides you'll find it less expensive to rent a car. The staff at Montpelier will gladly arrange for a rental car for you.

Second, Montpelier has one of the best restaurants on the island but there are numerous places (in varying price ranges)to dine around Nevis and you'd do yourself a diservice if you took all your meals at Montpelier. FYI - Montpelier is upscale dining and their meal prices are competive with other upscale dining around the island. Here's a list of some of the places where you can eat (most offer both lunch & dinner).

Golden Rock
Old Manor
Bananas
Hermitage
Double Deuce Beach Bar
Sunshine's Beach Bar
Lime Beach Bar
Chevy's Beach Bar
Oualie Beach
Nisbet's Beach Bar (lunch only)
Nisbet Great House (dinner only)
The Patio (lunch)
Yachtsman's Grill
Galipot (open for lunch & dinner Thursday through saturday & Brunch on Sunday)
Miss June's (dinner only)
Marshall's (dinner only)
Mount Nevis Hotel
Pemo's
Young's Chinese
Gold Coast Chinese
Black Hat (not sure if open for lunch)
Paz's (lunch only)
Ocean Breeze
Rodney's Cusine
Ocean Bistro
Mem's Pizza
Pizza Beach
Rumour's
Seafood Madness
Octagon Mermaid
Water Department (chicken & ribs Friday night's only)
Eddie's (Wednesday night)
Chrishi Beach
Manza's

There are several more places whose names escape me but suffice to say you won't go hungry on Nevis.

cw

We stay at the Hermitage which is not too far from Montpelier and we always rent a car. We like to explore and go to different beaches and lunch spots during the day and don't like being tied down to finding and scheduling taxis. Do rent a car unless you want to spend most of your time on the property.

Getting a license is simple. The car rental person sells you the license. Just make sure you bring your license from home. I think the cost is about $25 U.S.

RoamsAround gave you a great list of restaurants. The Hermitage usually has a pig roast and West Indian buffet on Wednesday nights. It's quite popular. We ate at Montpelier two years ago and I think the cost was about $60 for the three(?) course dinner. Could have been $65. So I don't think you're saving much with the meal plan.

flipflopfetish

Definitely rent a car and have Montpelier folks arrange for it. The license is not a hastle, or shouldn't be. I just walk into the Police Station and buy one. It takes about 15 minutes. Don't be bothered with locals honking at you. It's usually happens when you give someone the right of way and they honk to acknowledge or say thank you.
The food at Montpelier is excellent but you should really try and have a few meals elsewhere. Chrishi's is a great beach bar for lunch. Good food, beautiful beach with comfortable chairs. Call first to make sure they're open. Actually that's the case wherever you plan to go.
Double Deuce also has great food for lunch or dinner but no beach chairs.
The new hot dinner restaurant is Golden Rock Plantation Inn which just recently re-opened. They spared nothing when designing this place. It's not far from Montpelier and is a nice setting for breakfast or dinner.
Remember to call first to make sure places are open.
Have a great trip!