tomarkot

We're flying into St. Kitts in early March for a 7-night get-away, and are in the throes of booking accommodations. Would appreciate ideas from any travelers who've visited the area regarding arrangement of our time; e.g. would it be practical to spend 4 days on Nevis and the remainder on St. Kitts? Or is traveling with luggage too much of a hassle for that span of time? And, if you had your choice of one, would you choose Nevis or St. Kitts?

Like some other readers, we've been disappointed in the past when we've prepaid for a week's lodging in a place which sounded great in the on-line descriptions, but turned out to be depressing. Our priorities are closeness to the beach, availability of casual restaurants, as well as finer dining, access to exploring the natural beauty of the islands, and a more romantic, laid-back hotel. Shopping and late nightlife are not important. Excluding the priciest resorts (e.g. FS, Montpelier, Hermitage, Marriott,etc.) does anyone have suggestions for lodging that is clean and tasteful, well-cared for, and in a location near a beach? For example, we were considering the Oualie in Nevis, or Timothy Beach in St. Kitts.

Also, is prebooking a rental car recommended? Or can one easily rent one on location by the day?

Any ideas would be very much appreciated by a couple who just want some Carribean R & R.

RoamsAround

Getting between St. Kitts & Nevis is relatively easy (45 minute ferry ride) so spending 1/2 your time on each island is certainly doable. Since there's lots to do on both islands splitting your time makes a good deal of sense.

You don't say when you are planning to visit so it's hard to give you a definitive answer to your question about car rentals. If you are visiting during peak season (especially around major holidays like Christmas, New Year's, President's week, Easter, etc.) you'd be wise to pre-reserve a rental car. During off-season finding a rental car is usually fairly easy. FYI - if you decide to stay on one island but take a day trip to the other some car rental companies (TDC, Thrifty and Avis) have reciprocal arrangements whereby if you have a rental car on one is;land you can get a car for a day on the other island at no extra charge. Also, there's a new "Sea Bridge" car ferry you can take between islands but you must make sure your car rental company will allow you to take their car on the ferry (some companies do and some don't).

The only beachfront resorts on Nevis worth staying at are Four Seasons, Nisbet and Oualie. Since your post implied that Four Seasons, Montpelier and Hermitage are too pricey you will probably find that Nisbet is also in that category. That effectivly leaves you with Oualie Beach. It's a clean place on a nice beach with simply furnished rooms. It's nice but I wouldn't describe it as "romantic". You've effectively eliminated the "romantic" places by not wanting to stay at Four seasons, Montpelier or Hermitage.

The Inn at Cades Bay is "on the beach" but it is a pretty "bare bones" type of place (think Motel 6 wannabe). It's fell on hard times and was recently sold. The new owners are going to build condos so they they haven't done much to spruce up the place and they get very few, if any, paying guests. Pinney's Beach Hotel is another very low budget motel near Charlestown. I've never actually seen anyone staying there altough the propert does appear to be "open".

There are new Condos at Nelson's Spring (some units are beachfront and some are one row back) that, depending on the time of year and location rent from between $2,500 and $6,000 per week. Visit their website (www.nelsonsprings.com) for more details.

You might want to check out Hurrican Cove Bungalows (www.hurricancove.com) which are located on Hurricane Hill just above Oualie beach. Depending on the size unit and the time of year they rent from $165 to $685/night.

Not on the beach but not too far up on the mountain is Mount Nevis Hotel 9www.mountnevishotel.com). Dep[ending on unit size and time of year their rates range from $250 to $675/night.

You should know that restaurants are fairly spread out around the island so you'll need transportation (taxi or rental car) if you plan on dining "off resort".

On St. Kitts you will probably find Timothy Beach Resort will meet your needs. Also check out Ocean Terrace Inn or perhaps Bird Rock Hotel.

RoamsAround

Sorry there's a typo in my post. It's Hurricane cove Bungalows and the website is www.hurricanecove.com

iw

We have stayed at Oualie 3 times. I highly recommend the premier room since the bathroom is larger. The regular room's bathroom was way too small for me and my stuff. It is a simple place. The rooms are in a gingerbread-type style and very private. The staff is great and the food has been awesome. We take cabs and head over to Chevy's down to the left of the 4S for great food. Sunshines was over-rated, IMO. Bananas is another great restaurant and Coconut Grove (pricey but worth it) is excellent.
We split our time between Nevis and St. Kitts. Oualie has a 3 night minimum, so we start there and unwind. Then we ferry or water taxi to St. Kitts. We stay at the Marriott, but I have read great things about Timothy Beach Resort.
If you don't mind packing and unpacking, the 4 day 3 day split would be fine. Last year we visited 3 islands in 14 days and it was a hassle, but worth it. I think it would be a shame to limit yourself to just St. Kitts or Nevis, if you are ok with splitting the time. They are 2 different islands and very pretty!
For cheap, but good eats on St. Kitts, I recommend Mr. X's Shiggidy Shack and Reggae Beach Bar (former owner of Turtle Beach Bar).

JeanH

We stayed four nights at Timothy Beach and three nights at Oualie Beach a couple years ago. It worked out great, no trouble with the transfer via ferry. We did fly home from Nevis, didn't have to go back to St. Kitts.

When we were at Timothy Beach, I was having second thoughts about moving to Nevis, since we were having a great time on St. Kitts.

Once we got to Nevis, we were glad we made the move. It was a good split of our time.

We didn't rent a car, we just didn't want to try to learn to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. Cabs were sort of pricy, but no more than a car rental would have been.

ejcrowe

I visited each island once (not on the same trip) and while I enjoyed St. Kitts and loved visiting Fort Brimstone, I would much prefer to go back to Nevis. It's not that I didn't like St. Kitts--there was just something I couldn't put my finger on that doesn't make it a return visit for me. In the future, I would stay on Nevis and visit St. Kitts by ferry for the day.

On St. Kitts we stayed at the Sugar Beach Club, which we only picked because the AI package offered by American Airlines was actually less expensive than booking just the airfare, had we done it separately. It's a good base for operations and it was an excellent value, but overall it's larger than what we prefer (it has 100 rooms), and it was our first and only time to stay at an AI place. Fortunately, since it was such a deal, we were able to use the hotel as a bed & breakfast & bar and then explore the rest of the island and the better restaurants.

On Nevis we stayed at the Mt. Nevis Hotel because we had such a phenomenal deal on LuxuryLink for staying there. It was in a great location for exploring the island and the price was paid was a ridiculously good deal. The restaurant there is quite good and the views of St. Kitts are lovely. I would consider returning there if I found a similar deal in the future, but otherwise I would prefer staying either at Nisbet or Montpelier.

There are some nice packages being offered right now on LuxuryLink for both Nisbet and Montpelier for 5 night stays that I would urge you to consider. Both include daily breakfast, and I think the Montpelier one includes at least one dinner.

SKBFAN1

In St. Kitts I highly recommend Timothy Beach Resort (directly on the beach and near lots of fun beach bars) www.mrxshiggidyshack.com and a short drive from Marshalls, for fine dining) and in Nevis I enjoyed Hurricane Cove Bungalows (short walk from the beach)

Visit www.myislands.myeyez.net for more hotel reviews.