St. Kitts and Nevis (Days 3 & 4)

St. Kitts and Nevis comprises of primarily two islands – Saint Kitts and Nevis. We visited both the islands in this trip.

After landing at the SKB airport in the morning from Antigua (ANU), our Airbnb host picked us and a 10-minute drive brought us to his beautiful house in the Freeman’s Village, just a 10-minute walk from downtown Basseterre (pronounced BAS-TEAR).

Day 3 – St. Kitts

Our plan was to visit Nevis on day 2 in this country (day 4 on the trip), so checking out destinations on St. Kitts island was on the wishlist for the day.

Holidays in the Caribbean countries means a total shutdown of everything! But two days leading up to Christmas in St. Kitts meant moving taxis from the taxi stand at the Clock Tower square to outside of the city. We wanted to hire a taxi for the afternoon to drive over the Southeast Peninsula (the ‘bone’ in the drumstick-shaped island), stopping at various points for stunning views of this island country.

[Downtown Basseterre]

[Clock Tower in downtown Basseterre]

With no taxis around downtown Basseterre, we flagged one of the mini-buses (20-seater vans ply the country with license plates beginning with ‘H’, are also public buses). The driver stopped and we asked him to drive us to Southeast Peninsula; which we agreed on USD 10! This was a jackpot for us considering most taxi driver would charge at least USD 80 for a round-trip.

So we started off to the Southeast Peninsula, passing through the tunnel and stopping at Carambola Beach Club. We realized in the first few minutes of our drive that the driver was pissed-drunk! And even after asking him to stop somewhere for pictures, he kept driving to the club. Grabbed a beer at the club and asked us “if you pay $3 for this beer, you don’t have to pay me anything!” And we did!

[Our drunk driver!]

After a while, with no stops on the way, we reached the southern-most tip at Sea Bridge. The beach at the end looked amazing so we went for a quick walk. And in that moment we noticed our driver just driving off! Without us!

Luckily, we were able to flag another private taxi-van who was heading back to Basseterre and decided to give us a ride for USD 10. And he was kind enough to stop on the way so we can take pictures.

[St. Kitts Southeast Peninsula]

[Kittian Village with luxury villas – View from Timothy’s Hill]

[Southeast Peninsula – Atlantic ocean on the left & Caribbean Sea on the right – View from Timothy’s Hill]

We reached Basseterre in evening and stopped by the town for dinner. We were informed that because of the carnival season in St. Kitts, there were performances at the clock tower square.

Day 4 – Nevis

Next morning, we headed to the ferry terminal to catch the 9:30am ferry to Nevis. It costs $12 per person, one-way and 45-minutes to reach Charlestown, capital city of Nevis.

The plan was simple – walk around Charlestown, go to the Bath House hotel and spend the rest of afternoon on the beach!

[Charlestown, Nevis]

[Charlestown, Nevis]

[Charlestown, Nevis]

After some breakfast at a local Jamaican bakery, we checked-in at the tourist information center to get insights into what we can do for the whole day. We didn’t get more information than we already knew, so next stop was a 20-minute to the south end of Charlestown to the Bath Hotel.

Opened in 1778, this is reputed to be the oldest hotel in the Caribbean. Housing the guests of British empire until its independence, this looked abandoned now. In the spring house nearby, the Bath Spring emerges from the Earth at a temperature of 107ºF (about 42ºC).

[Bath Hotel, Nevis]

[Bath Spring House, Nevis]

The best place to be in Nevis recommended by many people was Pinneys Beach, about 20 minute walk north from Charlestown. And that’s where we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon!

[Pinneys Beach, Nevis]

[Pinneys Beach, Nevis]

[Pinneys Beach, Nevis]

We took the 4:30pm ferry back to Basseterre, St. Kitts, reaching there at around 6pm. Headed home for a quick shower and then spent the rest of the evening around the streets of Basseterre enjoying the street music and festivities as it was Christmas Eve!

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult. The exchange rate at the time of publishing is assumed to be USD 1 = XCD 2.60.