For history buffs
ST KITTS AND NEVIS
They say: Leonard Stapleton, historian, author and tour guide, says, ‘In the 1600s and 1700s, the world’s superpowers prized our small islands, which were major producers of tobacco, then sugar cane. On St Kitts, spend time at Brimstone Hill Fortress, the biggest British colonial fortification in the Caribbean, and ride the scenic railway once used to transport cane from the estates. On Nevis, you should visit the little birthplace museum of the American Founding
Father Alexander Hamilton in Charleston. The most extant of Nevis’ abandoned sugar mills are on the New River/Coconut Walk estates.
We say: To properly soak up Nevis’s colonial heritage you should stay in one of its atmospheric plantation inns – the properties of the former sugar estates. Nisbet Plantation Beach Club, which is on the beach, was the home of Fanny Nisbet, wife of Horatio Nelson. They married in the grounds of sophisticated Montpelier Plantation (located inland, but with a private beach).
See for yourself
The sleek, contemporary-styled Park Hyatt St Kitts Christophe Harbour opened last winter on the golden sands of Banana Bay.
With no visits from big cruise ships and just a
single large hotel (the upmarket Four Seasons), Nevis is one of the Caribbean’s best choices for a sleepy getaway. John Cleese has said he’s intending to move there.
Where to stay: St Kitts and Nevis combine perfectly for a two-island break, as it’s a short ride by water taxi or public ferry between the islands. Three nights at the Park Hyatt St Kitts room only, then four nights B&B at Nisbet Plantation, costs from £2,129.