Locked into a two-island confederation, St. Kitts and Nevis are for connoisseurs. The bigger sister is St. Kitts, the seat of government. It's about twice the size of little Nevis, with almost four times as many people. Nearly half of the people of St. Kitts live in the capital of Basseterre. If you want untamed scenery, head north on the island, with its trio of mountain ranges.
There are similarities between the two islands. Each has a lush landscape, including rainforests, and most of the beaches are uncrowded. Long-dormant volcanoes dominate on each island, and both islands have a cultural heritage from 18th-century sugar plantation economies.
The two islands of St. Kitts and Nevis (Nee-vis) were British possessions until 1983, when they became a tiny, independent, two-island nation (a ministate, really), complete with U.N. membership. British traditions remain in evidence, however. Cricket is fiercely popular and motorists drive on the left.
St. Kitts and Nevis slumbered as backwaters of the Caribbean for decades. The country's economy was dependent entirely on sugar cane, making it especially vulnerable to the ravages of hurricanes. But in recent years, tourists, especially celebrities, have discovered the islands' average year-round temperature of 79°F (26°C), low humidity, white-sand beaches, and unspoiled natural beauty.
This doesn't mean that St. Kitts and Nevis are playgrounds for the rich and famous -- not yet. But people who can go anywhere have been spotted here in the near past: Britney Spears, Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sylvester Stallone, Danny Glover, and Michael J. Fox, to name a few. They attract a clientele with a higher percentage of Brits than many of the vacation destinations nearby -- about 30% of the tourists coming here are from the UK, about 60% from the U.S. and Canada, the remainder mostly European.
Of the two islands, Nevis is the sleepier. It has fewer nonstop flights from North America, fewer luxury hotels, and almost no nightlife to speak of. It also has a reputation as being a money-laundering haven for drug traffickers and other suspicious businesses (despite adamant denials by Nevis officials). The tiny island has some 9,000 offshore businesses -- about one business per inhabitant -- registered and operating under strict secrecy laws.
In fact, disagreements about controls over offshore banking activities triggered a rift between the two islands that almost led to Nevis's secession. In the most recent referendum on the issue, in 1998, a majority of Nevisians (but not the two-thirds required) voted for independence from St. Kitts.
Don't Miss Experiencing . . .
- Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts, which commands a view of six islands -- Nevis, Montserrat, Saba, Statia, St. Martin, and St. Barts. This is arguably the greatest panorama in the Caribbean. Pack a picnic lunch to spread on a grassy hilltop. Nature trails cut through a national park, the habitat of the green vervet monkey.
- St. Kitts Scenic Railway takes you on a panoramic tour of the island's most spectacular scenery, the narrow gauge railway following the old sugar-cane tracks.
- Pinney's Beach, Nevis, one of the grandest in the Caribbean with its reef-protected waters, ideal for both swimming and snorkeling. Near the beach's windward edge, you come across a sleepy lagoon that evokes the South Pacific with its swaying palms and golden sands.
