Two islands, one crossing apart.
The cane railway still runs the north coast. Liamuiga's crater takes a morning and a good pair of boots. Nevis sits two miles off the southeast point and deserves its own day. Every tour on St Kitts and Nevis, reviewed.
St Kitts kept its cane railway when the sugar stopped.
Every railway departure →
Thirty inches of narrow gauge laid around the north of the island to carry cane to the Basseterre factory, still on the same embankments and ghaut bridges. Double-decker carriages now, open upper deck, the sea on one side and Liamuiga on the other.
Rail one way, road the other
Train around the northern half on the old cane embankment, coach back through Basseterre. The half most people never see from a car.
Open air, choir at the halts
The upper deck is unglazed and the breeze does the air conditioning. A local choir sings at the stops and the rum punch is included.
The train, then Romney Manor
Pair the line with the estate it served: Romney's gardens, the batik workshop in the old great house, and a saman tree older than the railway.
The six days St Kitts and Nevis are known for.
A railway, a crater, a fortress on a hill, a rainforest trail, an off-road track and a beach that looks across at the other island. Most trips are built from these.
The most popular tours on both islands.
Every review →More travellers book these than anything else here, and each one earns its place for a different reason.
1
Full Island Panoramic Tour of St Kitts
See St. Kitts by air-conditioned minivan, from Brimstone Hill and Black Rocks to Romney Manor, Basseterre, and Timothy Hill.
From · $68
Read our review →
2
The Grand Tour of St. Kitts
from $75
3
St.Kitts See It All The Local Behind The Scenes Tour Of St. Kitts
from $95
4
ATV Tour of St Kitts
from $110
5
St. Kitts Zipline Experience
from $99
6
Palms Court Gardens and Restaurant Day Pass
from $25
7
Liamuiga Natural Farm Tour – St.Kitts’ Coffee Farm
from $161
8
Self Drive 4×4 Off Road Jeep Wrangler & Beach Chill
from $85
Nevis is a second island, not a stop on a St Kitts day.
Two miles across The Narrows: a 3,232-foot peak that keeps its own cloud, hot springs still running behind the old bath house, Alexander Hamilton's birthplace on the Charlestown waterfront and plantation inns on estates that stopped cutting cane a century ago. Give it the whole day, or stay the night.
All 12 Nevis tours →
St Kitts fits into one day and repays three.
Brimstone Hill stands eight hundred feet above the leeward coast, a fortress cut and carried up by enslaved Africans over more than a century and now a World Heritage Site. The island road runs on past Romney Manor, the black-sand coves and the crater trailhead.
Three things you can only do on these two islands.
Beaches and boat days belong to the whole Caribbean. A working sugar railway, a fortress a century in the building and a crater with a rainforest inside it belong to St Kitts and Nevis.
The Last Railway
The line was built to move cane, not passengers, and it outlived the crop it was built for. When the sugar industry closed in 2005 the track stayed, and the carriages that run it now are double-deckers with an open top. It is the only railway of its kind left in the West Indies, and it goes places the coast road does not.
- 1Sugar Train Tour & Drinks|Pick-Up &Drop Off From Cruise Port★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 148 reviews
- 2St Kitts Scenic Train Tour (Hotel or Ship)★★★★★★★★★★ 3.5 · 135 reviews
- 3Saint Kitts Train Trek★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 60 reviews
The Fortress on the Hill
Brimstone Hill was quarried, cut and carried up a volcanic slope by enslaved Africans across more than a hundred years, and the bastions still hold their line above the sea. The Prince of Wales Bastion looks north to Sint Eustatius and Saba on a clear morning. Allow longer than the tour suggests.
- 1Scenic Romney Manor & Timothy Hill or Panoramic Brimstone Hill★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 125 reviews
- 2St Kitts Sightseeing Tour to Brimstone Hill Fortress with Beach Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 31 reviews
- 3Brimstone Hill Fortress & Beach Shore Excursion★★★★★★★★★★ 3.8 · 5 reviews
Into the Crater
Liamuiga is the island's Kalinago name and its 3,792-foot summit is a dormant crater with its own rainforest growing inside the bowl. The climb starts on old estate track above Belmont, turns to roots and mud in the cloud forest, and ends on a rim where the wind changes direction. Four to six hours, guided.
- 1Liamuiga Natural Farm Tour – St.Kitts’ Coffee Farm★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 196 reviews
- 2St.Kitts Volcano Hike To Mt. Liamuiga (Highest Peak On Island)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 194 reviews
- 3Hike St. Kitts: Highest peak Mount Liamuiga Volcano★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 136 reviews
What a day out costs on St Kitts and Nevis.
Three price bands, and what each one actually buys. A beach run and a full island day are not in the same league, and neither is a private charter.
Beach transfers, the Cockleshell run, half-island drives and a walk around Basseterre.
The bulk of it: the railway, the crater climb, rainforest hikes, ATV mornings, day sails to Nevis.
Private drivers for the day, chartered catamarans and small-group runs that take four people, not forty.
Book these before you land in St Kitts.
Most of the island can wait until you are here. These cannot: they run once a day, they need a guide, or they fill on a ship call and there is no second departure.
- 01Sugar Train Tour & Drinks|Pick-Up &Drop Off From Cruise PortOne circuit at a time and the open upper deck goes first, especially on a day with ships alongside.
- 02St.Kitts Volcano Hike To Mt. Liamuiga (Highest Peak On Island)Guided only, and it is an early start: four to six hours of climbing in cloud forest, on a limited number of places.
- 03St. Kitts Full-Day Catamaran Cruise to NevisA crossing to Nevis runs on the boat's schedule, not yours, and in high season the day sails fill well ahead.
- 04ATV Tour of St KittsMachines are counted, not seats, and the morning runs go before the afternoon heat.
A shower off the mountain lasts twenty minutes. Plan around it, not for it.
Rain here comes down the windward slope in short bursts and the road dries before you do. The days that shrug it off are the ones under a roof or on the move: the railway carriages, the great houses and the batik workshop, a table in Basseterre. The crater trail is the one to move, not cancel.
By place — both islands
Basseterre27 tours
Nevis12 tours
Across St Kitts26 tours
Brimstone Hill4 tours
Cockleshell Bay4 tours
The Estates5 tours- See the whole two-island catalogue →
A first trip that uses the ferry as well as the road.
The Railway
LiamuigaThe newest reviews from St Kitts and Nevis.
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Hike St. Kitts: Sea Glass Discovery at Volcanic Beach
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Private taxi to/from Basseterre (Park Hyatt & Cockleshell Beach)
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Private airport Transfer from St. Kitts Marriott & Frigate Bay.
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Half Day St. Kitts Party Bus City Excursion and Beach
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