Hello St Kitts and Nevis! We flew out to this corner of the Eastern Caribbean for a long weekend at Park Hyatt St Kitts – a beautiful and lush resort that feels incredibly boutique-like for the chain. While I am always looking for sun, local experiences and tropical beaches, we came out here to celebrate something special – a milestone birthday for me!
This was our first journey to the Caribbean in quite some time – and Park Hyatt St Kitts offers a luxurious, boutique hotel stay, with amazing food on an island with lots of history and adventure. Read on for all the details of how to get the most out of your stay – and what to do on St Kitts and Nevis.
Scenes from my beautiful birthday dinner – we sat on this very private beach-front edge of The Great House and were treated to a six-course tasting menu and champagne – what more could you want from a birthday? August is the beginning of the wet season heere, but we found the weather to be clear, sunny, and absolutely perfect!
The Rooms:
Our room was expansive and stunning – with unobstructed ocean views and a rooftop private plunge pool, we could have stayed here forever. The rooms are spread out across the resort not more than 3 floors high, so every room feels private and quiet.
We ordered breakfast to our room almost every morning on our trip and it was consistently fresh and delicious!
The Pools:
The main pool has a sloping beach-like entrance, with a direct view across the sound to Nevis. This pool has great food and bar service. We particularly loved the way the water illuminates close to sunset!
While the upper level adults-only pool has these stunning geometrical, architectural arches that reference the colonial architecture of the islands, with lots of cut out areas with loungers to feel like you can always find your own little space.
The Dining:
Park Hyatt features 3 main restaurants, on top of casual poolside dining and room service:
The Great House – the main restaurant is open all day and is the main spot for breakfast (outside of room service. -which we loved!) Dinners here were lively and featured a mix of local and international cuisine on the menu.
Fisherman’s Village – This over-water restaurant perched on the hotel’s pier might have been our favorite spot for dinner here! The ambience is cozy and with the perfect ocean breeze, and features a seafood-focused menu. We loved the local spiny lobster paella, the tuna tostada tacos, and the fried conch!
The Stone Barn – The hotel’s finest restaurant, the Stone Barn has your choice of tasting menus, any every single item is meticulously and beautifully plated. We didn’t have one bad meal here, you can’t go wrong with any of the restaurants!
The food we had at Park Hyatt was some of the most consistent fine dining we’ve had at almost any resort! Every dish featured on the tasting menu at The Stone Barn was so stunningly presented!
Heading down to our private table under the stars for my birthday dinner at The Great House!
1.Hike to Shitten’s Bay for one of the best snorkel spots on the island
Starting right from Park Hyatt you can take a great hike to one of the island’s best snorkeling spots – Shitten’s Bay. The exact trail starts at Major’s Bay – which is an easy 30 minute walk from the property – however the amazing security team ended up giving us a quick ride down to the bay to begin, as it’s only a 3 minute drive. However, we walked all the way back and the entire hike was a great way to spend an afternoon! The hike is mostly easy and well marked, with a little bit of a climb up some rocks as you cut over the mountain, but nothing that anyone with any hiking experience wouldn’t be able to handle.
The beach is rocky, but the water here was absolutely glorious – clear, tropical, and the perfect warm but not too warm temperature – we could have stayed swimming here the entire afternoon. We saw plenty of fish, but mostly just enjoyed swimming around and checking out the shipwreck.
We didn’t see another person the entire time we were on the beach or snorkeling.
2.Take the Ferry to the sister island of Nevis
The Hyatt’s dock where the ferry departs from – no leaving required!
With Nevis located directly across the bay from Park Hyatt, a ferry ride over is a must-do. The straight between the islands isn’t the calmest, but the ride is literally less than 10 minutes from dock to dock! We barely got settled onto the boat and took this selfie before we were already landing – sit on the open front of the boat for the most breeze and the best views!
Visiting the colonial ruins on Nevis.
3.Drink a “Killer Bee” punch at the famous Sunshine’s Beach Bar
While in Nevis, head to the famous beachfront Sunshine’s Beach Bar and Grill.The bar is a staple for both locals and visitors and has a lively, fun, and friendly atmosphere with reggae music playing and lots of interesting people to talk to. They are known particularly for their ultra-strong Rum Punch cocktail called The Killer Bee. I’ve also heard that their jerk chicken is unbeatable!
We didn’t have too much time here before we had to hop our ferry back to St Kitts, but we loved it and I could have easily spent the entire day drinking punch (slowly – they are powerful), and talking at the bar.
4.Hike the Central Forest Reserve National Park
The forest here has different trails you can take, depending on the amount of time you have and your hiking skill level. Since we are very experienced hikers, O’Neil took us up the “hard” route – which involved a blood-pumping 1600′ climb up the mountain. We were glad he did!
5.Enjoy a Rum Tasting at a Historic 17th Century Distillery
At the base of the Rainforest hike is the Wingfield Estate Sugar Plantation Ruins – and Old Road Rum’s tasting room, located at the same site as the island’s first distillery, which dates back to the 1600’s.
According to their website, “The Old Road Rum Company exists to bring rum production back to the island of St.Kitts and regenerate the Old Road Town community. Rum first flowed from our Old Road Distillery in 1681, making it the oldest surviving rum distillery in the Caribbean.” The site has a fascinating history – “Rum first flowed from the Old Road Distillery in 1681, making it the oldest surviving rum distillery in the Caribbean, dated by the records of Christopher Jefferson, the owner at that time and ancestor of America’s 3rd President Thomas Jefferson. The Old Road Rum Company is driven by a desire to celebrate the cultural history of St.Kitts through new industry that will see rum production return to this historically important location.”
And not only is the rum very tasty (we had to buy a bottle to bring home with us), the guys here are the most fun! After tasting the rum and touring the site, we stayed for a while at the tasting room trying their cocktails and playing games.
The excavated ruins of the original distillery in the plantation – the brand is currently working on bringing the distilling process back to right here in its original location!
