St. Kitts Review

This St. Kitts review is based on a nine-day visit to the island.

Sometimes people going to the Caribbean for the first time want just a few quick impressions of what to expect.

Our small plane swooped down toward the airport and gave us a clear view of the island, which is small with a large extinct volcano in the middle. The island is covered in green, but much of it is spare. A part of the island does have a tropical rain forest.

The airport is small and has few tourists coming and going. The island itself is ranked 20th in popularity for Caribbean destinations. Not surprisingly, that makes it a quiet place to visit -- ideal for people who favor relaxation over activities.

A drive from the airport through the capital, Bassetterre, revealed likewise a quiet Caribbean town. Outside of the town, we drove through and around numerous hills that were dotted with the small homes of locals and the large homes of retirees and the wealthy.

We stayed at St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino. Beaches were white and clean; the sea was the standard beautiful turquoise of the Caribbean. Weather was perfect. We were approached quite often by local vendors, but they were generally polite and would leave us alone with a polite no thanks.

The island has a small number of things to do and see, but they don't compare to the larger and more developed islands. Again, this is a place for getting away, reading, sleeping and relaxing.

Although we ate mostly at the resort, there are a fair number of decent nearby restaurants. Shopping is almost entirely in Bassetterre. All of the locals were nice and seemed sincerely interested in promoting tourism on the island.