St. Kitts & Nevis holds a unique place in Caribbean history — St. Kitts was Britain's first Caribbean colony, founded in 1623, and the template for the sugar plantation system that would define the region for centuries. The island's historical legacy is visible everywhere, from the extraordinary Brimstone Hill Fortress to the plantation great houses that now operate as some of the most atmospheric hotels in the Caribbean.
St. Kitts is dominated by Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano rising to 1,156 meters at the center of the island. The narrow-gauge railway that once transported sugar around the island now carries tourists, offering one of the most scenic rail journeys in the Caribbean. The southeastern peninsula has beautiful beaches and the island's most active tourism development.
Nevis, across the Narrows channel, is even smaller and even more dramatically beautiful — a single volcanic cone rising from the sea, often cloud-capped, surrounded by elegant plantation houses and some of the most serene beaches in the Eastern Caribbean. It is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, the American Founding Father whose story is now known to a new generation through the Broadway musical.