St.Kitts

Looking for the info on this island since our all time fav Sxm is no go for us this year. Any info and recommendations would be greatly appreciated as : accommodation, beaches and food.
Will be travelling in February 2018, 2 families, 4 adults and 2 kids. Here is the list of important things:
Accommodation - needs to be safe, secure, clean. Close to the water and restaurants. Close in a sense like Sxm 5-10 min drive.
The beach has to be something like Mullet, baie ruge, Simpson bay.
Food- I know that we probably won't find the same assortment as it was on Sxm, but it is also important to us.
Please folks pitch in as much as you can/know.
Thank you!

Look at accommodations (resorts or rental villas and condos) in the Frigate Bay area. Depending on where in Frigate Bay you choose you'll be within walking distance (or 2 to 3 minute drive) of both Atlantic & Caribbean side beaches and a dozen or so restaurants and beach bars.

Or, if you don't mind driving a bit (say 15 to 30 minutes) to reach restaurants and shops look at villa rentals in Christophe Harbor and Turtle Beach.

Just so you know, the best "swimming beaches" (with facilities) on the island are at Frigate Bay, South Friars Beach and Cockleshell. Other nice swimming beaches (without facilities) are Whitehouse Bay and Major's Bay - all of the above are located on the island's southern peninsula.

You might look at the neighboring island of Nevis - Still part of St. Kitts government wise. Nevis is very nice and laid back.

I'm also considering the logistics - coming from Canada, we have a direct flight from Toronto to st Kitts, I understand that we have to take a ferry boat to Nevis?
Also, how do you compare prices on Sxm and St.Kitts - restaurant, bars, car rental -if needed?

Great info, just what I need! Thank you very much!

Three basic options for travel between St. Kitts & Nevis are:

1) Passenger Ferry - leaves from the Port Zante Marina in Basseterre (10 minute taxi ride from airport) and goes to Charlestown. Crossing takes about 50 minutes. Usually runs on or very close to schedule. One-way cost (including Port Tax) is about $9US PP. DO NOT purchase R/T ticket as you might be on a ferry run by a different operator on your return trip, besides there is no cost savings. Go here for ferry schedules: http://www.explorenevis.com/nevis-ferry-schedules/

2. Seabridge Car Ferry - (also takes passengers). Leaves from Majors Bay on the southern tip of St. Kitts and drops off at Cades Bay on Nevis. If you don't have a rental car you'll need taxi to take you on 25 minute drive to Majors Bay and pre-arrange for a taxi upon arrival in Nevis as none will be waiting at the Seabridge Dock. Seabridge rarely runs on schedule.

3) Water Taxi from dock on southern peninsula to Oualie Beach on Nevis. If you take one of the scheduled water taxis cost will be $20US PP plus cost of land taxi to dock. Go here for details / reservations number: https://www.facebook.com/islander.watersports.1/

Prices on both islands are similar.

I'm also trying St Kitts as an alternate to sxm this year. Some great info here. Thank you for sharing.

There are 6 of us traveling. We usually rent a minivan for our sxm trip so we can travel to beaches and restaurants. Plan to do the same at St Kitts.

Can you recommend a good reliable rental shop? Don't want to reserve a minivan and arrive to find they don't have one. They're harder to source last minute than a standard sedan.

Thank you

All of the following have minivans - all are reputable companies:

Bullseye - https://www.bullseyecarrental.com - Consistently gets excellent reviews. You can't go wrong renting from this company.

Avis - http://www.avisstkitts.com - typical AVIS cars and service.

Thrifty (aka TDC) - https://tdcgroupltd.com/thrifty.asp - locally based company - been in business for 30+ years.

Express - https://xpressautorental.com - smaller independent company.

Thank you

One more thing checked off the pre-trip list.

Thank you for all this valuable information.... We too are going to St. Kitt this year because SXM is not ready for tourists this year.....

So is Chistopher Harbor the main town to do shopping .. like Phillipsburg is to SXM? We are going to rent a car and travel the island.... do you have any musiems, zoos, or Island Gardens
to visit to learn the History of the Island...

There's a train on St. Kitts that was used in the sugar trade that now takes tourists around.
As suggested Nevis is a great little island, they have a Heritage Trail that takes you to many of the notable locations, the island is very small so you can drive around it in no time. Lot of abandoned ruins from the sugar trade that you can just stop at and visit on your own. Golden Rock Inn is a nice stop for lunch or tea, not unusual to see monkeys roaming around the grounds. The ruins of the Hamilton Plantation are there, Alexander Hamilton was born on Nevis; ruins of the first church to allow integrated services is another interesting spot, Qually (sp) Beach is a good place to spend the afternoon. Weekends you can try the goat waters, just about every place will have it. Killer Bees at Sunset Bar, are much stronger than you might think so beware. There's a natural hot springs you can walk to from the main town. Great views from the top of the mountain, and not too bad of a hike. It's a nice quite island that doesn't get the crowds from the cruise ships, very friendly people. To give you an idea, we stopped there while sailing the Leewards and rented a car for the day, the fellow we rented from (Teach) wasn't going to be around in the evening when we would be heading back to the yacht so he told us to just park it on the road near the ferry dock and leave the keys in the ignition. They also have a very active sport fishing fleet there and hold a billfish tournament each year.

No, Chistophe Harbour IS NOT the main shopping town -it is a luxury a private home development that happens to have a few shops and a restaurant. The main town is Basseterre (about a 25 minute drive from Christophe Harbor).

Yes, there are plenty of Historical sights that have "museums". The best one is the Fortress at Brimstone Hill. No zoos. For nice Gardens visit the Batik Factory and Gardens at Romney Manor. Lots of old Sugar Plantation ruins worth visiting, also.

My wife and I have done the train tour and, for the money, it was quite an enjoyable way to see the island.