Getting Around Saint Kitts and Nevis

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Apart from the experience that you're missing when travelling by bus, a car really is the best way to see the island of Saint Kitts. It makes it possible to make the whole northern loop in a few hours, and the southern loop in only an hour, and adding stops wherever you like.

When renting a car you have to keep in mind that you'll need to buy a local driving license. This is their way of charging road taxes. It will add another 10 US Dollars to the price of renting a car. It is a great way to travel around though: it saves you from a long climb up to Brimstone Hill Fortress, and it offers you great views of the coastlines and the islands around Saint Kitts. When going to the Southern Peninsula it's an easy way to look for desolate beaches and spotting monkeys.

Make sure to fill up the tank in Basseterre because there are no/hardly any gas stations in other parts of the island!

An unwritten agreement on Saint Kitts is that the minibusses on the island only cover the northern part of the island. All other routes (to the airport, to Frigate Bay and to the south) are only covered by taxis. Fortunately these taxis are not too expensive.

I took the taxi to get from the airport to the centre of Basseterre. It's only a trip of 15 minutes and I payed about 5 US Dollars for it. To get to Frigate Bay it's an interesting option as well. When you want to get to the south of the island and back, it might be better to consider renting a scooter or a car for a day.

The taxis can be found everywhere in Basseterre. When you are going to a beach or another remote place in the south it might be wise to ask a phonenumber of a taxidriver so you can call when you want to go back.

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The cheapest and the nicest way to travel around the island of Saint Kitts is by the minibusses that you'll find everywhere! These busses have the greatest names: 'Jah Blessing', 'Reggae Doctor' or 'Zion Train', the music is turned on load, and it's always a nice way to make a chat with the other people in the bus.

The busses only cover the northern part of the island: the way south towards Frigate Bay and the Southern Peninsula is covered by taxis. The northern loop is covered clockwise and counterclockwise, so you basically can never take the wrong bus: it's just a matter of patience. Of course it's better to ask the driver which bus to take.

The prices are never a point of discussion: the maximum price is about 5 Eastern Caribbean Dollar: about 2,50 US Dollars. The busses depart every 5 or 10 minutes from the bus station at the Ferry Terminal in Basseterre, but when you stop a bus passing by making a hand signal you basically can jump in wherever you want.

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LIAT: congratulations! LIAT Airlines to me is officially the WORST airline I ever flew with! I used it to fly from Saint-Martin to Saint-Kitts and back and it was a true disaster!

The flight from Saint-Martin to Saint-Kitts normally takes 25 minutes, but my flight to Basseterre had a delay of 14 hours and on my way back there were another 5 hours of delay! As I understood the whole schedule of LIAT often is a complete chaos full of delays, and even though they clearly have experience with it, they suck at communicating about it. When you have a question about what's going to happen they react rude and impatient and they only do the absolute necessary. On top of this they lost my luggage too on my way to Saint-Kitts.

If there is a way to prevent flying with LIAT: do it! They might be cheap, but it's better to spend 20 extra dollar and flying on time then to spend a full day at the airport with a lot of problems.

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The narrow gauge train goes all the way around the island. This is more of a tour than a serious mode of transportation. It was built between 1912 and 1926 to deliver sugar cane from the fields to the sugar mill in the capital city of Basseterre. It has been reconfigured as a tourist attraction. There are multiple daily departures are offered throughout each week from November through April. A more limited schedule is offered between May and October. The “Island Series” railcars are double-decked, with an upper open–air observation platform that, and a lower air-conditioned “parlor”.

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Coming in on a cruise ship, we were only there for one day so we didn't rent a car, but there are numerous places where you can do this. The roads outside the main city appeared pretty free of traffic, although it is a small island. We took the little train ride, and we were the first two people to get on bus #6. I asked if I could sit in front next to the driver, and was told it was OK. So the first picture is taken from the front seat of the van. All the rest of them were taken from the top level of the train.

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I noticed that the license plates were somewhat rudimentary but were different colors - red, blue, black, yellow and green. Later I asked our van driver. He said:

P or PA black plates were private cars.
Other colors are for rental cars (red IIRC).

Taxis are usually mini buses, vans or cars. They are easily identified by their yellow license number plates with a T in front of the numbers.

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We were taken from the cruise ship terminal to the fartherest end of the train route by a small van, and then after the train trip, we were brought back from the airport to the dock by the same vehicle (photo 2). I don't know if it was a taxi or a tour service.

Taxis may be mini buses, vans or cars. They are easily identified by their yellow license number plates with a T in front of the numbers.

Taxis are usually located at the Robert L.Bradshaw International Airport in St. Kitts for arriving visitors. For persons moving around town taxis are available at The Circus in Basseterre, the Marriott Hotel in Frigate Bay on St. Kitts.

The omnibuses run from 5:00 am - 1:00 am daily. The website says " The wait time to catch any bus is at the longest about 10 minutes, except on Sundays which take a little longer. It takes less than 30 minutes to get to any destination. Buses usually pick up and stop at any point on their route.

There are three bus routes in St. Kitts, the West bus routes which go from Basseterre up to Parson Ground, the east bus route travels from Basseterre to Saddlers and the Monkey Hill bus route which runs from Basseterre to Ogees Village.