Marriott St. Kitts Beach Club, Basseterre, St. Christopher and Nevis

Ah, what a week. The Marriott St. Kitts Beach Club is a broad resort and hotel/casino on the Atlantic beach in southeastern St. Kitts, right where the island narrows to a long peninsula separating the Atlantic and the Caribbean. An easy walk takes you to over to Frigate Bay and the Strip, a string of very local beach bars and restaurants. More about those later.

The Beach Club is a gorgeous resort, but let me start with the people. Everyone is so helpful. As soon as we arrived, all of our baggage, including car seats and scooters for Ella and Lily, was swept up and taken to our room by Michael K. and deposited in our villa, a third floor walk-up(!) on the ocean,

and he humped it all back down and to our cab when it was time to leave. The entire staff doted on Ella and Lily, and could not have been sweeter. Taxis magically appeared whenever needed for transport around the island. We passed on the island tour this time, but they connected us to Craig James for a taxi to a charter boat trip over to Nevis and cabs upon our arrival.

You can see the resort layout on the link above, but I’ll offer a few explanatory words. The resort consists of a large hotel running parallel to and set back a couple of hundred yards from the beach.

A casino, various restaurants, shops, a gym, and offices occupy the first two floors of the hotel, with rooms on higher floors.

The central area leads from the hotel across a broad pavilion to a large, meandering swimming pool, the end of which is a swim-up bar (yes!) and a beachside grill.

It’s a great area for scooters.

The Marriott Vacation Club villas flank each end of the hotel right by the beach around respective swimming pools.

On the beach itself are a host of cabanas with comfortable chaise lounges.

Amazingly, there is no charge for the cabanas and lounges unless, of course, you arranged for a massage on the beach. The villas include two bedrooms, two baths (one with a bidet), a fully equipped kitchen, washer/dryer, dining and living area, and a nice balcony, all pretty standard, except the bidet, in Vacation Club resorts (see Marco Island). All of it is very attractive. Indeed, we redid a bathroom shower to match theirs after our first visit.

The resort has lots of activities for both children and adults, and for families together. The girls made tie-dyed shirts for Michael, who faced work demands and couldn’t come. Many activities — bingo, riddles, trivia, pool golf, and a corn hole tournament — were centered around the pool area, and children and adults alike joined in merrily inspired and egged on by that wonderful staff.

Our timing was serendipitous. The hotel had completed the noisy part of some major renovations. The ongoing work left the hotel and the northern Vacation Club villas sparsely occupied, but didn’t limit us at all. Everyone could spread out by the pool or the beach-side cabanas. There were enough people for fun but nothing was crowded.

In addition to the restaurants in the hotel, there are additional dining options in the Royal St. Kitts development across the street and along the 3/4 mile walk to “The Strip” of very local bars and restaurants on the Caribbean side. We had some terrific meals, about which you can read here.

There’s a lot to see in St. Kitts. A taxi tour around the island is well worth the trip, with stops including Brimstone Hill Fortress, the “Gibraltar of the Caribbean,” towering nearly 400 feet above sea level, and the gardens at Romney Manor and the demonstrations at Caribelle Batik; and Nevis is a treasure. You should go there, and make it a point to stay at the Marriott Beach Club.

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