Save vs. Splurge: Find Your Perfect Caribbean Honeymoon Destination

Nevis

Intimate and volcanic, that pretty much sums up the ideal honeymoon, as well as the ideal honeymoon setting. Making the case for the latter is lovely little lava-coned Nevis. While the island’s namesake 3,232-foot peak hasn’t erupted for thousands of years, it still has enough stirring beneath the surface to create active fumaroles and hot springs. (Note: If you want to scale the gorgeous, rain-forested slopes, you definitely need a guide.) And even in the capital of Charlestown, the natural world is never far afield: You’re as likely to find goats as people in the traffic-light-free streets.

Photo courtesy of Nevis Tourism Authority

Save

Book a room at what’s believed to be the Caribbean’s longest standing wooden building: the Hermitage Plantation Inn, built in 1670 only to become a jungle-covered ruin after the local sugar industry collapsed. Fortunately for honeymooners, this hillside great house was bought in the 1980s and restored into a romantic retreat, with gorgeous gardens, nature trails and the occasional visiting monkey (room rates start at $180 at night; hermitagenevis.com).

What to Do: Where better to save cash than at the onetime home of our nation’s founding money minder? The Alexander Hamilton Birthplace, on the waterfront in the capital, is a recreation of the 1680 Georgian-style home where Washington’s first Treasury Secretary toddled around. It’s now the current quarters of the Nevis House of Assembly and a historical museum.

Where to Eat: Hit the Lime Café on Pinneys Beach for a lobster or chicken sandwich on fresh-baked bread and to enjoy live music on Friday nights.

Splurge

The Four Seasons Resort Nevis, the brand’s only outpost in the region, is the reason many visitors choose this island. A seaside spread of meticulously appointed gingerbread cottages, the resort is home to a stunning stretch of famed Pinneys beach, plus a spa with lava rock waterfalls, great golfing and tennis and one of the wildest culinary experiences ever. Dubbed Dive and Dine, the program involves zipping into wetsuits, setting off with a chef and dive master to catch a spiny lobster and then sipping cocktails on the beach while the chef whips up your triumphant feast (room rates start at $400 a night; fourseasons.com).

Photo Credit: Don Riddle

What to Do: Let Captain Miles Denne show you a good time on a chartered yacht, where you can simply chill and take in the jade peaks and turquoise water (rum punch and canapés in hand) or snorkel your way around the island. Book for the whole day, and the tour will also take you to the secluded southeast cays of sister island St. Kitts.

Where to Eat: Add an element of time travel to your culinary journey, and reserve a table at Montpelier Plantation & Beach’s Mill Privée. The restored, torch-lit 17th-century sugar mill has only five tables and a five-course tasting menu.