A driver and a vehicle held for you by the hour at US$75, with a three hour minimum, so US$225 is the shortest booking we take. You go where you want instead of along a fixed route. It suits a visitor with a specific list, a photographer working the light, a family calling on relatives in four villages, and anyone on a long port call who wants to decide as the day goes.
What it costs
| Price | What is in it | |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | US$75 | The vehicle, the driver, fuel, air conditioning, and as many stops as fit the hour |
| Three hour block | US$225 | The shortest booking we take |
| Each hour after that | US$75 | Agreed in advance, or on the day if the driver is still free |
Site admissions are not included. Brimstone Hill is US$15 a head and Romney Manor is US$3. Anything you eat, drink or buy at a stop is yours, and so are tips.
What can you actually do with the hours?
Anything the road reaches. One main road rings the island, so three hours gets you most of the way round it with two or three real stops, and five hours gets you round it slowly with lunch in the middle.
The stops people ask for most sit on that loop. Romney Manor at Old Road is a seventeenth century estate house with a garden built round a saman tree reckoned at over 350 years old, and Caribelle Batik works out of the house itself. Brimstone Hill is the British fortress on a volcanic cone 800 feet above the sea near Sandy Point, built by enslaved Africans over roughly a hundred years from 1690 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Black Rocks, on the Atlantic coast past Sandy Point, is lava from Mount Liamuiga that ran into the sea and set there. Timothy Hill looks down on the South East Peninsula with the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic on the other.
Off the loop, the peninsula road runs down to Cockleshell Bay, where you are looking straight across The Narrows at Nevis. Mount Liamuiga, 3,792 feet, is behind you for most of the north coast.
Then there are the trips nobody sells as a tour. A cemetery in a village your grandmother came from. A shop in Basseterre that stocks one thing. The school you went to. Say it on the form and the driver will find it.
Here is what the driver does and what the driver does not do. They will suggest stops, tell you what you are looking at, and work out the order so you are not crossing the island twice. They will stay with the vehicle at a site instead of walking you round it on foot. If you want someone beside you explaining Brimstone Hill bastion by bastion, book a guided tour.
How long should you book, and will it fit a cruise day?
Three hours is the minimum and four to five is where most people land.
Ships in Basseterre are alongside from about 8am to 5pm or 6pm on most calls, and the all aboard comes before the sailing time. A five hour block from a 9am pickup has you back at Port Zante early afternoon with room to spare. Tell us your ship and we work the block back from the all aboard.
Hotel guests can book any hours they like, including an evening block. The late night surcharge in the taxi schedule does not apply to an hourly booking, so an 8pm start costs the same as a 10am one.
What should you bring?
Closed shoes or trainers if Brimstone Hill is on your list. It is cobbled, uneven and steep in places, and sandals are the commonest regret of the day.
Cash in small notes. The two gate prices come to US$18 a head and the roadside stalls take small notes faster than cards. US dollars are accepted everywhere on the island.
Your list, written down, with addresses or the name of a nearby village. Half the places people want are not on a map and the driver will know them by the junction.
A light layer. The rainforest side of the island takes a passing shower most afternoons and it stops as quickly as it starts.
Who should not book this one
Anyone who wants a guide walking them through each site. This is a driver with local knowledge and a vehicle, and the walking round is yours to do.
Anyone who would rather drive themselves. You can, and it costs less, but a visitor needs a temporary local permit first: EC$62.50 for three months or EC$125 for a year, about US$23 and US$46.
If you use a wheelchair, book it and tell us on the form. An accessible vehicle takes notice to arrange and we will say plainly which stops you will reach and which you will see from the road.
Small children need a car seat you bring yourself. Local vehicles do not carry them.
What happens if the weather turns, or your ship is late?
Rain does not stop an hourly booking. The vehicle is covered, a shower passes in twenty minutes, and the driver will reorder your stops to put the indoor ones in the wet part of the day.
If your ship arrives late, your driver waits and the clock starts when you get in. We book pickups against the actual arrival and not the scheduled one. If the call is cancelled or the ship skips St Kitts, you pay nothing and anything already paid comes back in full.
If we cannot field a driver for your date after confirming it, you get the whole amount back. No fee, no credit note.
Book it
Tell us the date, the start time, how many hours, how many people, where to collect you, and the places you already know you want. Add your ship name if you are on one. We confirm the block with the driver and come back within one working day, and only then do we send a payment link. Nothing is charged until the booking is confirmed.
Questions people ask
How does this compare with the statutory taxi rate?
The schedule has an hourly figure and a waiting figure. Under the Vehicles and Road Traffic (Maximum Fares) Regulations 2021 the maximum hourly rate is US$40 or EC$109 for one to four people, and waiting after the first 15 free minutes is US$5 or EC$13 per 15 minutes. A booked block at US$75 an hour buys the vehicle and the driver held for you for the whole block, with no waiting clock ticking while you eat lunch or sit on a beach for ninety minutes. Put your own stops against those two numbers and you will see which way your day falls.
Can we change the plan once we are moving?
Yes, and most people do. The block is yours, so if you decide at the second stop to drop the third and sit at a beach bar instead, that is the booking working as intended. The only limits are the clock and the road.
What if we run over the block?
The driver will tell you before you do. Extra time is the same US$75 an hour, billed in half hours, and it depends on whether the driver has another booking behind yours. On a quiet day it is usually fine. On a four ship day, book the hour in advance.
How many people fit in the vehicle?
Tell us the number and we match the vehicle to it. The rate is for the vehicle and not per head, so three people and six people pay the same US$75 an hour as long as everyone fits.
Do you pay the admission fees for us?
No, you pay them at the gate. Brimstone Hill is US$15 for a visitor and US$3 gets you into Romney Manor. Hold a St Kitts and Nevis government ID and the fortress charges EC$10 instead. Wingfield Estate next door is free.
Do we tip the driver?
Tips are appreciated and not required. If you want a figure, ten to fifteen percent is normal here.
Written by Khareem Cabey. Prices and fees last checked 30 October 2026.