Three hours out to Wingfield Estate at Old Road, where there is a working rum distillery with a date of 1681 behind it and the remains of a seventeenth century sugar mill in the grounds. You walk the property, then you sit down and taste three rums: a white, an estate rum and a rum cream. US$139 a person, 18 and over for the tasting, and the drive out and back is in the price. Book it if you want your three hours ashore to be something other than a beach or a bus.
What it costs
| Price | What is in it | |
|---|---|---|
| Per person, 18 and over | US$139 | Air-conditioned vehicle with a guide, the property tour, the tasting of three rums, bottled water, plus collection and return at Port Zante or your hotel |
| Non-drinking guest | ask | The property tour and the walk round the ruins with the group, and no tasting. Tell us on the form and we price that seat when we confirm |
Lunch is not in the price. Bottles to take home are sold on the property and are yours to settle. There is no charge to walk into Wingfield Estate itself, which is a thing worth knowing and we come back to it below.
A cruise line sells its own Old Road rum tour at US$129.99 an adult and US$99.99 a child, and an online agency sells a rum tasting day tour at US$110. We are above both of them. What the difference pays for is the full three hours, the vehicle, a guide who stays with your group and the walk through the sugar works ruins, and the tasting is the smallest part of the day.
What do you see and drink?
The estate sits above Old Road on the Caribbean side, about twenty five minutes out of Basseterre along the coast road, in the ground between the village and the rainforest.
The ruins come first. Stone walls and arches of a sugar works that was running in the seventeenth century, with the old mill structure still standing and the aqueduct channel that fed it. Trees have grown up through parts of it. You walk through the middle of all of it on grass and uneven stone.
Then the distillery. The 1681 date on this site is the oldest rum date anyone on this island will quote you, and the distilling now is a small operation you can stand next to and watch.
The tasting is sitting down, three pours, in order. The white rum first, which is the one that tells you what the still is doing. The estate rum next, darker, with time in wood behind it. The rum cream last, which is the one that goes home in luggage.
Your guide will walk you to the Wingfield petroglyphs if the group wants them, carvings cut into rock on the estate by the people who were here before any of the sugar was.
How long does it take, and will it fit a cruise day?
Three hours door to door, with roughly an hour of that on the road and the rest on the estate.
Ships are alongside Basseterre from about 8am to 5pm or 6pm, which is why almost everything sold on this island runs three to five hours. Three works on any call that is not a half day stop. The one thing to plan around is the tasting: leave yourself an hour between the last pour and your all aboard, and go in the morning if your group intends to do the tasting properly.
What should you bring?
Closed shoes. The ruins are grass, loose stone and tree root, and the ground is soft for a day after rain.
Photo ID if you look anywhere near 18. The pours are checked and nobody is going to argue about it with you.
Cash or a card for bottles. Rum cream and the aged bottles are what people buy, and the price on them is the property’s price, which we do not set or mark up.
A hat. Parts of the walk are in rainforest shade and parts of it are open ground in full sun.
Something to eat beforehand. Three rums on an empty stomach at eleven in the morning is a decision people regret by the pier.
Who should not book this one
Under 18s cannot taste, full stop. They can come, walk the property and see the ruins with the group, which is the non-drinking seat on the form.
Anyone who is driving afterwards, including anyone who has hired a car for the day. There is no sober option on the tasting end of this tour and we will not pretend otherwise.
Anyone who cannot manage uneven ground. The ruins are the better half of the property and they are stone and grass with no made path.
If you are pregnant, or you take medication that rum is a bad idea with, book the non-drinking seat.
What happens if the weather turns, or your ship is late?
A wet morning moves this tour under cover instead of calling it off. The distillery and the tasting are both under cover, and the ruins walk gets cut short or dropped if the ground is running with water.
If your ship docks late, the driver waits and the pickup goes off the real arrival time. If your call is cancelled or your ship skips St Kitts, you pay nothing and any money taken comes back in full.
If the property cannot run the tasting on your date for a reason of its own, we tell you as soon as we know and refund you whole. No credit note and no fee.
Book it
Tell us your date, how many drinking and non-drinking guests, where to collect you, your ship name if you are on one, and anything we should know about allergies. We confirm the slot with the property and come back inside one working day, then send a payment link. Nothing is charged before the tour is confirmed.
Questions people ask
Are you cheaper than the cruise line?
No. One cruise line sells its Old Road rum tour at US$129.99 an adult and US$99.99 a child, an online agency sells a rum tasting day tour at US$110, and we are US$139. The gate price for the sixty minute distillery tour and tasting was US$75 as at 30 September 2026, so none of the three of us is selling rum at cost. What our US$139 holds that the US$129.99 does not is three hours instead of the tasting hour, a vehicle and a guide who stay with your group, and the walk through the ruins. If the cheapest version is what you want, read the next answer.
Can we just turn up and do it ourselves?
Yes, and on your own it is cheaper. Wingfield Estate is free to walk into, and the distillery sells its sixty minute tour and tasting at the gate for US$75. The statutory maximum taxi fare from Basseterre to Caribelle Batik, the same stretch of coast, is US$45 or EC$122 for one to four people for up to an hour and a half, and after the first 15 free minutes a driver may charge US$5 or EC$13 for each 15 minutes of waiting. An hour inside the distillery is 45 chargeable minutes, so US$15 of waiting. That is US$135 done yourself against our US$139 for one person, and US$210 against our US$278 for two, because the gate charges a head and the taxi does not. Our price buys the three hours, the ruins walk and a guide who is yours for all of it. If that gap is not worth it for your party, take the taxi.
Is 18 the real limit?
Yes, and the property enforces it on the pour. Bring ID.
How much rum do you actually get?
Three pours, a white, an estate rum and a rum cream, as tasting measures. They are tasting measures, poured for comparison.
Can we buy bottles and take them on the ship?
You can buy them on the property. What your ship lets you carry aboard is your line’s rule, and most of them hold the bottle until the last night.
Written by Khareem Cabey. Prices and fees last checked 30 October 2026.