My family had the pleasure of a 4 day stay at the brand new Park Hyatt in St Kitts. On almost every level this was one of our better Caribbean beach vacations in recent memory. As a starter the island of St. Kitts itself is beautiful, very well maintained, and the people could not be friendlier. The island was luckily spared in the recent devastating hurricanes of 2017. The terrain is relatively hilly presenting lots of splendid landscapes. The hotel was situated against a horseshoe shaped hill with roughly a half mile of uninterrupted beach sprawled before it facing the island of Nevis.
The hotel rooms were a series of mid sized buildings that housed about 6 rooms rooms, all with ocean views and a short walk to all the amenities. The rooms have a beachy chic vibe with mahogany floors, white washed shiplap walls and relaxed furniture with a splash of trendy shapes and colors mixed in. Each room had 10 feet floor to ceiling windows covering almost the entire ocean side giving you un-interrupted views of the beach, ocean, and the island of Nevis just a couple miles away. Our room (Nevis Peak Suite) had an outdoor area of roughly 1,000 square feet with a small plunge the pool, day bed, couch and seating area along with dining table and wet bar. We spent a bit of time reading and relaxing here at the end of the day as it caught late afternoon sun. The bathroom was very large with double vanities and a huge shower room that could fit the whole family. Towels, bedding, toiletries and amenities were all top shelf. I can’t imagine the most discerning traveler being disappointed with the décor and/or amenities. Indoors we had a nice closet area (however they could have used a couple more drawers) and a lounge area with a couch, chairs, coffee table and a small dinning table for 3 or 4 which works equally well as a work station. Rooms were great.
There were 3 restaurants each with varying menus and themes. The décor at each restaurant, including the adjacent bar spaces, found the perfect balance of trendy and warmth that made me want to hire the decorator for a visit to my home. Nothing chintzy here, all the furniture, linens, table and glassware were ultra high end. It also helps that everything is spanking brand new. As for the food, I would say that The Stone Barn which is an adult’s only restaurant would stack up with many of the fine eateries in NYC…and that says a lot. The other two restaurants, Fisherman’s Village and Great House were nearly equal to Stone Barn for food quality and would certainly have rated 9/10 for the menu and food. On a couple of occasions we asked to Raoul (the chef) to go off script he was open to accommodating any requests and we did a number of substitutions to the menu to tailor our dining experience. Service at the resort was solid on most fronts and would certainly get an 8/10 but we did note a couple small lapses but nothing that really affected our stay and more likely just the mind set of “Caribbean service” vs. “New York service”.
The common areas include a well equipped gym, a nice spa a huge family pool which is almost like a big lagoon (probably an acre of just pool) with a multitude of loungers and chairs nearby. Umbrellas were plentiful and there were a few large day beds for ultra-zen around the perimeter of the pool. There was a recreation shack area near the beach that offered free kayaks, paddle boards, snorkeling gear, games and kites for kids and adults of all ages. There was also a very quiet adult only pool (which we never used) that looked very chill.
If you want to get off the resort taxis are plentiful and reasonably priced. There are a few “toes in the sand” local restaurants and bars that were pretty good dinning as well as a couple restaurants that would have been more “fine dinning” in nature although at any venue shorts, t-shirts and flip flops seemed acceptable. I definitely recommend Salt Plage for a sunset drinks and appetizers and The Pavilion for dinner which were just 5 minutes taxi ride from hotel. Spice Mill (which is a 10 minute walk) is very casual, cheap and cheerful dinning with good food and service. Again, I can’t overemphasis how nice all the people are on the island..very outgoing, jovial and always smiling.
Park Hyatt, St Kitts was an amazing place and I would highly recommend for families and/or couples. Both the property and the food were absolutely fantastic. If you have questions about specific room categories please feel free to reach out to me as I toured all the various rooms.
Oh ya, and take the kids zip lining it’s a great way to spend a half a morning.