St Kitts / Special Interests / Hiking & Walking

St Kitts is a relatively small island, but there is some good hiking, particularly in the northern part, on the northern mountain range. Starting in the cane fields you climb out into the high forested areas where you will find tall trees laced with a network of lianas. As you climb higher the vegetation changes again and there are ferns and eventually stunted cloud forest.

The most popular hike that covers this is for Mt Liamuiga, in which you climb up to the volcanic crater (it is 1000 feet deep and about a mile across) near the northern tip of the island. The views are truly spectacular. It is possible to hike to the top of the peak itself, but it is a challenging climb and it is not done very often.

You don’t necessarily need to go to altitude. The lowlands of St Kitts, which from above appears almost ‘carpeted’ with sugar cane, also offer some excellent walking, in which you will discover the remains of all the old sugar works now overtaken by under- and overgrowth. There are also quite remote hikes to be had in the southern part of the island, but there are no formal trips, so you will have to do it by special arrangement with one of the local guides.

As always in the Caribbean, where it surprisingly easy to get lost, it is a good idea to go with a guide anyway. Besides, much of the fun of these trips is that the guide brings the extraordinary nature of the local environment alive, telling you about the oddities of plant and animal behaviour. A number of guides are available, and many of them offer an amusing tour, but the most established, Greg’s Safaris have better scientific knowledge to back up their commentary.

Hiking tours on St Kitts are availalble through:

Greg's Safaris - Hikes and vehicle-born excursions on many of the old trails that once criss-crossed the island like a spiders’ web, including a day’s hike up the volcano Mt Liamuiga, a rainforest hike and a Land Rover off-road tour called 'off-the-beaten-path' which explores the plantation history of St Kitts. Owned and operated by Greg Pereira, who includes a picnic on all tours with home made juices, local fruit and sugar cane, island pastries and local rum. Also private tours by arrangement.

Kriss Tours - Also offer full day hikes up to the crater and half day hike into the rain forest.

Periwinkle Tours, Verchilds Village - Oliver Spencer offers personalised tours into the rainforest, and will also cater for bird watchers.