Travel deep dive
North-West Saint Kitts: A Hilltop Fortress, Estate Gardens and a Volcano's Crater
Away from the beaches, the north-west of Saint Kitts holds the island's two main outings. Brimstone Hill Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covers a steep volcanic hill above the Caribbean coast, and inland Mount Liamuiga climbs through rainforest to the rim of its crater. The coast road from Basseterre reaches both and passes the gardens of Romney Manor at Old Road on the way. The fortress and the manor make an easy day out; the volcano is a day of its own.
Updated 2026-10-05
The fortress on Brimstone Hill
Brimstone Hill rises abruptly from the coastal plain near Sandy Point, and its fortifications step down the slopes in terraces of wall and bastion. They were built over the late 17th and the 18th centuries, of stone quarried on the hill itself, by enslaved Africans, and their strength gave the hill its nickname, the “Gibraltar of the West Indies”. At the summit stands Fort George, the citadel: thick walls pierced by gun ports, cannon along the parapets and the fortress museum in its rooms, with displays on the fortress and the island's past. Below it lie the lower bastions and the roofless walls of barracks and storehouses, some restored, others left as ruins.
The view from the citadel
From the walls of Fort George the hill drops away to the coast road and the sea. Sint Eustatius and Saba lie across the water to the north-west, close enough to make out the shape of each island, and on a clear day more of the neighbouring islands show along the horizon. Inland, green slopes climb towards Mount Liamuiga.
Visiting the fortress
The fortress lies about 15 kilometres north-west of Basseterre on the coast road, within reach of taxis, minibuses and hire cars. From the coast road a narrow access road winds up the hill in tight bends to the parking below the citadel, and an entrance fee is charged. Steps and steep paths lead on to Fort George and down to the lower bastions; there is little shade on the walls, so a hat, water and shoes with grip are worth bringing. On days when cruise ships are in Basseterre, tour groups come up the hill, and an early start or a day without ships is quieter.
Romney Manor and the ruins at Old Road
At Old Road, on the coast road between Basseterre and the fortress, a lane turns inland to Romney Manor. The estate's gardens fill a slope below the rainforest: lawns, flowering shrubs and a huge old saman tree spreading over the paths. In the estate's buildings a batik workshop works by hand, drawing wax on cotton and dyeing it in layers, and visitors can watch the cloth being made. Close by, the stone ruins of the Wingfield estate's sugar works stand among the trees, and near the village, rock carvings left by the island's Amerindian inhabitants are cut into large boulders.
Mount Liamuiga: through the rainforest to the crater
Mount Liamuiga rises over the north-west of Saint Kitts, and its summit, at 1,156 metres, is the highest point of the island. The trail starts among farmland on the lower slopes and enters rainforest, where tree ferns, mosses and twisted trunks close over a narrow path and the air turns cooler and damper with height. At the rim the crater opens below, about a kilometre across, its walls covered in forest. Green vervet monkeys live in these forests and are often seen along the way. The volcano is dormant, not extinct, and monitored for volcanic and earthquake activity.