Carambola Beach Club is an affordable and convenient getaway on St. Kitts. We were on the island for just a day and it was a perfect solution for our short stay.
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Location
We had heard good things about Frigate Bay and the Marriott St. Kitts Beach Club but we didn’t want the crowds. The split hotel and timeshare property is home to a popular Italian restaurant, La Cucina, and Fire, Steak, & Seafood but we had been eating well on the ship and wanted to avoid the mega resort. Our driver recommended Carambola Beach Resort which has similar conditions and is just down the road from the Marriott but without the crowds.
The drive took us about 20 minutes from the cruise port.
Address: South Friar’s Bay, St. Kitts
Phone: +1-869-465-9090
Local Tip
We became aware of the Carambola by meeting our driver, Colin Richardson, (+1-718-705-0531) at the St. Kitts port. He and his wife own a registered charter taxi and tour operator business and understood we were looking for something a little different. We were looking for a beautiful beach but a quiet experience, our Hilton stay the year prior was not so impressive.
Our driver, Colin, recommended not only Carambola but also a popular lookout point to see the island, Nevis was out of view. He drove us to a point where we could see the Beach Club we would visit, a number of bays, and we even passed the new Ritz-Carlton location which appears to be years away from becoming a reality.
Beach Chairs, Umbrellas, Rentals
We visited St. Kitts & Nevis (though we didn’t go to the island of Nevis at all) on a very light day. In fact, the only other visitors to Carambola (about half a dozen) were from our Explora Journeys cruise ship with only about 500 passengers onboard. We had the place to ourselves.
Beach chairs could be purchased in advance from the Club’s website or onsite for $10/chair. Umbrellas add another $17 but it’s not necessary to purchase more than one umbrella for neighboring chairs. There was a secondary beach but it was less sandy but better for snorkeling. A vendor on the beach (I can’t say if he was from Carambola) had personal sea scooters like this for rent for $35/hour which we considered but decided against.
We were content to swim and soak up the sun for a few hours before returning to the port.
The Club doesn’t have a pool bar and I wonder if on a busier day there would have been service at the chairs but on our visit there was not. The bar and restaurant inside were quiet.
Value
The taxi ride to the resort was $20 USD each way which seemed fair to us and we spent $47 for three chairs and an umbrella though we could have had as many as we liked on the day of our visit. Even if Carambola had been busier on our visit, the beach was wide and there were no other businesses nearby and it seems like a quiet experience would be possible no matter what. We thought it was cheap and cheerful for a world-class beach so long as the expectations of service is minimal.
What do you think?
Did they include floats and beach towels?
Loved the article, must visit the next time we are in the area.
I see you met Colin Richardson.
Him and his wife are excellent tour guides, he also takes credit cards. His company is cstaxisandtoursstkitts and he has a website with prices.
I think you should have gone to Shipwreck Bar, just a little further down the beach. For $47 you could have gotten beach chairs, umbrellas, snorkels, and lunch for your whole group! Also tons of monkeys and mongooses running around. Definitely my favorite hang in St. Kitts.