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Duty
Free:
The following goods may be imported into St. Kitts & Nevis without
incurring customs duty:
200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 225g of tobacco; 1.136
litres of wine or
spirits; 150g perfume.
Note: There are several duty-free shops, selling a range of goods,
including perfumes, textiles, clothing, porcelain, crystal and jewellery.
Public
Holidays:
Jan 1 ’96 New Year’s Day. Jan 2 Carnival. Apr 5 Good Friday. Apr 8
Easter Monday. May 1 Labour Day. May 27 Whit Monday. Jun 4 Queen’s
Birthday. Aug 5 August Monday. Aug 8 Culturama Last Lap. Sep 19
Independence Day. Dec 25-26 Christmas. Dec 31-Jan 2 ’97 Carnival. Jan
1 New Year’s Day. Mar 28 Good Friday. Mar 31 Easter Monday.
Medical
Facilities:
St. Kitts & Nevis have doctors on
call at hotels and a 24-hour Casualty Department. There are large
general hospitals in Basseterre and Charlestown, and a smaller public
hospital at Sandy Point, St. Kitts. There are no private hospitals,
health insurance is advised. Decompression chambers are available by air
ambulance at nearby Saba and in St. Thomas. Pharmaceutical services are
widely available on the islands.
Passports
and Immigration:
U.S. and Canadian citizens need proof of
citizenship: a passport, driver's license, birth certificate or voters'
registration card. U.S. residents need their green card. All others
require a valid passport. A return or continuing ticket is also
required.
Shopping
Hours:
Monday through Saturday 8:00 am to noon
and 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. On Thursdays, some shops close for the
afternoon. Most stores do not open on Sundays.
Personal
Safety:
St. Kitts & Nevis are relatively
crime free. But, exercise normal precautions. i.e. don't leave valuables
unattended in rental cars or on the beach.
Food
& Drinks:
St. Kitts & Nevis has built up a
widely established reputation for fine food, a reputation which the
local restaurateurs guard zealously. Restaurants specialize in West
Indian, Creole, Continental, Indian, Chinese and French cuisine. Most
restaurants in St. Kitts offer a continental menu with island
variations. Local dishes include roast suckling pork, spiny lobster,
crab back and curry. Restaurants that cater more for locals also offer
conch (curried, soused or in salad), rice and peas and goat water
(mutton stew). Christophine, yams, breadfruit and papaya are also
served. Nevis is less grand and Charlestown’s small restaurants cater
more to Nevisians than visitors. Local specialties are native vegetable
soup, lobster, mutton and beef stews. Fruit, including mangoes, papayas
and bananas, is sold at De Bay Front Public Market. Drink: The
locally produced CSR (Cane Spirit Rothschild), belonging to the
Baron Rothschild family, is excellent. A wide range of imported drinks
are available.
After Dark:
Very low key. A number of hotels and inns
have string or steel bands to dance to on Saturday nights in the peak
season. Monkey Bar, Totts and Mangoes, in
St. Kitts, are open until the small hours. St. Kitts has a casino at the
Jack Tar Village St. Kitts Resort, complete with slot machines, roulette wheels and
blackjack tables. Otherwise entertainment centers around the pleasant
bars of the inns and hotels.
Shopping:
Local crafts include carvings, batik,
wall hangings, leather art and coconut work. Local textiles and designs
are also available. Stamp collectors should note the excellent
Philatelic Bureau in Basseterre and Charlestown. Duty-free shopping is
relatively new to St. Kitts and, the Pelican Mall, has shops featuring
imported merchandise at substantial savings. Nevis’ hot pepper sauce,
ranked among the Caribbean’s best, is a good take-home item and can be
bought at the Main Street grocery in Charlestown. Friday and Saturday
are the busy market days, and visitors should not miss the chance to
witness this abundance of exotic food stalls.
 
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