Golden Rock Inn

The hillside plantation inns in Nevis may lack in sand and sea, but they more than make up for it with lush tropical surroundings, luxurious pampering, fine dining and sweeping vistas of the coastline below. It’s a fine combination for romance, which was readily apparent to me when we stopped in for a quick visit to one such hillside plantation inn called The Golden Rock Inn.

A former sugar plantation dating back to 1801, The Golden Rock Inn extends across 100 acres of pristine Nevisian hillside in the Gingerland section of the island, so named for the crop that once sustained the area. It’s enough room for a sprawling mega-resort, but there are just seven cottages here, plus a fine restaurant, a spring-fed swimming pool, and one of the most special room accommodations in all of the Caribbean.

Six pastel cottages containing 11 rooms tucked into the sides of a lush green hill. Early mornings and cocktails taken at sunset on the terrace of the Golden Rock Inn are perfection. A generous panorama from the dining pavilion takes in the hills and the distant ocean.