Though just 36 square miles in size, Nevis's cylindrical dormant volcanic cone—Nevis Peak, rising to 3,232 feet—makes the Caribbean island a noteworthy landmark. Nevis was named for Nuestro Senora del las Nieves, or 'Our Lady of the Snows.' Fortunately, since Christopher Columbus's visit, no snow has been spotted on these slopes!  

The most prominent beach on Nevis is Pinney's, a four-mile-long carpet of auburn sand, edged by a former coconut plantation. At its center sits the Four Seasons Resort Nevis, the island's largest hotel.  

A horse-drawn carriage greets a honeymooning couple staying at The Hermitage, a 15-room inn built from the bones of what may be the oldest wooden plantation house in the Caribbean. Horseback rides are a specialty of The Hermitage, and the owners actively participate in horse races at the island's bantam racetrack.  

Another of Nevis's classic inns is Montpellier Plantation, a 17-room Relais & Chateaux-affiliated property with a noteworthy historical lure—it was the location of the wedding of Admiral Horatio Nelson to Fanny Nisbett. Despite a position high on a shoulder of Nevis Peak, Montpellier also boasts a private beach club, where guests can enjoy watersports and lunch along Pinney's Beach.  

Originally built in 1680 and slumbering quietly in the foothills rising above Charlestown, the St. John's Fig Tree Anglican Church is where the marriage certificate of Admiral Nelson and Fanny Nisbett is displayed.  

Nevis is actually part of a two-island government called St. Kitts and Nevis—together, the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere, with just 46,000 people between them (about three-quarters of them on St. Kitts). They are located only two miles apart, and on clear days the volcanic summit of St. Kitts rises majestically across the channel from Nevis.  

The Four Seasons Resort Nevis on Pinney's Beach was a game-changer for tiny Nevis. When the hotel opened in 1991, it had more rooms than all others on the island combined. But it also helped position Nevis as an exclusive landing, and the resort—with its plush spa and dramatic golf course—is now a vital part of the scene, contributing greatly to the island's financial health.  

The 15-room Hermitage occupies what is possibly the Caribbean's oldest wooden plantation house, dating to the 1670s. Located 900 feet above sea level on the lush slopes of Nevis Peak, The Hermitage has been lovingly restored by the Lupinacci family of Pennsylvania—first as a family home, then converted to a small and special inn.  

Llewellyn Caines, known by all as 'Sunshine,' is the master of a memorable concoction, the Killer Bee, served at his namesake beach bar. A ramshackle assemblage of flotsam and jetsam, Sunshine's is just a stone's throw from the Four Seasons Resort and, as such, draws a heady clientele (Robert Plant, Wayne Gretsky, and the late Princess Diana, to name a few), with a jukebox that skips amiably between John Lennon, Billie Holiday, and Bob Marley.  

Remnants of an expansive grove of stately coconut palms nestle in the lowlands between Pinney's Beach and the flanks of Nevis Peak. This a great sunset-viewing spot.