Basseterre

Understand

thumb|right|350px|Cruise Port in Basseterre Basseterre is a small city that is laid out in a grid pattern. It has four main streets running west to east, and they are listed here in sequence from south to north: Bay Road, Liverpool Row, Central Street, and Cayon Street. The main street running north to south is Fort Street/Bank Street, which is home to the bulk of the island's main shops and banks.

The city has two centres, at The Circus, which is geared towards tourism, and the Independence Square, which contains the cathedral, courthouse, and most of the older buildings.

Get around

There are many ways to get around Basseterre Bus Public buses have green licence plates with the registration identifier starting with the letter H. The 5 main bus routes on St. Kitts are: Basseterre to Sandy Point travelling West, starting at the Ferry Terminal Basseterre to Capesterre travelling West, starting at the Ferry Terminal Basseterre to St. Peter's travelling North, starting at College Street Ghaut Basseterre to Molyneux travelling East, starting at Baker's Corner Basseterre to Saddler's travelling East, starting at Baker's Corner

When a cruise ship visits, dozens of taxis and cars-for-hire can be seen flanking the duty-free mall near the cruise terminals, many with "brokers" in the mall ready to greet you and negotiate costs. Others serve the airport and key resorts, or can be called by phone.

See

Worthwhile places to see in Basseterre include:

Buy

The city has a decent selection of small stores on its several primary streets. They offer restaurants, souvenirs, jewellers and local crafts, plus nearly everything needed for daily life by its citizens and visitors.

In the past several years, the waterfront in Basseterre has been filled in to create a sizeable, duty-free, open-air shopping mall catering primarily to visitors. Virtually all merchants accept U.S. currency. Before giving you duty-free rates, merchants often ask for something that shows you are not a resident, such as a cruise card, foreign driver's license, or a passport. Splash Boutique, TDC Mall, Basseterre, St. Kitts.

Drink

The unofficial national drink, Ting with a Sting, should be made with a local rum like CSR. At the port, most bars will sell it for US$6, but make sure they're using a local rum. Some bars uses cheaper imports, like Bacardi.