riving around St. Kitts with our taxi driver, James Brown (no, the Godfather of Soul has not taken to driving cabs in the Caribbean - they just share the same name), we couldn't help but be surprised at how much sugarcane was still being cultivated. There were just miles and miles and miles of it. We commented to Mr. Brown about it, and after saying, "ah-huh" (he said this a lot, with emphasis on the second syllable), he said that on St. Kitts, you are always in sight of "the cane." That and the towering mountains, which the clouds surround like a set of the Queen Mother's choker pearls. Nevis, which hasn't produced cane since the 1950s, is like a baby version of St. Kitts, without the cane. Both are beautiful if you love mountains, sweeps of green fields, and plantation ruins down to the azure sea.

This plantation bucolia also gives St. Kitts (né St. Christopher) and Nevis an appealing sense of peace and quiet. With only a few large resorts on St. Kitts, all of which are concentrated in one area near the best beaches, and only one on Nevis - the deluxe Four Seasons - there is no tourist-on-the-loose frenzy here (which can be so tedious). Hence the pace is slow, especially on Nevis and throughout the northern two thirds of St. Kitts.

These dual lures of plantation settings and peace and quiet attract a well-heeled and sophisticated crowd. It's perfect for those frazzled corporate managers who want a week to be "out to lunch and cannot be reached." With a plethora of restored and re-created plantation inns (see below), you can stay sequestered here on your estate - stroll the grounds, loll in the pool, sip rum punches to oblivion, catch up on all your Peter Mayle and Frances Mayes books, and muse about how much longer you can maintain the staff (what with the price of sugar these days). You may even feel strong enough to hit the beach or try a round of golf at the superb Robert Trent Jones II course at the Four Seasons.

Both islands are volcanic, and each has a 3,000-foot-plus dormant volcano, usually topped with a halo of clouds. Nicknamed "The Sisters of the Caribbean," they are separated by a two-mile-wide channel. Each has beautiful golden-sand beaches that are concentrated in one area. On St. Kitts, they are at the southern tip of the island. On Nevis, they are on the northeast side of the island. Each also has monkeys, the green vervet monkey to be exact, which is a rarity in the West Indies. The monkeys were introduced by a Frenchman and have proliferated to the point that you'll probably see some during your visit.

St. Kitts is the big sister, about twice the size of Nevis and with about four times as many people. About half of the population on St. Kitts resides in the capital, Basseterre. North of the capital, the island is wonderfully scenic as three mountain ranges soar into the clouds. Their steep slopes gradually fade into fields of sugarcane as they get close to the sea. Baby sister Nevis is just a much smaller version, though the cane is no longer farmed. Of the two, Nevis has traditionally been known as the quiet one, but with the advent of the top-of-the-line Four Seasons in 1991 and the vacationing of numerous celebrities and royalty, the island has been discovered as a kind of rustic alternative to St. Barts.