My wife and I stayed at the Montpelier the 2nd week in Dec 07. We had never been to Nevis and I decided to stay at 2 different places on the island so we could see as much as possible. Everywhere I researched recommended the Montpelier as a spectacular plantation inn. Trip advisor also contained rave reviews. The Inn was even more beautiful and peaceful than the reviews described.
The Inn is up on the side of the slope of Mt. Nevis. It has a stunning view of the island and of St. Kitts. The grounds are large and very well manicured with large grass areas and flowers everywhere. There are multiple quiet places to sit and relax (a "hidden" hammock) and the grounds are adequate to stroll around-watch out for the fire ant hills (small brown mounds of dirt in the grass that if you step on them you will be bitten immediately).
The pool area is georgeous and relaxing. The 2 mascots Calypso and Rudder will be happy to great you there (especially at tea time).
The Inn has breakfast included and complimentary tea and scones in the afternoon. They also have a cocktail hour just before formal dinner where patrons mingle in the great hall for conversation, appetizers and drinks before dinner.
My wife has some stomach issues and can eat only a limited amount of foods. Even though the daily menu is fixed at the Inn, the Owner and the chef went out of their way to accomodate my wife's needs (thank you Tim Hoffman and Chef). We also ate one of our meals in the sugar mill area. It is a stone sugar mill that has been turned into a dinning area. For just a few dollars more you get a secluded, romantic 5 course dinner in a unique ans special setting. It is a "must do" even if you are not staying at the Inn. Our servers Nicolette and Keston did a great job that night.
Contrary to a previous post on trip advisor about the owner being "a bit brusque and unaccomodating", we found their whole family to be very helpful, friendly, and quite accomodating. Their entire staff (especially: Nicole-front desk, Fernelle-restaurant, Tim-owner, Keston and Niccolette-see above) are professional, friendly and seemed genuinely interested in making your stay wonderful.
The Inn is not on or near the beach. The Inn does have a daily shuttle to a private beach area with bathrooms and a small bar. The patrons going to the beach agree on a pickup time. Some other trip advisor posts mentioned this was inconvienient. My wife and I went to the beach (which is very nice) but is started to rain. We were easily able to have the bar attendant get us a cab from there and went "downtown" for the rest of the day. You are not trapped there by any means.
We would definitely go here again--the setting is just about undescribable with words. It was worth every penny!

My stay this past summer in Nevis was my third - so obviously, I like the island quite a bit. It's quiet, serene, and beautiful. The people are friendly. The isolated, palm-lined beaches with Mt. Nevis looming in the background are nothing short of idyllic. In the past, I have stayed at the Old Manor hotel and at Nisbet. This year we decided to try Montpelier. All three hotels are very unique experiences with their own highlights.

Montpelier, like the Old Manor hotel, is located on the slopes of Mt. Nevis. The scenery is lush, the islands indiginous vervet monkeys roam about, and from the moment you arrive, greeted by a rum punch, you truly feel as if you are "somewhere else". However, the location is limiting in its distance from the beach. Although the hotel offers a shuttle service to their own private beach, it only makes the roundtrip once a day. So, you need to be prepared to leave around 10am and spend the entire day there. Once you do get there, though - the beach is beautiful: one of the most beautiful on the island, and that's saying a lot.

The hotel grounds are very nice. A day spent by the pool, good book in hand, another rum punch (and there's something great about Nevisian rum punches), and nothing to do all day until you're served afternoon tea....well, I wish I had more days like those.

Speaking of tea, the food at Montpelier is excellent. Breakfast is big - a fruit basket, pastries with lemon curd and raspberry preserves, and your choice of entree. No need for lunch. Dinner
is excellent as well - a three course meal in a beautiful setting.
The problem with meals, is that they're quite regimented. You need to decide early in the day whether you will dine there in the evenings. And if you do, there's a very short time window of seatings. We explored the island's other restaurants as well: our favorite by far was Coconuts.

If you're going to Nevis, you should realize that this is not the place for nightlife. No casinos, clubs, parties...and things close relatively early. This is a place to relax, not somewhere where you'll need a vacation from a vacation when you come back.

The rooms were nice - but it's old plantation style. It's homey, not luxury. The windows don't shut entirely. Mosquitos get in, despite the incense sticks provided in the room. The bathrooms could use some updating.

Finally, as far as the staff goes - most everyone was helpful and did everything they could to ensure we were comfortable. However, we did not experience the great hospitality from the owners that others have commented on. It is a multigenerational family running the resort, and while certain family members were very pleasant, we found the elder Hoffman to be a bit brusque and unaccomodating...certainly not the attitude we would expect when paying close to $300 per night in the off season. For this reason primarily, we will chose the Nisbet over Montpelier for future visits.

The Montpelier Plantation Inn is a gorgeous and magical place. My husband just returned from a 4-night trip and absolutely fell in love. The staff and owners are fabulous! We absolutely loved the grounds and were quite amused by Calpso and Rudder, the dogs who roam the plantation and often stopped by our room to say hello. We ate breakfast every morning on the terrace, which was probably the highlight of our day. My husband and I loved the 3-egg omelete. The jams and preserves were also delightful, especially the lemon curd. We were able to purchase several jars to take home with us. We had dinners on both the Terrace and the Sugar Mill, both of which were great. If you are only on Nevis for a few days, definitely try to book the Sugar Mill for dinner one night. It was a beautiful experience and the food is phenomenal. We honestly found our time at the Montpelier to be perfect. We will definitely return in the future!

My husband and I had 5-night stay at Montpelier in April. Here is our impression of the inn.

Highs:
· Not glitzy, but civilized, refined and understated atmosphere rarely generated by American-type up market tropical resorts.
· Elegant but unpretentious dinner in both Terrace and Mill restaurants.
· Gracious and genial owners, the Hoffmans, and friendly staff who address each guest by their name. You feel welcomed.

Lows (for some):
· Isolated location - if you chose not to rent a car, you may feel trapped.
· The inn’s private beach is located 20 minutes drive away, which is served by inn’s shuttle once a day.
· The inn has good size pool, but no ocean view from pool area.

Guests:
We saw many couples traveling on special occasion (honeymooners, anniversary celebration) and some well-heeled guests. Guests were 50/50 American/British in April. We heard that depending on the season, guest composition changes (i.e., in winter British are the majority while more Americans visit spring- summer time).

Room:
The guest room is basic, but it is nicely decorated. The bathroom is also basic (and outdated), but it is compensated by luxurious amenities, Gilchrist & Soames, which no doubt the British guests appreciate. Each room has a terrace area where guests can enjoy a view of the ocean.

Food:
It is excellent for Caribbean standards. We were satisfied with their quality and did not feel the need to eat at the other places (though we did try a dinner at Bananas – which also served delicious food). Afternoon tea was a little awkward in that it was informal to the point of using tea bags instead of loose leaf.

Service:
Service is very good, again, for Caribbean standards. It was very assuring to see that the staff was not only nice and thoughtful to the guests, but also to each other.

Why 4-Star?
When considering the fact that this is a one of Relais & Chateaux properties, we think the inn has some room for improvement - thus slightly a notch below a perfect 5.

Acid Test:
Would we come back? If our main objective is quite relaxation, then Yes!
Overall, we very much enjoyed our stay, but not to the level that other reviewers experienced. This was not a special occasion trip so perhaps we were not sensitive enough to get “it”.

But remember, Montpelier Plantation Inn’s elegance is in the atmosphere and state of mind, and not in the luxury of the room.

Note:
While others liked the quiet beaches on the Caribbean sea side, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful but completely deserted Windward Beach on Atlantic sea side. Think of having a beach half the size of Orient Beach in St. Martin all to yourself! But unfortunately, there is no infrastructure on this beach to make the stay comfortable for more than a few hours.