Fort Charlotte sits 600 feet above Kingstown on a steep promontory at the western end of the harbour. It is a star-fort of grey volcanic stone, low-built and squat, designed to hold a garrison of 600 with provisions for a long siege. Most of it survives more or less intact — the bastions, the powder magazines, the cisterns, and a series of vaulted rooms that now house a small museum of paintings depicting the Carib wars.
The walk along the ramparts is the main attraction. To the south you look down on Kingstown, the harbour and the cruise terminal; on a clear day you can pick out Bequia, Mustique and the line of the Grenadines stretching toward Grenada. To the north and west the coast falls away in green cliffs. A taxi to the top costs little and is worth it — the climb on foot from town is hot and uninteresting.