The Bottom, Saba: The Capital in the Bowl
Government, a medical school and a church, in a basin that has nothing to do with altitude.
Why Go
The Bottom is Saba's capital, sitting in a shallow bowl at around eight hundred feet with hills rising on every side. The name misleads almost everyone: it comes from the Dutch botte, meaning bowl, and has nothing to do with being low down — the village is well above sea level and there is a good deal of island above it. It is quieter and plainer than Windwardside, and it carries the things a capital carries: the government offices, the courthouse, the island's main church, and a medical school whose students make up a significant share of the population.
The Experience
The village is laid out across the flat floor of the basin, which after Saba's relentless slopes feels almost startling — this is the only place on the island where you can walk any distance without climbing. The buildings follow the same white-and-red code as everywhere else, and the streets are wide by Saban standards. The medical school gives the place a different demographic from the rest of the island, with a student population that comes and goes in cohorts. The Sacred Heart church is the main landmark. From the western edge, the Ladder — the old stone stairway down to the sea — begins its descent, and the road continues down to Fort Bay and the harbour. It is a working administrative village rather than a visitor one. The capital also shows what a very small polity actually needs. Saba has around two thousand people and still requires a courthouse, a government, a hospital and a school, all of which are here, in buildings scaled to a village. Seeing the whole apparatus of an administration fit into a few streets is a genuinely odd and clarifying thing.
What to Try
Walk the village, which takes twenty minutes and is the only flat walking on Saba. See the Sacred Heart Church and the government buildings, which are the architectural centre of the island. The real reason to be here on foot is the Ladder: the stone stairway that drops from the western edge of The Bottom to Ladder Bay was, before the harbour existed, the only way anything reached the island — every barrel, every piece of timber, every piano came up those steps on somebody's back. Walking down and back is the single most affecting thing on Saba. Eat at Rendez-Vous at the Ecolodge, the Saba Snack Gourmet or Midway Bar, and Saba Wishes covers the shopping. Fit Park Saba is the outdoor gym.
Insider Tip
Walk down the Ladder and back, and think about what it meant. There are around eight hundred steps cut into the cliff between The Bottom and the sea, and until the harbour at Fort Bay was built in the 1970s everything that arrived on Saba came up them carried by hand. It takes half an hour down and considerably longer back, it is unshaded, and it will tell you more about this island than any museum. Take water and do it early.
The Practical Stuff
The Bottom is about ten minutes from Fort Bay harbour and twenty from the airport, on Saba's single road. The village is flat and walkable, which is unique on this island. Taxis are the normal way to travel between villages. Saba is a special municipality of the Netherlands using the US dollar, with English as the everyday language and Dutch official. Facilities are ordinary rather than aimed at visitors — government offices, shops, a church, the medical school. There is no beach and no nightlife anywhere on Saba. The Ladder is unshaded and steep in both directions. The island is in the hurricane belt, roughly June to November.
Common Questions
Why is it called The Bottom?
From the Dutch word for bowl, describing the basin the village sits in. It has nothing to do with altitude — the capital is around eight hundred feet up with plenty of island above it.
Is The Bottom worth visiting?
For the Ladder, the church and a look at how the island governs itself, yes. It is plainer than Windwardside and has far less accommodation, so most visitors stay up the hill and come down.
What is the Ladder?
A stone stairway of around eight hundred steps from the edge of The Bottom down to the sea. Before the Fort Bay harbour was built in the 1970s, everything arriving on Saba came up it by hand.
Is the village walkable?
Yes, and it is the only genuinely flat walking on Saba. Twenty minutes covers it, which is a relief after the slopes everywhere else on the island.
Why is there a medical school here?
Saba University School of Medicine has operated on the island for decades, and its students make up a significant proportion of the population, giving the capital a different demographic from the rest of Saba.
How far is it from the harbour?
About ten minutes down to Fort Bay, and twenty up to the airport, on the island's single hand-built road.
Pair It With
- The Ladder Guide — The stairway that explains how Saba was supplied.
- Sacred Heart Church the Bottom Saba Dutch Caribbean Guide — The centre of the capital.
- Rendez-Vous at Ecolodge Guide — Lunch without going back up the hill.
