Guadeloupe Discovery Guide

Guadeloupe is shaped like a butterfly, and the two wings are entirely different islands joined by a bridge over a narrow channel.

Basse-Terre, the western wing, is volcanic, mountainous and covered in rainforest, with La Soufriere rising to 1,467 metres — an active volcano you can climb in a morning — and a national park with waterfalls, hot springs and the Carbet falls.

Grande-Terre, the eastern wing, is flat limestone with cane fields, white-sand beaches and the resort strip around Sainte-Anne and Saint-Francois.

Offshore are three more places worth the boat: Les Saintes, a cluster of small islands with one of the finest bays in the Caribbean, Marie-Galante, flat, quiet and full of ox carts and rum distilleries, and La Desirade.

It is France — euros, good roads, excellent bread — with Creole cooking that many people rate the best in the Caribbean.

Basse-Terre and the park

Climb La Soufriere — about two hours up through steaming fumaroles, frequently in cloud and rain, and worth doing early. The Carbet falls, the Maison de la Foret trails, and the Route de la Traversee across the middle of the island through rainforest.

Diving and the west coast

The Cousteau reserve off Pigeon island is the best-known dive and snorkel site, easy and full of fish. Deshaies in the north-west has a botanical garden and good beaches, and the west coast has dark volcanic sand and clear water.

Grande-Terre

The white-sand beaches at Sainte-Anne and Bois Jolan, the cliffs at Pointe des Chateaux where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean, and Le Moule on the windward side for surf.

Les Saintes

An hour by ferry. Terre-de-Haut has a bay often ranked among the world’s finest, Fort Napoleon above the village, and a scale small enough to cover on foot or by scooter. The best day trip in the archipelago.

Marie-Galante

Flat, quiet and agricultural, with three working rum distilleries, windmill ruins and empty beaches. An hour by ferry and a different pace entirely.

Guadeloupe is Creole and French together, and rather less preoccupied with that tension than Martinique — the tone here is more relaxed and more rural.

A French departement

Like Martinique, this is not a colony but a departement of France and part of the European Union, with the euro, French schools and hospitals, and full citizenship. Many Guadeloupeans live in mainland France, and the connection is constant.

Creole identity

Creole is spoken by nearly everyone and is a point of pride rather than embarrassment, with its own literature and a strong presence in music and Carnival. The African inheritance from the plantation era runs through the drumming, the dance and the food.

Gwoka

The island’s own drum music, descended directly from the music of enslaved people, is UNESCO-listed and thoroughly alive — seven rhythms, a lead drum answering a dancer, and open lewoz gatherings where anyone can join. It became a symbol of Guadeloupean identity during the political movements of the 1970s and 1980s.

Politics

Social conflict over the cost of living, land ownership by beke families and the chlordecone scandal has produced major general strikes, most notably in 2009. Independence sentiment exists but is a minority position.

Village life

Outside Pointe-a-Pitre the island is small-town and agricultural, and the pace reflects it.

The Guadeloupe National Park covers much of Basse-Terre and includes a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Stay on the marked trails, which are well maintained and which keep walkers off fragile slopes, and take everything out with you.

Chlordecone. As in Martinique, a pesticide used in banana plantations until 1993 has left long-term contamination of soil and inshore waters, with fishing prohibited in affected zones. It is a serious public health scandal and a live political grievance. Buy fish through normal commercial channels, which are monitored, and do not gather shellfish yourself.

The reserve at Pigeon — the Cousteau underwater reserve — is heavily dived. Use operators with mooring buoys, never touch anything, and use reef-safe sunscreen.

Eat and stay locally. The gites, the market at Pointe-a-Pitre and the beach lolos keep money on the island rather than with mainland operators.

Manchineel trees on beaches are marked in red; do not touch or shelter under them.

December to April is the dry season, careme, and the best window: around 28 to 30°C, low humidity, steady trade winds and little rain. It is also high season, when French visitors arrive in numbers and prices peak.

Carnival runs from Epiphany in January through to Ash Wednesday, longer than in most of the Caribbean, with parades most weekends and the climax over the five days before Lent. It is a local event rather than a tourist one.

June to November is hivernage: hotter, humid, with heavy showers and the hurricane risk peaking from August to October. Prices fall sharply and the rainforest is spectacular.

Sargassum seaweed affects the Atlantic-facing south and east coasts, mainly between March and August, and varies greatly year to year.

Whale watching runs from December to May, and the Route du Rhum transatlantic race finishes here every four years in November.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the country

Guadeloupe is expensive, at French price levels plus freight, though generally a little cheaper than Martinique and with more self-catering options.