Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe Geography & Climate
Geography
Guadeloupe covers about 1,630 square kilometres in the Lesser Antilles and is really an archipelago, dominated by two very different islands joined at the middle.
Basse-Terre
The western wing is volcanic and mountainous, rising to La Soufriere at 1,467 metres — the highest point in the Lesser Antilles and an active volcano, monitored continuously and known locally as la vieille dame. Its slopes catch enormous rainfall, sustaining true rainforest, and the beaches here are volcanic black and grey sand. Most of it is national park.
Grande-Terre
The eastern wing is the opposite: a low limestone platform, mostly under a hundred metres, with no rivers, dry scrub and cane, white-sand beaches on the south coast and cliffs where the Atlantic hits the east.
The Riviere Salee
The two are separated by a narrow mangrove channel, a sea channel rather than a river, crossed by bridges — which is why the island looks like a butterfly from the air and why its two halves have quite different weather.
The dependencies
Les Saintes, a cluster of small volcanic islands to the south; Marie-Galante, a flat limestone disc; and La Desirade, a long ridge to the east with some of the oldest exposed rock in the Antilles.
Confusingly named
Two names catch visitors out. The mountainous western wing is called Basse-Terre, meaning low land, while the flat eastern one is Grande-Terre — the opposite of what the terrain suggests, because the names refer to how the wind blows across them rather than to height. To compound it, Basse-Terre is also the name of the administrative capital, on the west wing, while the largest town and the airport are at Pointe-a-Pitre on Grande-Terre.
The Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin
A large bay between the wings with mangrove, seagrass and a barrier reef, protected as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Climate Patterns
Guadeloupe has a tropical maritime climate moderated by the trade winds, and the most striking thing about it is how much it differs between the two halves of the island.
The seasons
Careme, the dry season, runs December to April: 28 to 30°C by day, low humidity, steady wind, little rain. Hivernage runs June to November, hotter and considerably more humid, with heavy but usually brief downpours.
Two wings, two climates
This matters more than the calendar. Basse-Terre catches the trades against its mountains and is extremely wet — parts of the Soufriere massif receive over eight metres of rain a year, among the highest totals in the Americas — which is why it is rainforest. Grande-Terre, flat and in the rain shadow, gets closer to a metre and is dry scrub and cane. The drive between them takes half an hour.
Climbing the volcano
The practical consequence: La Soufriere is in cloud and rain on most days of the year, at any season. Go early in the morning, take a waterproof, and accept that the view is a matter of luck.
Hurricanes
The season runs June to November, peaking August to October. Guadeloupe lies in the path and has been hit hard, notably by Hugo in 1989 and Maria in 2017. French civil protection is well organised and the alert system is clear.
Planning around the split
The practical advice follows from the rainfall difference: base yourself on Grande-Terre or the drier south of Basse-Terre for reliable beach weather, and treat the rainforest and the volcano as day trips taken early. Visitors who book a week in the hills of Basse-Terre expecting Caribbean sunshine are frequently disappointed, and in the wet season the ravines there can be genuinely torrential.
The sea
Between about 26 and 29°C all year.