Haiti Discovery Guide

Haiti was the first country in the world created by enslaved people who freed themselves, and the second republic in the Americas. That fact is not background here — it is the organising idea of the national culture, visible in the fortress on the mountain, the art, the religion and the way the country talks about itself.

The physical country is mountainous almost everywhere: the Taíno name Ayiti means land of high mountains, and four ranges leave very little flat ground between the peaks and the sea. The result is a coastline of deep bays and a interior of steep valleys, with beaches on the Côte des Arcadins and the southern peninsula that see almost no visitors.

Haiti also produces art out of proportion to its size — painting, metal sculpture cut from oil drums, drumming and literature — and Jacmel’s papier-mâché and carnival are a tradition in their own right. It is, at present, a country most governments advise against visiting, and any plan has to start with current security advice rather than with an itinerary.

If you can only go to one place

Cap-Haïtien, in the north. The Citadelle Laferrière and the palace ruins at Sans-Souci are a UNESCO World Heritage site and the single most extraordinary thing in the country, the city itself has the best-preserved colonial street grid, and the beaches east of town are empty.

If you are interested in art

Croix-des-Bouquets for the metal sculptors, whose workshops line one street and who cut everything from oil drums by hand; Jacmel for painting, papier-mâché and the Barbancourt-era mansions; and the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince if it is open.

If you want the mountains

Furcy and Seguin, above Kenscoff, are high enough to be cold at night and to grow strawberries, with pine forest and walking trails at Parc La Visite. The drive up from the capital takes about two hours and the temperature drops fifteen degrees.

Before anything else

Check your government’s current advice. Most advise against all travel, road movement between cities has repeatedly been impossible, and internal flights or charter boats are the practical alternative when they are running.

Haiti is a Creole-speaking, African-descended republic in a hemisphere that spent two centuries trying to pretend it should not exist, and a great deal of the national character follows from that.

The revolution as living memory

The war that ended slavery here is not distant history; it is the reference point for public rhetoric, street names, monuments and the flag. The Citadelle was built by a formerly enslaved man who became king, to stop the French from coming back.

Vodou, openly

Vodou is a recognised religion, practised alongside Catholicism by a large share of the population, with its own priesthood, temples and calendar. The Hollywood version bears no relation to it. Visitors are sometimes welcome at ceremonies and should go only with someone who belongs there.

The lakou

The extended family compound is the basic social unit in rural Haiti, and obligation within it — to send money, to take in relatives, to bury the dead properly — is taken seriously. The diaspora operates on the same principle from abroad.

Colour and class

The distinction between a small, largely lighter-skinned and French-speaking elite and a Creole-speaking majority is old, sharply felt and openly discussed. It explains more about Haitian politics than any other single factor.

Haiti receives very few visitors, so the usual pressures of overtourism do not apply. The responsible-travel question here is different: almost anything spent goes further than it would elsewhere, and where it is spent matters a great deal.

Buy directly from makers. The metal sculptors of Croix-des-Bouquets, the painters of Jacmel and the craft cooperatives around Port-au-Prince sell their own work, and the difference between buying at the workshop and buying through an intermediary abroad is most of the price. The same applies to guides, drivers and guesthouses — Haitian-owned operations exist for all of them.

Be careful with photography and with how the country is described afterwards. Haitians are accustomed to being photographed in the worst circumstances of their lives by people who then leave, and the resentment is well earned. Ask first. Avoid orphanage visits entirely: the trade in short-term volunteer placements has been shown to create demand for children who are not orphans, and reputable organisations no longer run them.

December to March is the dry season and by a wide margin the best window: warm, sunny, lower humidity and the lowest rainfall of the year. It also takes in carnival, which falls in February or early March and is the largest event in the Haitian calendar.

April to June brings the first rainy season, with heavy afternoon showers that clear quickly but make mountain roads difficult. July and August are hot and humid, and also when the Haitian diaspora comes home, so flights are full and prices rise.

August to November is hurricane season, with September and October carrying the greatest risk. Haiti’s deforested slopes mean that even a storm that does not make landfall can cause serious flooding and landslides, and roads can be cut for days.

Note that the security situation, rather than the weather, is the constraint that actually determines whether travel is possible, and it changes faster than the seasons do.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the country

Imported goods are expensive and cash is king; budget for security and transport rather than for sightseeing, which costs very little.