Martinique
Martinique Geography & Climate
Geography
Martinique covers about 1,128 square kilometres in the Lesser Antilles, between Dominica to the north and Saint Lucia to the south, and it divides sharply into two halves.
The volcanic north
Mount Pelee rises to 1,397 metres and is an active stratovolcano, closely monitored. The mountains around it — the Pitons du Carbet — are steep, forested and very wet, with rainfall of several metres a year sustaining genuine rainforest. Beaches on this coast are volcanic black or grey sand.
The 1902 eruption
On 8 May 1902 a nuee ardente — a superheated cloud of gas and ash moving at enormous speed — swept down on Saint-Pierre and destroyed it in minutes, killing around 30,000 people. It gave volcanology the term Pelean eruption and it is why the island’s administrative centre moved permanently to Fort-de-France.
The south
Lower, older, drier hills, with the white-sand beaches around Sainte-Anne and Les Salines and the mangrove and sandbars of the Atlantic coast.
Two coasts
The Caribbean west is calm and clear; the Atlantic east is windy, with surf, offshore reef and the shallow turquoise fonds blancs that boats anchor on.
A UNESCO listing, recently
The volcano and the forested Pitons du Carbet behind it were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2023, recognised both for the rainforest that survives on their slopes — home to plants and birds found on no other island — and for the geological record of the 1902 eruption itself. It is the island’s only listing, and it is a young one, which is part of why the northern half sees so many fewer visitors than the beaches in the south.
The Caravelle
A long peninsula on the east coast, dry and covered in scrub and mangrove, protected as a nature reserve and quite unlike the rest of the island.
Climate Patterns
Martinique has a tropical maritime climate tempered by the trade winds, with far more variation across the island than its size suggests.
The seasons
The dry season, careme, runs December to April: days around 28 to 30°C, nights around 21 to 23°C, low humidity and steady wind. The wet season, hivernage, runs June to November, hotter and considerably more humid, with heavy showers that usually pass quickly. May and the end of November are transitional.
North and south
This is the difference that matters. The north, under Pelee, catches the trades and receives several metres of rain a year, sustaining rainforest and cloud that sits on the summits most days. The south is far drier — around 1,200 millimetres — with scrub and the white-sand beaches. You can drive from one to the other in an hour and change climate entirely.
Hurricanes
The Atlantic season runs June to November and peaks between August and October. Martinique lies in the path and has been struck, though less frequently than islands further north. French civil protection is well organised, warnings are clear, and the building standards are high.
Sargassum
Rafts of drifting seaweed have affected the Atlantic coasts since about 2011, mostly between March and August, fouling beaches and producing an unpleasant smell as they rot. It varies enormously year to year.
Choosing where to stay
Because the rainfall difference between the two halves is so large, where you sleep matters more than which month you pick. A week based in the south will be drier and sunnier in any season; a week in the north will be greener, cooler and wetter, and the summits will be in cloud most mornings whatever the forecast says. Staying south and driving north for the day is the arrangement most visitors settle on.
The sea
Between about 26 and 29°C year round.