Guadeloupe

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

Guadeloupe, nicknamed 'the butterfly of the Caribbean' because of its shape, is an archipelago made up of two main islands (Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre) linked by the Pont de la Gabarre. La Soufrière, a 1,467 m active volcano, towers over Basse-Terre, while Grande-Terre offers magnificent beaches such as Grande Anse.

An archipelago, not an island

The butterfly's two wings have nothing in common. Basse-Terre, to the west, is volcanic and wet: La Soufrière (1,467 m) still steams, the national park covers a third of the island, the Carbet falls drop through the forest, and the Cousteau reserve off Malendure ranks among the finest diving in the Antilles. Grande-Terre, to the east, is limestone and flat: this is where the long beaches of Sainte-Anne and Saint-François lie, and the Pointe des Châteaux, where the Atlantic breaks against the cliffs.

One administrative quirk catches visitors out: the prefecture sits at Basse-Terre, but the airport, the port and the economic life of the islands are all at Pointe-à-Pitre, on Grande-Terre.

Then there are the southern islands, each deserving a night rather than a day trip: Marie-Galante and its sugar mills, Les Saintes — whose bay at Terre-de-Haut is counted among the most beautiful in the world — and La Désirade, the driest and the quietest of them.

The dry season, and the festivals

As across the Lesser Antilles, carême — December to April — brings the best weather and the highest prices; hivernage, June to November, is hot, humid and cyclone-prone from August to October. Guadeloupe's carnival is among the liveliest in the Caribbean, and on 10 August the fête des cuisinières — the cooks' festival — parades through Pointe-à-Pitre in madras cloth, dishes held high.

Bokit, rum and crossings

Street food comes down to one word: the bokit, fried bread stuffed with salt cod or chicken, eaten standing up. Then accras, court-bouillon, colombo and blaff. For rum, Damoiseau and Bologne on the two wings, and above all Père Labat on Marie-Galante, bottled at 59° — a curiosity Guadeloupeans offer visitors gladly, to watch the reaction.

A car is necessary on both main islands. For the dependencies, take the ferry: about forty minutes to Les Saintes from Trois-Rivières, an hour to Marie-Galante from Pointe-à-Pitre. Book the day before in high season, and bear in mind that the sea can cancel a crossing.

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