Guadeloupe, a French overseas territory, is an archipelago in the southern Caribbean Sea. The Butterfly Island, named for its shape, is split between Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre — two wings with very different landscapes. It's an ideal place to spend the winter in the tropics. We went for 14 days between February and March 2022.
✓ Trip in February 2022Here, grouped together, are the activities and spots we visited over those 14 days across the island — far from an exhaustive list, the island is so varied.
01A taste of the Caribbean
Departure from Paris Orly on an Air Caraïbes A350-900 at 2:40pm, arriving in Pointe-à-Pitre at 6:30pm local time after an 8h50 flight. Ti-punch is served on board — a fine taste of what's to come.
02Grande-Terre
The eastern wing, flat and limestone: long white-sand beaches, lagoons, cane fields and distilleries.
Le Moule
A week spent with friends at the Résidence de la Baie des Bambous — four villas a stone's throw from the bay and a small shopping area: Carrefour Market, bakery, pharmacy, pizzeria.
Saint-François
The Pointe des Châteaux is a must — dramatic cliffs, big waves, a beach below. At the bottom, a footpath of about ten minutes leads up to the Cross and its panoramic view. Just before it, the lolo Au Soif les Bronzés serves bokits, salt-cod accras and Antillean specialities.
On the way, a well-known but barely signposted spot: la Douche — a series of rock pools where the swell bursts up in geysers. A salty shower guaranteed.
The Saint-François marina gathers restaurants and water sports — it's where we set off for Petite Terre with AWAK. Two women from Moselle have also launched the Donuts BBQ Boat there, for a day out on the lagoon.
Sainte-Anne
Morne-à-l'Eau
The Morne-à-l'Eau cemetery is quite extraordinary: its black-and-white checkerboard tombs make it look like a giant chessboard, laid out as an amphitheatre on a hillside. One of the oldest graves is said to date from 1847. Every year on All Saints' Day the cemetery lights up with thousands of candles at nightfall, in a surprisingly festive atmosphere.
In the north, Anse-Bertrand
03Basse-Terre
The western wing, volcanic and mountainous: rainforest, waterfalls, hot springs, and the leeward coast facing the Caribbean Sea.
Deshaies
For the second part of the trip, 6 nights at the Hôtel Le Rayon Vert in Deshaies — a pool with a panoramic view over the Caribbean Sea. The Covid curfew in force at the time (8pm to 5am when we booked, pushed back to 11pm by the time we arrived) made us opt for half board — and we didn't regret it: different food every day, from a chef who'd come over from mainland France.
Sainte-Rose
Pointe-Noire
Bouillante
Known for its geothermal power plant, which releases water at 70°C — you can bathe at the "Bain Chaud", said to have therapeutic properties.
Basse-Terre, the town
The Bologne distillery is on the road in — a big shop, a view of the warehouse, tastings. A walk along the Esplanade gives a lovely view of the Monts Caraïbes.
+Good to know
The trip ended with a head full of memories, and a wild urge to come back to this beautiful island — though not quite in the same way.
- Wilder, more about nature — forest, waterfalls, rivers
- That's where the island really took me somewhere else, far more than the beaches of Grande-Terre
- The Deshaies Botanical Garden — the ticket isn't cheap, but it's worth it
- Anse Castalia and its waves
- The Pointe des Châteaux
- The beaches of Saint-François
- Less time on the beaches, more in the small inland villages
- Look for the island's authentic side, the one you don't see from a beach towel
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