Relax. Enjoy life.
View our world of lifestyle.
The French Butterfly Island is a sailor’s paradise perfect for “la belle la vie”—the beautiful life. Guadeloupe is one of our top picks!
Guadeloupe is one of the Eastern Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles islands. It is made up of six inhabited islands. The two main islands of Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, look like the wings of a butterfly from above.
While Guadeloupe is popular among French tourists (I mean, it IS a French island), it’s a little less known to North Americans. What makes the island unique is its overwhelming and undisturbed natural beauty. Unlike many Caribbean islands, it is not plastered with huge capacity resorts. It’s tropical, volcanic, French-style, and off the beaten path!
Basse-Terre is mountainous, volcanic, and has lots of places to go hiking and waterfall chasing. This is where you’ll find the Guadeloupe National Park, and protected marine areas that are fantastic for diving, like Reserve Cousteau. Chocolate and coffee are also produced in Basse-Terre.
Chute du Carbet
The Carbet Waterfalls are a series of three cascading waterfalls on the lower slopes of the volcano, La Soufriere.
Interesting Anchorage : Bouillante, Basse-Terre, in front of the natural thermal springs heated by volcanic activity !!!
The temperature can reach 80°, fortunatelly the waves refresh the temperature of the hot spring. You can spot Iguanas on the beach, in the trees, on the rocks, in the gardens….
Grande-Terre – which despite its name (meaning 'big land') is far smaller than Basse-Terre. Its south coast, with reef-protected waters and golden-sand beaches, is the country's main resort area.
By comparison, the eastern side of the island is barely touched by tourism: it's largely open to the Atlantic's waves, and instead of beaches has crashing surf off much of its rocky coastline. It is popular with surfers, however, who converge on the town of Le Moule.
Northern Grande-Terre is one of the most scenically impressive parts of Guadeloupe. It's a wonderful place to spend a day driving around – towering sea cliffs on one side and excellent beaches. Don’t miss the MEMORIAL ACTE - POINTE-A-PITRE, the largest world museum about dark slave history.
Carnival: The vibrant and energetic Carnival celebrations in Guadeloupe (we went to Sainte Anne) take place for three months, from January to March. You’ll witness a dazzling rainbow of colors in the Carnival parades.
Our last stop along the west coast is the bay of Deshaies in the north of Guadeloupe, which fans of police procedurals will recognize as the filming location for the BBC series “Death in Paradise”. In the surrounding area you can also visit the famous Botanical Garden or hang at the splendid Grande-Anse Beach.
Tomorrow morning we are planning to sail to Antigua….. so „Au Revoir“ & a la prochaine 💋
