So — you’ve just found some cheap tickets on Norwegian Air for a direct flight to Guadeloupe. Who doesn’t want some time in Caribbean paradise? You know a bit about the usual suspects: The Bahamas, Aruba, St. Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica, The Virgin Islands… but you know almost nothing about Guadeloupe. Is it worthwhile to visit?
I just returned from a week in Guadeloupe and can answer that last question with a resounding YES.
Guadeloupe is actually a chain of islands, with two main islands connected by a short bridge. The first is the lush and wild, volcanic island of Basse Terre. The second is the sunny and coral, more developed island of Grande Terre. We decided to split our itinerary and get the best of both worlds: we spent our first night fairly close to the airport in Le Gosier, then spent three nights in the sleepy village of Deshaies in Basse Terre, and spent the final three nights in the campy beach town of Sainte Anne on Grande Terre.
While I was in Guadeloupe I kept a short list of observations to write about back home, particularly of things that weren’t in the usual guide books and online.
Guadeloupe is very, very French
After being there for a few days, I decided that Guadeloupe is like France’s Hawaii. It is full “Department” of France. The overwhelming majority of tourists we encountered were from France. The infrastructure, laws, and major cultural influence is French.
Do not go to Guadeloupe assuming that it’ll be like other Caribbean islands where the locals are accustomed to American tourists. If someone says “bon jour,” don’t respond “hello” expecting an accommodating switch to English. Not only will it expose you as a culturally tone-deaf American, but it probably won’t work anyway. Very few locals speak English — if someone told me English was more understood in mainland France than in Guadeloupe, I wouldn’t be surprised. A translation book, a handful of phrases, and a lot of gesturing will get you a long way. Everyone was very kind and helpful despite the language barrier. I enjoyed this challenge, but it won’t be for everyone.
Interestingly, whenever we told the locals we were American, they would respond “Oh, Norwegian Airlines?” Apparently the fact that Norwegian is now running direct flights to Guadeloupe is a big deal to them.
Driving
We rented a car while we were there. Our “mid size” car was a Fiat 500. Your default choice will be with a manual transmission. An automatic will be difficult to find and will cost you more. When we were at the reservation desk in the airport, a gentleman at the adjacent desk was furiously arguing (in English) that he shouldn’t have to pay extra for an automatic because he couldn’t drive stick.
The only car rental agency that opened early enough for us to be able to return the car prior to our flight home was Avis. Avis was fine, but for the sake of competition I hope this changes soon. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t end up with a Citröen or Peugot like the other agencies were renting (unsurprisingly, there are lots of French cars in Guadeloupe).
Basse Terre is very hilly, and the roads wind crazily and down the coast. Driving on Basse Terre is not relaxing; it requires some effort and attention, but can honestly be fun at times. If you rented a car with manual transmission and it’s been a while since you’ve driven one, expect to smell some burning clutch once in a while. Fortunately most of the other drivers seemed to be fairly sane, unlike some other Caribbean destinations I’ve been to.
Grande Terre is far easier to navigate, with much flatter terrain. The only notable thing is that there are rotaries everywhere. There are also more cyclists and mopeds to be mindful of.
Both islands have excellent roads that are well marked. It’s part of France, and they take good care of this stuff.
One thing that surprised us was a gas scare. We started noticing long lines at gas stations and asked a local about it. Apparently rumors get started periodically that the island is running out of gas. The rumors are usually false and just cause panic. I was a little panicked myself, but the problem seemed to clear itself in a few days.
While we were there, we lost a hub cap, likely stolen. After it disappeared I noticed many of the cars on the islands were missing hub caps. For the moment, Avis seems to have forgiven it and not charged me.
Baguettes
The morning after we arrived in Guadeloupe, we discovered the ubiquitous baguette. They were cheap and delicious. We and our kids ate a ton of them, both plain and as part of sandwiches. However, by day five or six you will probably be le tired of them. They also have excellent coffee and croissants in Guadeloupe.
Next up on the “French stereotypes” after baguettes is smoking. The French love their cigarettes and they are everywhere here. If you are an ex-smoker, expect to be tortured by frequent cravings. I really wanted to buy a tiny beret and put it on a baguette with a cigarette to make ourselves a French mascot. Business Hours
The business hours in Guadeloupe are seemingly random, especially in smaller towns like Deshaies. One pattern we noticed is that restaurants are open for lunch and dinner, but close between about 1:30pm and 5:00pm (somewhat related—they use the 24 hour clock in Guadeloupe, so that’d be between 13h30 and 17h00). So if you think you can grab a “late lunch,” you might want to re-think your plans. Other businesses, like tourist shops, banks, and fruit stands, seem to close mid-day around lunch time.
The Weather and Clothing
The weather forecast for nearly every day that we were in Guadeloupe (late November) was about the same: 30% chance of rain in the day, clearing by the evening. The temperature was about 88ºF (31ºC). We were caught in a few surprise downpours when the weather changed suddenly on us. You should probably pack several extra pairs of socks and underwear in case you get drenched, and have a light rain jacket or umbrella handy.
Beaches
The beaches on the north and west side of Basse Terre were amazing. The rest of Basse Terre may have great beaches as well, but we didn’t have a chance to explore the entire island. At many spots off the main highway (N2), you can simply pull off to the side of the road and find yourself a completely deserted sandy beach with iconic light blue, warm Caribbean water.
The beaches on Grande Terre were also beautiful, but usually more crowded. Sainte Anne has a public beach with a lively, tacky “strip” of souvenir shops and food stands parallel to it (it reminded me a little of Old Orchard Beach or Hampton). Isolated beach in Grande Terre
You will probably encounter a bit of topless sunbathing in Guadeloupe. It’s far less interesting than it sounds. Stuff We Really Enjoyed
Here are some of the things we’d recommend checking out:
- Scuba — there are a lot of little scuba shops near Plage de Malendure between Pointe Noire and Bouillante on Basse Terre. We tried to go to one named Atlantis Formation based on its great reviews online, but were disappointed to learn we needed a reservation. Instead we chose another local shop that they recommended, PPK Plongée. They had a great instructor who was able to teach in English (including our 11 and 14 year old kids) for our “baptême” initial dive.
- Quad Buggy Guadeloupe — We were able to rent a pair of dune buggies for several hours and get a guided tour of Guadeloupe via trails through the forest, going through puddles and sugar cane farms to reach beaches that were inaccessible otherwise.
- EcoTour — The EcoTour/SeaTour (it seems to go by both names?) is a guided boat tour, through a mangrove forest into the Caribbean reef and several small islands. The snorkling that can be done as part of this trip is amazing. Our guide, Raphael, spoke English wonderfully and took special care to go out of his way to show our daughter several sea creatures we would’ve missed otherwise. We also got to see a stingray.
- Jardin Botanique de Deshaies — The idea of visiting a botanical garden honestly sounded a little lame to me, but we did it to waste time before a reservation and I’m really glad that we did. The plants and wild birds were gorgeous for photographs, as were the breathtaking views of a desolate beach.
- Chilling out — with so much to do it’s easy to forget you’re on vacation and relax. Let the kids entertain themselves in the pool for a bit while you read a book on your Kindle. :)
La Soufrière
Absent on our list of “must sees” are a hike up La Soufrière, Basse Terre’s active volcano. For us, this was a bust. We managed to hike to the summit, but the weather was absolutely terrible. I’m not sure whether to blame this on circumstances, because many guides say that the weather on the mountain is more rainy and windy than the base, but we got drenched and cold, and saw very little due to the thick fog.
The hike itself was not that difficult or technical. Some reviews seem to imply that you need to be an expert climber — we hike small mountains close to home in Maine, and La Soufrière was really no more challenging. Perhaps this would’ve been worthwhile had the weather cooperated, but it’s not fun in a monsoon.
Summary
If you can get a hold of cheap tickets, do it! The combination of two distinct vacation styles (active and outdoorsy on Basse Terre, relaxing and resorty on Grande Terre) make it worth it. It’s also a fun experience to be immersed in a completely French-oriented country instead of the usual cultural comfort zone of the Virgin Islands or Bahamas. I’d go back if there weren’t a hundred other amazing places to go on this planet!
