Two islands joined by a bridge and shaped like a butterfly, plus a scatter of smaller ones. Basse-Terre, the western wing, is volcanic: La Soufrière at 1,467 m is still active, and the Guadeloupe National Park covers a rainforest of tree ferns, waterfalls and the Route de la Traversée. Grande-Terre, the eastern wing, is flat limestone, sugar cane and the beaches most visitors come for. Offshore are Les Saintes, whose bay is often ranked among the most beautiful in the world, plus Marie-Galante's ox carts and rum distilleries and La Désirade's bare cliff. Everything is France — euros, the same road signs — with Creole on top.
- La Soufrière volcano and the Guadeloupe National Park
- Les Saintes and the Baie de Terre-de-Haut
- The Carbet Falls
- Grande-Terre's beaches — Sainte-Anne and La Caravelle
- Marie-Galante's rum distilleries
- The Mémorial ACTe in Pointe-à-Pitre
- Best time to go
- December–April is the dry season and the peak. Hurricane season runs June–November, with September the riskiest month. Carnival runs from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday and is the island's biggest event.
- Getting there
- Direct flights from Paris (about 8h30) to Pointe-à-Pitre. Ferries link Guadeloupe to Les Saintes, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, Dominica and Martinique.
Headline places
What france.fr leads with in Guadeloupe.
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La Soufrière An active volcano at 1,467 m — the high point of the Lesser Antilles -
The Carbet Falls Three waterfalls in rainforest, the tallest 115 m -
Guadeloupe National Park Tree ferns, the Route de la Traversée, and a UNESCO biosphere reserve -
Plage de la Caravelle Reef-protected white sand on Grande-Terre's south coast -
Mémorial ACTe The Caribbean centre for the memory of slavery, on a former sugar factory
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
Islands
Guadeloupe by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
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Culture & heritage 53 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the cathedrals that invented Gothic -
Food & wine Seventeen wine regions, 1,600 cheeses, and the gastronomic meal on the UNESCO list -
Nature & outdoors Glaciers, gorges, volcanoes and 180,000 km of waymarked footpath -
Coast & beaches Three seas and an ocean — around 5,800 km of mainland coast, and far more overseas -
Mountains Six massifs — the Alps, Pyrenees, Jura, Vosges, Massif Central and Corsica -
Cities Paris, and eleven more cities that would headline any other country -
Villages & countryside The 180-odd villages on the official 'most beautiful in France' list -
National & regional parks Eleven national parks and 58 regional ones — about a fifth of the country -
Remembrance The Somme, Verdun and the Normandy beaches — two wars written into the landscape
More of Overseas France
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Martinique The flower island — Mount Pelée, black-sand north, white-sand south and agricole rum -
French Guiana Amazon rainforest, a European spaceport, and the prison islands of Papillon -
Réunion An Indian Ocean volcano with three collapsed craters, and 1,000 km of walking trails -
Mayotte One of the world's largest lagoons, humpback whales, and a double coral barrier