General Info
Country: Guadeloupe – an overseas department and region of France | Language: French & Guadeloupean Creole | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: 🇬🇵 | When visited: April 2026
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🗺️ Check out the post about the cruise https://text.tchncs.de/yulko-polo/transatlantic-repositioning-14-days-cruise-expectations-vs and our full cruise tracking with pics as well as other trips: https://www.polarsteps.com/vlgk/24904509-cruise
As we've been to the island only 1 day during the transatlantic cruise, the information below will be not full and more relevant for someone going on a cruise, not a proper visit.
🚗 How to commute
There are few various options how to get to the city center or port from the international airport of Guadeloupe as well as to move around the island: taxi, a rental car or a local public transport – bus. We've been moving around only 1 part of the island – Grande-Terre – using the public transport: it's really cheap (depending on the zone you'll pay from 1,20 to 4 EUR), but does not cover the whole island! You can find more information on local routes and prices here. Worth to notice that during the weekend and public holidays most buses are not operating, and they have some special lines and adjusted service hours. Turned out that Google Maps provide pretty actual and accurate information, and you can rely on it to plan your trips. If you want to check other parts of the island like Basse-Terre or other remote areas, where the most scenic places are located I would recommend renting a car, if possible.
🏨 Where to stay
This time we've been visiting the Guadeloupe just briefly as 1 of the ports of our transatlantic cruise. That's why we haven't been staying overnight there and can't share any recommendations.
🍽️ What and where to eat
It was pretty unlucky, but our visit coincided with a public holiday, and almost everything except few small shops or cafés were closed :( So, we were able to buy only some water/soda, small snacks and fruits, and had to return to the ship to eat properly. On the beach there were few cafés open, but they mostly served drinks and some snacks or local street food.
👀 What to do and what to see
Basically there are 2 big main parts of the island which you may want to visit and which can provide pretty different experience: – Basse-Terre – “Western” part of the island with more greenery, national parks, mountains, waterfalls, – Grande-Terre – “Eastern” more dry and flat part with more beaches, and cities.
If you want to explore the island and enjoy it's beautiful nature, you should definitely go to Basse-Terre, but there is almost no public transportation there, so you will either need to rent a car or to book an excursion. In our case with limited time, we decided to explore Pointe-à-Pitre a bit and then to go to one of beaches of the Grand-Terre by bus and also see how people are living and moving around. If you will use public transport as we did, you can for sure:
Check various beaches to swim and enjoy the famous Caribbean-blue water as well as various water-sports like kayaking, wind-surfing and so on. The white-powder sand makes it impossible to snorkel, unfortunately.
Explore Pointe des Châteaux Peninsula as well as visit nearby cities Saint-François and Sainte-Anne with their stunning beaches Raisins Clairs and Plage de Sainte-Anne correspondingly.
Walk around the capital – Pointe-à-Pitre.
Other possible things to do include: – taking a ride to the Basse-Terre forests, – hiking to waterfalls like Chute du Carbet, Chute Moreau, Cascade Bras de Fort – or check out the local rum distilleries (for ex. Rum Distillery Bologne) etc.
💡 Some highlights
- As Guadeloupe is a French territory, you will enjoy the EU-Roaming without any additional costs :)
- If one could choose between visiting Martinique or Guadeloupe, we'd suggest going to the 1st one, as it has more various activities to do, better climate, and looks more developed and maintained.