Mike and I recently returned from Guadeloupe. In Part 1, I covered general information about the island, transportation, getting there, and our accommodations. In Part 2, I’ll cover fun things to do on the island. In Part 3, I’ll go through a breakdown of the cost of our trip. And in Part 4, I’ll talk about the scuba diving, and the dive operator that we used. So without further ado, fun things to see and do in Guadeloupe.
Go to the many beaches (des plages).
Guadeloupe has a ton of beaches that are publicly accessible around the island. There are road signs that point them out, so you can’t miss them. We visited several all over both Grande Terre and Basse Terre. Our favorite was Plage de Grande Anse (Beach of Grand Anse), even though it was a bit more populated than some of the other beaches we visited. It had shops, snack shops, food carts, and coco sorbet ladies (more about this below!). Plage de Grande Anse featured both the ocean view, but also a view of water back toward the mountains due to an inlet with mangrove trees. The sunset from this beach was fantastic.
Like I said, we visited beaches all over both islands. I recommend checking out a few different ones to find your own favorites.
Eat at Paradise Kafe in Deshaies.
This was our favorite restaurant on the island, by far. The French chef went to cooking school in Thailand, so the food served at Paradise Kafe is all Thai food. They rotate menus and only serve three entrees at a given time. The food was absolutely delicious, with incredible flavors and interesting textures. And the giant ice cream sundae for dessert was delicious too, creamy and flavorful. All I can say is, if you visit Guadeloupe, eat at Paradise Kafe.
One thing to note, the restaurants in Deshaies, where we ate most, are not all open every day. Different restaurants are open on different days. So be aware of this and plan ahead so that you don’t miss out on a restaurant that you most want to try.
Wander the streets of Deshaies and imagine yourself on Death in Paradise.
Have you heard of the BBC show Death in Paradise? I hadn’t until right around the time that Mike and I traveled to Guadeloupe. It’s not set in Guadeloupe, but a fictional island near Guadeloupe, but is filmed right in Deshaies. After returning from Guadeloupe, we’ve started watching the show, and it’s really fun recognizing the different locations that they film in.
The town/village/whatever you want to call Deshaies is a beautiful place to simply wander the streets and take in the island life. All of the restaurants in Deshaies were delicious, and had their own personalities. After visiting several Caribbean islands, I can verify that all of them are different and have their own personalities. Deshaies seems to embody the personality of Guadeloupe.
Stop at Point de Vue de Gadet (Viewpoint of Gadet) and perhaps watch a sunset.
We really loved this spot. We stopped there twice, once during the day and once at sunset. At sunset it was quite busy, but gorgeous. During the day, we followed the paths from the viewpoint and really enjoyed the walk.
Drive along La Route de la Traversee.
As the one that drove during our time on the island, I have to say that I found this road terrifying, but also beautiful. Mike probably enjoyed the scenery more than I did, as I had to focus on driving. You see, many of the road on Guadeloupe are very narrow and winding. But this road is the most narrow and curvy road that I’ve ever been on. And people drive very fast…and don’t stay in their own lanes! You can check out the stop motion video that we (Mike) shot while we drove the road here.
Visit Cascade aux Ecrevisses (Waterfall with Crayfish).
Guadeloupe has two waterfalls. One of them, Les Chutes du Carbet (The Carbet Falls) is quite a hike to get to, so we opted to skip it. This waterfall however was an easy walk from the parking area. And it is so gorgeous! Take a swimming suit and enjoy an afternoon at the waterfall and in the stream.
Kayak, snorkel, and/or scuba dive at Islets Pigeon (Pigeon Island).
This is a very popular area. that lots of people kayak to and snorkel at. Several scuba diving operators also run dive boats to the area. Mike and I each did ten dives around Pigeon Island during the course of our trip to Guadeloupe. We dove with Les Heures Saines, and were perfectly happy with them They had English-speaking staff and were very easy to work with. And our local dive shop talked to the French SDI rep, and recommended them. It is a beautiful area, both above and below the water.
Visit La Grande Soufriere.
Guadeloupe has a volcano. La Grande Soufriere is located on Basse Terre. It is often foggy enough that the volcano isn’t visible, which was the case during our trip. But nonetheless, it’s pretty interesting even visiting a place that has a volcano.
Wander the streets and shop in Les Moule.
Les Moule is located on Grande Terre, and was where we were thinking about staying originally, before booking our dive shop and realizing how far away it was. But nonetheless, we spent a really enjoyable few hours there on our last full day on Guadeloupe. We had a nice lunch with an ocean view, browsed the shops, and scoped out the architecture and art. Definitely worth the time to visit.
Stop at Pointe des Chateaux (Point of Castles).
Before our visit, I’d read that this place was great, but didn’t really have a sense of what it was. On our last day we decided to stop because we weren’t terribly far away. And I am incredibly glad that we did make it a point to stop. Pointe des Chateaux is stunning. It is a rare place that provides a view like this. And the vendors were also very friendly, and had beautiful items. Mike and I bought the coolest sand and resin turtle from one of them.
Eat coconut sorbet from the many roadside vendors.
Oh my gosh! So there are these little old ladies that set up their hand crank sorbet churns on tables along the roadside and at popular locations like Pointe des Chateaux and Plage de Grande Anse. And the coconut sorbet is absolutely amazing! We didn’t find out about this stuff until a couple of days into our trip, but we definitely made the most of it once we did find out about it. It’s delicious and actually quite inexpensive. Definitely don’t miss out if you go to Guadeloupe!
In case you missed it, check out Part 1 of my series on Guadeloupe, where I covered general information about the island, transportation, getting there, and our accommodations. And watch for Part 3, where I’ll go through a breakdown of the cost of our trip. And in Part 4, I’ll talk about the scuba diving, and the dive operator that we used.
