A multicolored butterfly in the high tide of the Caribbean islands. Surrounded by crystalline sea, in the heart of the “Antillais” bow, Guadeloupe extends over an area of 1780 km2 between the Tropic of Cancer and Ecuador.
Consisting of two islands separated by an arm of the sea, Guadeloupe spreads its two wings.
The guest will discover in the course of his / her stay a different, paradoxical and surprising Guadeloupe, rich in its nature and its population.
The island is not very big and all the places of interest are easily accessible and perfectly signposted.
A rosary of the other islands completes the group: La Desirade, Les Saintes, Marie-Galante, Petite-Terre islands.
Nicknamed, "the island of beautiful waters", Guadeloupe was discovered on November 4th, 1493 by Christopher Columbus.
The island was inhabited at first by the Caribbean Indians then by the Arawak Indians who baptized it "Karukéra", the “island of beautiful waters”.
In the 17th century the French colonists arrived who introduced sugar cane. Plantations were cultivated by slaves who came from Africa; the rum and the sugar of the French Indies were then exported around the world. For many years, desired by the English, Guadeloupe was the theatre of relentless fights between the French and the English. The English occupied the island repeatedly. In 1763, during the treaty of Paris, the royal domain of France was reinstated in Guadeloupe.
It was in 1848 that Victor Schoelcher organized a vote for the abolition of slavery.
Guadelupian population is a real multiracial society, the fruit of the meeting between the various ethnic groups who crossed to the island.
The island keeps the record of time and its history in its old villages, its markets, its vestiges, its steep coasts...
Separated from Basse-Terre by an arm of the sea, this calcareous plateau offers a very different landscape, made up of small valleys, it is a real business center for the archipelago. Grande-Terre is a domain of beaches of white sand, with crystal clear waters protected by Coral reefs.
It is also a domain for tourism; the bulk of the infrastructures are in three places:
Gosier : principal hotel zone of the island with numerous night activities
Sainte-Anne : “Caravelle” and “Bois Jolan” beaches.
Saint-François : The « Pointe des Châteaux » and the « Golf Marine » golf course.
On the west of Guadeloupe, the ‘Basse-Terre’, sprayed by rain, is the domain of tropical vegetation, rare woods and tree ferns.
More than 300km of tracks, allow you to discover : water falls, sulfurous waters, craters, banana fields, and the most interesting vestiges of the past.
