Guadeloupe: Overview
Lively Guadeloupe (Gwada in Creole), is a product of the mixture of French and African cultures. The country is a small Antillean archipelago and an overseas department of France located in the Caribbean Sea. Besides several smaller islands, there are two main islands forming the archipelago Basse-Terre and Big-Terre, where most tourist resorts and hotels are located. The two main islands are not the only ones which can be visited you can also make trips to the southern and western ones. The archipelago is to southeast of Dominican Republic and 600 km north of the South American coasts.
Climate
Guadeloupe enjoys a warm climate throughout the whole year, although in winter (December-February) temperatures descend a little. Between February and April, the driest months, rains an average of 7 days a month, so humidity level is lower than in the rest of the year. This is the finest time to visit the archipelago. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that this is also the high tourist season, so prices are higher and reservations must be made with more anticipation. From July to November the humidity level rises and the chances of hurricanes increase, so it is recommendable to check the weather forecast some days before travelling.
Important information
Only for EU citizens entry requirements are an identity card and a French residence card or passport. Anyone coming from other countries are required a valid passport and a visa for France. Every visitor must have an onward return ticket. Although these are the current requirements, conditions may vary so it is recommended that travellers check them in any French consulate or embassy when planning the trip.
The official currency is the euro (EUR), although the main restaurants, hotels and rent-a-car agencies also accept credit cards (American Express, Visa and MasterCard). Most shops, however, expect payment in francs. The best places for converting foreign currencies are banks, official exchanging offices and ATMs, especially the one located in the arrival area of the airport (next to the Crédit Agricole bank). It is not recommendable to make changing transactions in hotels, since rates are much higher than the ones in banks or official exchanging offices.
Taxes and service are included in hotels and restaurants bills, so tipping is not necessary.
Concerning health, it is necessary to take cautions against sunburns. Also, to avoid diarrhoea and intestinal parasites, you should drink only bottled or boiled water and eat only well cooked food, avoiding unpeeled fruits and raw vegetables, unless you are sure they have been carefully washed. Finally, it is necessary to be careful with freshwater in Basse-Terre and Big-Terre, since there is esquistosomiasis danger.
Where to go
Pointe-à-Pitre is the biggest municipality of the archipelago, so it is also the capital. In this city old and modern buildings coexist surrounded by an atmosphere of Western Indies’ reminiscence. Until now the picturesque outdoors mercado de la Darse, located in the interior port, is still running; there women dressed traditionally sell the most diverse products. The city life revolves around the open Place de la Victorie, full of palms and terraces. You can also visit two interesting museums, the Musée Saint-John Perse, located in a typical building of the 19th century and dedicated to the poet Saint-John Perse (Nobel Alexis Léger). Musée Schoelcher has an important collection of objects related to slavery and it is dedicated to Victor Schoelcher who devoted himself to abolish slavery.
Saint-François is an old fishermen town and Guadeloupe’s second most important tourist area. Saint-François is divided in two parts; the west side still has its provincial looks, while the eastern one has been influences by the tourist industry, so it has suffered some changes. In this last area you can see the port, full with yachts and deluxe restaurants, clothing stores and car rental agencies. The main activities of this town are golfing, relaxing in the sun, swimming in the pools or making short trips to the three near islands of Désirad, Terre-de-Haut and Marie Galante.
Guadeloupe National Park is located in the centre of Basse-Terre island and is one of the most attractive places in the country. The best way of travelling its tropical forests full of orchids and its mounts covered by ferns is a pleasant trip by car or by foot. The more than 17 thousand hectares of the park are crossed by the attractive mountainous highway Route de la Traversée, where the landscape is mainly composed by bamboo forests, heliconias, mahoganies and gingers. In the heart of the park is Maison de la Foret where you can visit an exhibition room that shows movies of the forest (only in French). There is also a path that goes from the central area and, crossing the hanging bridge of river Bas-David, goes trough a tabonuco and ferns jungle inhabited by noisy and colourful tropical birds. You can also go to the zoo and to Cascade aux Ecrevisses.
Festivals
The Guadeloupe festivals have a great French influence and, therefore, the main one is Mardi Gras (carnival) that takes place during the week previous to Ash Wednesday and it is celebrated with parades, costume parties and dances. In August the Fete das Cuisinières (cooks' party) takes place; there women dressed with traditional clothes load baskets with traditional dishes and go to the cathedral to get the bishop’s blessing. After this parade dances and a banquet are organized. At the beginning of August is the Tour Cycliste de la Guadeloupe, an international cycling competition that lasts for ten days. Most cultural events take place in spring and summer.
