Warning: Table './sunshine_imh2/cache' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: SELECT data, created, headers, expire, serialized FROM cache WHERE cid = 'variables' in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc on line 128

Warning: Table './sunshine_imh2/cache' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache SET data = 'a:1314:{s:13:\"theme_default\";s:11:\"a3_atlantis\";s:13:\"filter_html_1\";s:1:\"1\";s:18:\"node_options_forum\";a:1:{i:0;s:6:\"status\";}s:18:\"drupal_private_key\";s:64:\"5ddf8335b212958291d21fab1076e409a463ed9256d2338c81821b5cf8821e86\";s:10:\"menu_masks\";a:33:{i:0;i:127;i:1;i:126;i:2;i:125;i:3;i:63;i:4;i:62;i:5;i:61;i:6;i:60;i:7;i:59;i:8;i:58;i:9;i:57;i:10;i:56;i:11;i:48;i:12;i:31;i:13;i:30;i:14;i:29;i:15;i:28;i:16;i:25;i:17;i:24;i:18;i:22;i:19;i:21;i:20;i:15;i:21;i:14;i:22;i:13;i:23;i:12;i:24;i:11;i:25;i:10;i:26;i:7;i:27;i:6;i:28;i:5;i:29;i:4;i:30;i:3;i:31;i:2;i:32;i:1;}s:12:\"install_task\";s:4:\"done\";s:13:\"menu_expanded\";a:1:{i:0;s:17:\"menu-taxonomymenu\";}s:9:\"site_name\";s:19:\"INDIAN CHIEF TRAVEL\";s:9:\"site_mail\"; in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc on line 128

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 636

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 637

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 638

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 639
Guadeloupe Travel Guide - visiting Guadeloupe - touring Guadeloupe - Indian Chief Travel
map

RSS

GUADELOUPE  |  Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe Travel Guide
Friday, April 26, 2024
  Home  >  Guadeloupe  >  Guadeloupe  >  Guadeloupe
images
Destinations Menu
Bookmark and Share

Guadeloupe

Plage de la Feuillère, Guadeloupe (cc)
Photo: Smiley
 

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago in the center of the Lesser Antilles. The main island is actually two irregular ovals hinged together like an open oyster shell. Smaller outer islands float nearby like spilled pearls in the turquoise sea.

Grande-Terre, the eastern half of the shell, is basically a flat field of lush sugarcane dotted with colorful towns and rimmed by long, sandy beaches. Basse-Terre is a mountainous forest marked by waterfalls, rivers, hot springs and a volcano. The two are joined by a bridge over the Rivière-Salée, a channel that connects the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

The less developed islands of Marie-Galante, Les Saintes and La Désirade stretch out along the double island’s southern shore. Les Saintes is actually a collection of mini-islands that are rocky and steep like Basse-Terre. Marie-Galante is flatter and similar to Grande-Terre topographically. La Désirade is a long, narrow, rugged rock with one road, only a few residents and limited facilities – a nature-lover’s dream. Most visitors choose to stay on the main island and take day-trips or overnight excurions to the outer islands.

Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre are connected by a highway that bridges the channel between them, so driving from one to the other is simple. Boats leave for the outer islands from four towns on the main island’s southern coast, and they are the quickest and least expensive way to island-hop. Air Caraïbes flies daily from the international airport near Pointe-à-Pitre to Les Saintes, Marie-Galante and La Désirade.

Because the island is so diverse, in a single day you can enjoy a drive along both the jagged coast of the wild Atlantic and the pristine coves of the calm Caribbean – or hike uphill into the rain forest then nap on a sunny beach.

Several towns on both Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre offer gourmet dining, lively entertainment and worldclass lodging. Because the archipelago is a legitimate région of France, you will enjoy French-style comfort and cuisine with a tropical twist wherever you stay. This tropical twist is one of Guadeloupe’s many charms. Shops and offices close between noon and 2 o’clock for a leisurely gourmet lunch with wine, as they typically do all over Europe. But, out on the streets, the music has a decidedly African beat. The women wear madras headdresses as they do in India, and the aroma of West Indies spices permeates the air.

Another appealing quality is the stable economy that makes Guadeloupe neither rich nor poor. Towns aren’t filled with tourist-badgering hustlers or begging street people. At the same time, the islanders are friendly, and a simple “bonjour” breaks the language barrier. There aren’t a lot of fancy boutiques or glitzy nightspots, but everyone seems to have plenty of what they need.

  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • Magnoliacom
  • Newsvine
  • Furl
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Technorati
  • Icerocket
Last updated March 17, 2012
Tags: 
Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe
Posted in   Guadeloupe  |  Guadeloupe
|  RSS
Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)
Explore the Destination

Guadeloupe

Amenities and Resources
  • No weather for this city
Trending Themes:

Guides to Popular Ski Resorts

  • Ischgl is a small mountain village turned hip ski resort, with massive appeal among the party-hearty young crowds. It is... Read More

  • Andorra la Vella is its own little world, and not just because it’s a 290-square-mile independent principality (a fifth the... Read More

  • Bariloche (officially San Carlos de Bariloche) is the place to be seen. It is to Argentina what Aspen is to the... Read More

  • Aspen is America's most famous ski resort. And that's an understatement. For, as a ski complex, Aspen is unsurpassed. Its... Read More

  • Zermatt is a small but glamorous mountain resort town, with a population of approximately 5,700. It is one of Switzerland's... Read More

  • St. Moritz is a glitzy, alpine resort town in the celebrated Engadin Valley of Switzerland, with huge notoriety as the... Read More

  • Lake Tahoe is the premier lake resort of America, and the largest alpine lake in all of North America. It is an absolutely... Read More

  • St. Anton, Sankt Anton am Arlberg in German, is Austria's premier ski-bum resort! It's actually a small village cum... Read More

  • Kitzbühel, a small, Tyrolian resort town in the Kitzbüheler Alps, comes with international renown and huge snob appeal, and... Read More

 

Copyright © 2010-2013 Indian Chief Travel Guides. Images tagged as (cc) are licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license.