French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe

• Pronunciation: Gwad-a-LOOP
• Location: French Caribbean Island (NOT Mexico)
• Currency: Euro
• Primary Language: French
• English Language Prevalence: Low
• Tipping Custom: 10% to 15%, (often already included at more sophisticated restaurants and resorts)
• Safety: Very safe
• Best Suited for: Beach-going, snorkeling/scuba, hiking, swimming, eating great French-infused Caribbean cuisine, surfing, attending Carnival, and cultural experiences
• Main Points of Interest: Pointe des Chateaux, Deshaies, Le Gosier, Bouillant/Pigeon Island, and St. Anne
• Other Islands to visit: accessible via ferry: Marie Galante, La Desirade, and Iles Les Saintes

About Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe, also called “Gwada,” is a charming French Caribbean Island nation. When you look a little closer, you’ll see it’s actually an archipelago. The main part of Guadeloupe is comprised of two main islands that are connected by a bridge, Grande-Terre and Basse-terre. Also, you can access the smaller islands using ferries. Marie Galante, La Desirade, and Les Saintes are the three best islands to visit. Plus, each island offers its own unique experience!

You can find the Guadeloupe archipelago on a map in the Lesser Antilles between Domenica and Antigua. We found it is best known for its beautiful beaches. The wonderful cultural infusion between French and Afro-Caribbean cultures is a delightful experience. Also, the weather is fantastic all year round. We stumbled upon this wonderful island thanks to rock bottom Norwegian Airline prices out of New York City. Since NYC is not very far from where we are based, we were able to take advantage of the great deal.

You will want to rent a car to make your way around the main two islands. We found that the roads are windy, and our poor little rental car wasn’t always happy climbing up and down the sea-side roads. We highly, highly recommend driving those roads because every single turn offered its own breathtaking vista. After a while, we realized that “wow” and “oh my goodness” were just not sufficient to describe the majesty of what we saw at every turn. Truly, driving the island of Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre was the best way to see the diverse beauty of Guadeloupe.

What to do on the islands of Guadeloupe

We were attracted to the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe since it had a ton of fantastic reviews raving about snorkeling and scuba diving. We visited two amazing locations for water activities. Both were located on Basse-Terre. The first was a scuba excursion to Pigeon Island. The second activity we did was snorkel at Malendure Beach. The rumor that there were sea turtles seen there regularly turned out to be true! Ultimately, we heard about numerous different spots that had great access to snorkeling. We just didn’t have enough time to hit them all! So, we saved a few for when we get back to Gwada.

We were able to really enjoy the bio-diversity the island has to offer. We drove through the lush green rainforest that takes up the majority of Basse-Terre. It has an active volcano and lush waterfalls with natural swimming pools. Below, we got to visit Crayfish falls. It’s a short 5 minute walk into the forest. Once there, you can enter at your own risk and enjoy the refreshingly cool waterfall pool. Bring a towel, and be extra careful on the slippery rocks as you make your way in!

There are also colorful variations in the island’s beautiful beaches – white, golden, and volcanic black sand beaches. This island truly did not disappoint! Pretty much, all you have to do is get in your rental car and drive until you see a sign for a “plage.” “Plage” is the french word for a beach. Any beach will do, they are all beautiful.

Why we chose Guadeloupe

If the picture above isn’t enough, here’s our list of why we chose to visit Guadeloupe:

• Low cost airfare from NYC to Guadeloupe on Norwegian Airlines
• Target region for us was the Caribbean
• Target activities included snorkeling and scuba diving
• Accommodation research showed that there were many low-cost options on popular sites like Airbnb and Hotels.com

Gwada Fun Facts

Fun fact about Gwada – it is considered an official region of France. As such, all of its inhabitants enjoy full French citizenship and the benefits to which French citizens are entitled. As a result, the citizens of Guadeloupe are considered pretty well-off when compared to other Caribbean nations. Honestly, we didn’t observe the same level of poverty we’ve seen elsewhere in the Caribbean. Because of the perceived prosperity, we felt very safe we felt wherever we went. We still made sure to lock our rental car and still kept our valuables out of sight. Still, we never felt uncomfortable. No matter where you are in the world, we always encourage caution within reason. In the end, in Guadeloupe we felt safe enough to not really think too hard about safety as we tramped around the island.

The Language Barrier: Very French

At first, I found the language barrier to be pretty big in Guadeloupe, thanks to its location in the French Caribbean. While I do pride myself on my language skills (I speak English and Spanish very well, a little Italian, German, and a very little bit of French), the little French I knew was barely enough. In this case, I’d recommend trying to complete at least the beginner’s course in French if you have time before travelling. I am particularly a fan of the popular language learning app, Babbel.

Travel Tip: Before I go somewhere that I don’t know the language, I normally do a class per day on my lunch breaks to get the basics down before I travel. The phrases I most like to know include:

• Hello
• Please
• Thank you
  
• Where is the bathroom?
• We would like the check, please.
• Which way is [museum, street, restaurant, etc]
• Know your numbers up to 20.

Before we left for our trip, I was only able to complete part of the Babbel Beginner 1 French course. As a result, I only learned basic French which was barely sufficient. Truthfully, I really would’ve preferred to know a bit more. Ultimately, don’t let this really turn you off to the island – there are plenty of tools that can help you get around.

Coming soon, we will do a blog about the best tools to make sure to have on hand before travelling. For now, I will say please make sure to at least download Google Translate. You can download the app and offline libraries before you go, so you don’t need an internet connection to access its features.

Americans in Guadeloupe

Historically, the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe doesn’t get many American tourists. We were very often mistaken for Canadians! That makes for quite a change from the more typical experiences where we are spotted as Americans from 500 feet in any direction! We believe this is because there is a lack of direct flights from the United States to Guadeloupe. This isn’t likely to change any time soon, though there has been recent attention given to the Gwada in a number of tourist magazines and blogs (including this one!).

Unfortunately, Norwegian Air announced that they are terminating the amazingly-low airfare to the French Caribbean. This means that the only options as of the time of this post to get to Guadeloupe are on Air France and American Airlines out of Miami and Atlanta. We found this disappointing to hear, since it means that less Americans will be able to experience this unspoiled Caribbean nation.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is truly a unique experience not to be missed. We highly recommend that if you take advantage of any chance you may have to visit. If you’d like some more information about visiting Guadeloupe, follow this link to the island’s tourism website: http://www.guadeloupe-islands.com. Remember to brush up on your French. Then, go and soak in the unique cultural experience and natural beauty of this incredible gem of an island!