Two weeks of holidays went by far too fast. Again everything went well as planned. First a little about the Island(s): Guadeloupe is shaped like a butterfly – the eastern part (Grande Terre) is flat and has a lot more resorts and beaches, the western part (Basse Terre) has all the beautiful nature with waterfalls, rainforest and the volcano La Soufriere.

The start into the holidays was really relaxing because Air France had a cheap personalized offer for a Business Class Upgrade I could not say no to. 9 hours flight time can really be relaxing with a flat bed and good food and absolutely no queues at check-in or security. At the airport in Guadeloupe (Point a Pitre) we got the rental car – a VW Polo – and drove to the first destination.
The first 4 nights we spend in a B&B close to St. Francois called „Dormir Design“ run by Didier and his dog Violette. The place is a short drive away from the tourist destinations and just above a little beach. It is really nice go fall asleep with the sound of the ocean. Especially the breakfasts when Didier created amazing fruit compositions were a good start into the Caribbean day. From here we visited the attractions of Grande Terre: Pointe du Chateaux in the very east with high waves, the Rum distillery Damoiseau and a lot of beaches.

After the time on Grande Terre we changed places to a little appartement with our own kitchen high above the bay of Malendure. 8 nights we spend here and visited the nature of Basse Terre. Sadly the wather turned out to be a little rainy, so most of the hikes ended up to be very muddy or inaccessable, also the Vulcan La Soufriere did never show. When we hiked on the top it was cold and rainy… Well the good side was that the waterfalls had a lot of water. We hiked to the 2nd and 3rd chute de Carbet, Saut de Acomat, Cascade aux Ecrevisses and Saut de Lezarde. One of the highights was the visit of the Island „Les Saintes“ which is 30 minutes South of Basse Terre (by boat). It has one of the most beautiful bays in the Caribbean (so people say…). The nicest beach of Guadeloupe is also on Basse Terre north of Deshaies. It is called Grande Anse. At beginning of February there is the Carnival Season. We had the chance to the see the parade in Bouillante.

In comparision with Martinique the island of Guadeloupe is a lot more touristy. Better infrastructure, cheaper prices, but also more tourists. Personally I missed a little bit those small and beautiful fishing villiages like on Martinique. On the other hand people where more open and friendly and we had some funny conversations with hand and feet ;).
Lets see what the next Caribbean destination will be next year…