When going to Guadeloupe, Island of the Saints should definitely be on your to-do list. Only 30 minutes by ferry (from the Trois Rivière village) and 1h30 minutes (if taking the ferry from Saint-François), this picturesque Island has 2 parts: Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas. During our holidays in Guadeloupe, we spent an unforgettable day in Terre-de-Haut, which is the most visited one.
One day on the Island of the Saintes could be enough to discover the beauty of nature if you are well organized. If you prefer both hiking and spending time on the beach, it would be better to preview 2 days. When you arrive on the Island, people will talk about all the things and beaches to see but if you are staying just for the day, they won’t mention Le Chameau. This is the perfect place for hiking lovers. We haven’t preview going on the top but at the end, we went until the highest point of the Island. As a consequence, we spent less time on the beach, but the hiking was a great experience.
It is essential to rent a scooter or an electric car. We decided to rent a car because it is both more comfortable and ecological. Moreover, if you are going on off-season holidays, you can have special offers on your scooter or car. Honestly, off-season holidays are just perfect, the weather is nice, places are not so crowded, so you can have enough time to do as much as you want things.
We started our day on the Island of the Saints by visiting the Museum Fort Napoléon. I recommend starting by this sightseeing because the opening hours of the museum are from 9 am till 12:30 pm. We stayed for around 1h30 in this magnificent place. We had a walk in the garden and then learned a lot about the history of the Island and the place. Then we went to Baie du Marigot (Marigot Bay). This is a protected area which reveals the daily life of the sailors. Here you can be sure to take nice pictures, all the clichés you can see in the guides and on Internet.
We had our lunch break in the most beautiful place, Plage de Pompierre (Pompierre Beach). Honestly, for me, this is the most beautiful beach in the world. With the turquoise water and the breathtaking palm forest, here you can also find a wooden hut, with tables and benches. Perfect to have lunch or hide from the 5 minutes rain. Then you can continue discovering the Island with a very pleasant activity: fish watching. To do this, just don’t forget your snorkel. The best place for snorkeling is the Pain de Sucre beach. It is better to know that it will take you around 15 minutes to go there, once your electric car or scooter parked.
Another beautiful beach which should be on your to-do list is Anse Crawen. This place is in all tourist guides but we couldn’t enjoy seeing it because it was closed because of film making. Then, we decided to go for a hiking (as I mentioned at the beginning of this article) and go up till Le Chameau. It would take around 2 hours (go up: 45 minutes and go down: 30 minutes). It is not recommended to do it if you are staying for a day on the island. We decided to do it thought but it shortened our stay on the beaches.
After the physical effort, enjoy a moment of comfort on the Anse du Figuier beach. After that, you can go to Anse Rodrigue which is my second most preferred beach. On the road, you can stop and enjoy the wildness of the Grande Anse beach, where the bath is banned. Once arrived on the Anse Rodrigue there is a big chance to be welcomed by the chickens who are walking freely around the island. This part of the island is just a piece of heaven, with all the natural decoration you have all around you.
