When to Go to Guadeloupe

The tourism industry thrives during the high season, which lasts from mid-November through May, and then the island is quiet the rest of the year. Prices decline 25% to 40% in the off-season.

Festivals and Events

Carnival is an annual highlight, starting in February and continuing until Ash Wednesday; the celebration finishes with a parade and a huge street party à la Mardi Gras.

June's Creole Blues Festival on Marie-Galante is gaining in fame and beginning to ensure that the small island's hotels fill up. Most partygoers day-trip for the event.

In August, the Tour Cycliste de la Guadeloupe, which runs over 800 miles (1,290 km) of both Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre, is the Caribbean's answer to the Tour de France.

Le Route du Rhum is the largest solitary, transatlantic sailboat race, with its starting line in Saint-Malo, France, and its finish line in Pointe-à-Pitre. It culminates in Guadeloupe on alternate years. In 2010, 89 skippers began the race, traversing 3,510 sea miles alone. A craftsmen village is set up at la Place de la Victoire, and festivities characterize the race, with crowds waiting to welcome the brave sailors.