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In May of 2025, I visited the Guadeloupe Islands, an overseas department of France (think France's equivalent of America's Hawaii), located in the Eastern Caribbean. My dad would always talk about this place and I knew it was a place I wanted to visit some day. I've had mostly positive experiences with French people, and although I did visit France once before on a day trip from Spain and had a pleasant experience, there was still that fear in the back of my mind that the negative stereotypes you hear about French people will end up being true, and hearing some other people's comments/experiences didn't help. But before I even boarded the plane at Miami airport, a White Guadeloupean lady returning from a family trip to Disney World, was already disproving negative stereotypes about French people.
The arrival process went smoothly. We didn't even have to fill out any forms or were asked any questions. One of the scariest things I heard about Guadeloupe, is basically being screwed if you don't speak French. As we would come to find out throughout the course of our trip, so many French people speak English. We got into a taxi and were off to our hotel. After getting scammed by a fake taxi driver in Rome, it was refreshing to visit a place where people still had morals. The cab driver knew some English and even went to the trouble of making sure we were at the right hotel. Only thing about the cab drivers is they won't give you change. Check-in process was incredibly slow and there was so much paperwork, but that's France and the Caribbean for you. Unfortunately for us, the booking site provided the wrong accommodation name. The hotel it was being managed by failed to communicate this to us. We must have been running around for an hour, trying to get into every building in the area, before a maid finally told us where to go. But at least we very quickly disproved the stereotype that French people are assholes, as everyone, even those who didn't speak English, were doing their damndest to help us find our accommodation. We eventually got settled in, and this is the view we had. The sunsets and water were some of the most beautiful we'd ever seen. We also had chickens, iguanas, cats, lizards and birds on the grounds and even on our balcony.
The outdoor patio kitchen was a very strange concept. The room for the most part was nice, aside from the fact that we had roaches on a few different nights and had no water during our last morning. The neighboring resort had a nice sandy beach, although the water wasn't clear. Under French law, there are no private beaches. Our first couple days were cloudy, as we managed to catch the very end of a massive storm front that had hit the island. But in a couple days, we would learn why the Arawak Indians called Guadeloupe "Karukera", "The Islands of Beautiful Waters"
As we were visiting in the off-season and we didn't have a car (they drive like maniacs here and park on sidewalks) and ferry service was limited, I thought it would be logistically easier to stay in the main tourist town of Le Gosier, instead of some of the areas I had originally considered. Not the most scenic or authentic area, but there were tons of beaches, hiking trails, restaurants and a market all within walking distance. The market turned out to be a lifesaver, as aside from bakeries, restaurants don't open 'til around 11 or noon, and hotel breakfasts are very expensive. We became regulars and this Creole guy working there who spoke English, already knew us well. We ended up finding one restaurant that served Pizza, Creole food, Indo-Caribbean food and French food all in one place, and the staff was super friendly and spoke English. This turned out to be super convenient for us as it was reasonably priced, had take out and "doggy bags", and we could sample cuisine from ALL the major cultures on the islands. The one other Creole restaurant we tried was a bit disappointing. Only strange thing was, all menu items were translated into English, except the pizzas and Google translate was not working. I decided to go old school and ask a young English speaking French girl there to translate the menu for me. Not only did she help translate the menu, we ended up having a very nice conversation with her about French islands, pasts travels, current travel plans and she even shared some travel tips for Guadeloupe (said we can hitch hike there, though we weren't that adventurous), then even engaged with US first a second time, asking us our names and where we were from. And who said French people are assholes and won't make small talk with strangers? This one still brings me to tears.
DAY 2
This is where the real adventure began. We began our morning with a visit to the local market to buy some concessions and a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Not ideal, but considering it was a Sunday, I couldn't be too picky. We then set out to find an old French battery and found a lovely park. We then checked out a trail running through a tidal forest, where we saw dozens of land crabs. We attempted to reach a nearby beach, but the recent rains had flooded sections of the trail.
One of the reasons I chose to stay in this area, is because of Sunday busses. This is where our first real challenge began. The majority of the bus stops aren't marked, so you have no way of knowing it's a bus stop. We proceeded to walk towards the center of town until we found a "bus stop". Nothing. After some walking, and witnessing a crazy local kick cars then speed off, we decided to pop into a local bakery to ask for directions and thankfully there was this young French girl working there who spoke English and told us where to catch the bus, without even making us purchase anything. But we ended up purchasing something later. Payment required you to put money into a machine, then it would spit out your change. Our change fell behind the machine, and she would not let us leave until she retrieved it for us. Talk about good, honest morals. We had to run though as the bus was here. This is where we had our first adventure. The map I got from the official bus website showed that it stopped near a historic fort. It didn't. We figured, we're already on the bus, we might as well see Pointe-a-Pitre. I don't remember the last time we were so scared or saw such an ugly city. There were a few nice colonial buildings, but the rest of the city was a shanty town full of sketchy people who kept shouting, "White guys! White guys!"
Unfortunately, our intention to not stick around long, quickly went to shit. After visiting some iconic buildings, we went to the other side of the plaza to an actual bus stop, as the place we were dropped off had a lot of sketchy people. We waited. And waited. And waited. And no bus. A taxi driver offered us a ride, but we didn't take it. Eventually this homeless White guy asked us what language we speak and if we need help, and told us where to catch the bus to Le Gosier. He asked if we had some change, but wasn't pushy or anything. However, the area he told us to go looked extremely sketchy, so we asked this young French couple, and as the guy was looking on his phone, the bus came and we were running, while locals laughed at us, but I guess the driver didn't see us. FF a little bit, we asked these two black women who turned out to be from Dominica. They told us to go to the same place the other guy had said, and offered to walk with us. At least with them, I felt we wouldn't get robbed. The stop they took us to however was even sketchier than the other place, so we decided to just go to the place we were dropped off as we knew for certain the bus stopped there. After much stressful waiting, the bus finally came, but just our luck, it was the end of his route. We were now stranded in this sketchy city. We figured we might as well see the town's most iconic colonial building where famous French poet Saint-John Perse once lived. We didn't go there at first, as the area looked sketchy, but we no longer cared, especially since the town had practically become a ghost town.
Rewind a little. We had managed to find the only market in the whole town that was open, and the guy happened to speak English. We went back to the market and asked the guy if he would call a taxi for us. He told us where to go to catch one, but if we didn't find one to come back and he would call one for us. Luckily we found one, and we were just happy for that nightmare to finally be over. Our situation though probably wasn't as bad, as the old White couple who booked a hotel right in the city center. Yikes!
DAY 3
I had initially planned to take a bus to Saint Francois this day, but after the stress of the previous day I wasn't much in the mood for another adventure. Plus, we had a break in the weather, so we decided to head to a small uninhabited island, that had a lighthouse, bar/grilling, forest, a beautiful beach and snorkel park. The snorkeling was disappointing, but the beaches and water were nice, as was the vibe. We met another friendly French girl who was helping us out with questions and on the island we met an English speaking French guy living on Guadeloupe.
The island was nice, but I had other places on my list. Our next stop was the most beautiful beach in Le Gosier, but the water was rough and the beach wasn't as nice. So we made the long walk back to our hotel, hoping to get food along the way, but everything was closed.
After eventually eating and resting up at our hotel, we caught a bus to an old French fort. Well, not really. The bus didn't actually go into the neighborhood but stopped on the highway. Had the driver not told us to get off, we would've ended up in Pointe-a-Pitre again. It was a long uphill walk to the fort, which wasn't super impressive, aside from the tunnels, but the views were beautiful and the staff spoke English and it was FREE!
Thankfully, getting back from here was easier. I could have done without the drunk local shouting at me for taking too long to pay though.
DAY 4
This was the section of the trip I was most looking forward to and was probably the highlight. We set off at 5 in the morning for Saint Francois on the other side of the island, as for some stupid reason, the ferry company decided they don't want to run out of Pointe-a-Pitre in the off season. We explored a bit, discovered a natural bridge and got our first glimpse of the dreaded sargassum. This was also the first time we encountered impolite French people, as these two girls felt the need to be in the front of the line for EVERYTHING, and people from tour groups started shoving and rushing the ferry gates. But once on board, everything was smooth, well figuratively at least. The ride was incredibly choppy.
The ferry made a brief stop on Marie Galante. I had decided it wasn't worth visiting, but we later wished we had.
The majestic Les Saintes soon came into view and before we knew it, we found ourselves in the quintessential French Caribbean. We headed straight for the last French fort in the Caribbean passing views, local wildlife and the world's most dangerous plant. The fort was a lot larger in person. There was so much to explore and the views were breathtaking! They were also selling a local pastry found only on Les Saintes. At the fort we also met an old French couple who offered to take our picture and make some small talk. The wife was impressed that I knew the French word "jolie", but I said, "C'est jolie" instead of "Trez jolie." Despite some reports I heard, she didn't make fun of me, but politely corrected me. She then asked us if "Trump is a good guy" and I asked her if "Macron is good", and she burst out laughing. I LOVE French humor and straightforwardness.
We made our way back to town. The islands felt more like the Mediterranean then the Caribbean and were definitely more upscale than the other islands. Probably due to the fact that it's one of the only Caribbean islands with a White majority population. After having a much needed Creole style lunch (the restaurant and staff had bad reviews, but French people seem to LOVE us, lol), we explored some of the sites like the church and town square, before attempting to visit the island's most famous beach. The walk however proved too tiring and time consuming, so we ended up going back to the beach in town. It was pretty, but the moored boats made it unsuitable for swimming.
We went to port early as the two straight days of walking left us exhausted. As we were boarding the ferry, we engaged with a woman. She was from France and her friend was from Guadeloupe and she shared the most beautiful story about how they were friends since childhood, but she was living in Algeria and they got separated for 9 years when the civil war broke out, and then they reunited. Recalling it, still brings me to tears.
DAY 5
This day didn't go entirely as planned. We hired a local driver with very good reviews to take us around Basse-Terre, known for being more rugged, authentic and Creole/"Caribbean". It began with a stop we had requested him to skip, but it wasn't all bad as I saw a traditional Ox cart, tropical rainforest and even Leaf-Cutter Ants. He then took us to a couple beaches in the area. They were pretty and more untouched, but he didn't take us to the more popular beaches, only the overlooks. The majority of the route consisted of partially obscured views of the sea. We arrived at the Deshaies Gardens to see the famous Rainbow Lorikeets and other beautiful plants, animals and landscaping. Here, one of the landscapers offered to take our picture and another French lady started telling us about a lizard that was on a tree.
Next, we passed the famous Pigeon Island and Cousteau Reserve and stopped to see an old defense tower and the highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles. We then found a local food stand that made delicious "tacos". With our bellies full, we traveled through the highest town in the Lesser Antilles and arrived in the first national park outside of Metropolitan France. However, there wasn't much to see here except jungle and people swimming in a sulphur pool. I did catch a fleeting glimpse of a mongooose.
From here things went downhill fast both literally and figuratively. What was supposed to be an enlightening visit to Guadeloupe's oldest city and largest/oldest fort connected to the reinstitution and abolishment of slavery, ended up being a visit to a car graveyard. Instead of taking us to the front of the fort, our driver deliberately took us to the back side and insisted that it's "closed" when it wasn't. The stops to the famous Chutes du Carbet and Kassaverie, were also a complete joke. Instead of taking us towards the trailhead where you can see the falls closer, he stopped on the side of the road where you need a telescopic lense to get a clear shot on what was supposed to be a shooting tour. Had the weather not cleared up, we wouldn't have seen them AT ALL. As for the Kassaverie, we were under the impression we would be watching a demonstration, but he only took us there for sandwiches. Staff was cold and the "sandwiches" were weird and made us sick. This was really the only negative experience we had with locals.
DAY 6
This day started out really bad, but ended up becoming one of my favorites. I had no actual "plan" for today. I decided to take the bus to St. Francois to visit an art museum I really wanted to see, then from there we would just wing it. The nightmare began in figuring out which bus to take, as the information I got from the official bus website did not seem accurate at all. And unfortunately, this journey would require changing buses. I knew coming into this using the bus would be a challenge, but I didn't expect it to be THIS bad. The first bus we saw said he wasn't going there, despite it saying our stop. The next driver was kind enough to write down which bus to take and honking at a local kid to grab the paper, thinking I didn't understand him. So again, where are these French assholes? Anyways, we eventually made it to the transfer stop and waited and waited and waited. The first bus we saw had St. Francois listed on it, but the driver was saying something to me in French. Long story short, we didn't get on and waited and waited and waited. We probably spent two hours total just at the bus stops. We eventually made it to Saint Francois and the museum, which was beautiful and had French, local and African art.
The town was experiencing a massive Sargassum problem, but other than that it was lovely. I was expecting it to be boring, but it ended up being my favorite town on the island and I regretted that we didn't stay there. I quickly discovered it's the "most French town" on the main islands, but has a strong Creole prescense too, so you're getting an authentic experience of both cultures.
After failing to find a decent place to eat, we went back to a restaurant we had checked out earlier, where we would experience the "infamous French waitresses", who were all fluent in English and who's attitude and customer service was on par with American ones, on a good day. Of course the one item I wanted they were out of, but I decided to trust the waitresses recommendation, and it's as if she knew me. They were constantly checking on us, socializing, immediately brought us a knew fork when we dropped ours. In short, this place broke every negative stereotype about French waitresses. Only thing is, they don't bring your bill to you.
After the chaos of getting here, we decided not to see anything else and just head back to our hotel. Getting to the first stop was easy and we got a nice coach, but the transfer once again involved a one hour wait, with even locals getting annoyed. Needless to say, we did not use the bus again.
DAY 7
Our last full day on the island and after much deliberating in what was looking to be a wasted day, we decided to hire a taxi to see the island's ancient site. The trip cost us over 200 Euros, but was well worth it, and this driver was WAY better than the other guy. He was giving us tons of information, pointing things out and even getting locals to pose for pictures. We headed across the island to Le Moule and our first stop was a mysterious pre-Columbian site which locals have dubbed, "the Caribbean Stone Henge." (I might write a separate take on it.)
We then visited a nearby archaeological museum to check out the largest and finest collection of pre-Columbian artifacts from Guadeloupe.
I headed for one last swim at our gorgeous beach, did some last minute hiking and shopping and saw some of our local friends for one last time, before heading back to our hotel to prep for our departure :(
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was probably my most challenging but one of my most rewarding trips. The people alone made the visit worth it and they really left an impact on me. So many different races, but the one common trait that makes these people FRENCH are their good morals and kindness.
Some things I'd do differently next time. Not visit in the off season. Stay in a different area or multiple areas. Wait 'til I have more money and can visit for more days.
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