As an American who has traveled a lot, I was surprised to hear of an island in the Caribbean that I had never heard of before – Guadeloupe. Like all of the Americas, Guadeloupe was doing just fine until Christopher Columbus landed on it in November 1493. This beautiful butterflied shaped land actually consists of two main islands that are close enough to connect via a bridge, and a few smaller islands around.

Despite Christopher Columbus being the first European to land on Guadeloupe, and is actually the one to name it after Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Spanish failed to colonize the islands due to the inhabitants successfully fighting back. However, this was just the beginning of Europe’s hold on the islands. The French quickly expressed interest, but then they went back and forth with the British, as Guadeloupe proved to be a fertile land for sugarcane, coffee, and an array of produce. Of course, all of this was farmed by the local inhabitants turned slaves and the slaves brought in from Africa. (Reference).

However, when the French Revolution happened in 1789 the British thought they could take over Guadeloupe for good in 1794, they lost, and as part of the revolution slavery was abolished… that was until the French decided to reinstate it in 1802. Shockingly, this sparked a slave rebellion and again Guadeloupe was being fought over. Finally, slavery was abolished in the French Empire in 1848, which still was before the US did it in 1865, and Guadeloupe has been in French hands ever since. (Reference).

After learning this bit of history, one can understand why there might still be some racial tension in Guadeloupe. The colony feels a bit divided, but as an outsider everyone I interacted with was lovely. It might have helped that I don’t speak French; so, I didn’t know if they were saying anything rude about me!

According to Telc, only 0.05% of the population in Guadeloupe speaks English, with most people speaking French and Créole. From my experience, however, most people I interacted with spoke a little bit of English or we were able to wave our arms about enough to understand each other. Google translate is also a very helpful tool for us language impaired people, like myself.

So, why go to Guadeloupe?

I love the tropics! I have been all over Central America, the Galápagos Islands, and snorkeling in Australia, and, I have to say, I saw some of the best snorkeling I have ever seen in Guadeloupe! The water was crystal clear and full of unique colorful beautiful fish! Just be careful, because Stonefish and Lionfish are among them and both are extremely poisonous. They affectionately refer to the Stonefish as the 24hr fish, as that is how long you have to live if you get stung by it. I fortunately didn’t see any Stonefish, but I did see a Lionfish. I have to say it was beautiful! Good thing my scuba dive instructor warned me to not get too close though. Oh, yes, you can scuba dive with no training in Guadeloupe! Ask me how I know.

In addition to the wonders of the water there, the terrain is very unique. There is a range from white beaches to black sand beaches, rushing rivers, dry terrain, a volcano, and forests. The sunrises and sunsets will have you gasping in awe. A particularly stunning location for a sunrise is the famous Pointe des Châteaux. I’ll let the below images do all the explaining of why this is a must see.

The volcano in Guadeloupe creates thermal hot water Springs and Geysers (freshwater and saltwater). I got the pleasure to go to Bouillante, which was a welcomed change from the cooler water of the ocean and rivers. I hear the ocean water can be warmer during the summer. Bouillante has rushing hot water from the geothermal power plant dumping into the ocean where you can make your own spa day of alternating the temperatures of your water by just swimming closer or farther from the source. You can even smell the sulfur for the full experience.

Some tips for Guadeloupe:

1) You need to have a car in Guadeloupe.

2) Try to know some basic French or have Google Translator with you.

3) Bring your own snorkel set.
There are tons of places to snorkel all over Guadeloupe, but it isn’t always easy to find a snorkel set.

4) Visit the island of Terre-de-Haut and rent an electric bike for the day.
This cute island is bigger than it looks, and there is a lot of see from different beaches, places for snorkeling, and even an old fort and church. The island is very hilly so the electric bike is very helpful, but it does take some getting used to.

5) Go to the Guadeloupe Zoo.
They have a really cool set of 14 suspended bridges you can walk over in the tree canopies above the animals. I went when it was raining and it was still one of my favorite parts of Guadeloupe. Fun fact about Guadeloupe Zoo for us Americans, they are very proud of their raccoons there! It is very cute!

6) Being vegan in Guadeloupe is pretty easy!
There are lots of amazing local fruits and there are health food stores where I was able to find vegan replacements. I did most of my own cooking (yay for AirBnB’s with nice kitchens), but I was able to get some baguettes with veggies. The one warning I received is that since Guadeloupe is part of France, butter is added to everything! However, most people seemed to understand what vegan is; so, that helped. I made a lot of avocado toast, since the local avocados are delicious and almost the size of my head!