It's decided, for your next vacation, destination the Caribbean. The coconut palms, the white sand beaches, the turquoise sea, the ti punch and the sugar cane fields are yours. But which island to choose between the two largest islands of the French West Indies? Guadeloupe or Martinique? If these French Caribbean islands have almost all the same paradisiacal characteristics linked to their location in the Caribbean Sea, each of them has its own particularities that will make you lean towards one or the other depending on the style of vacation. you are looking for.
With its unmissable beaches with turquoise waters such as that of Salines in Saint-Anne or that of Grande Anse des Salines, Martinique is the ideal island for holidays of idleness and relaxation with the family. You can bask on the beaches of its Caribbean coast or drink punch on its beaches on the Atlantic coast, as the Martinicans do on weekends. Martinique, also called "the island of flowers", has an exceptional biodiversity to discover in its many botanical gardens, also nicknamed "the gardens of paradise", or during walks on the hiking trails. Don't forget to stroll through the countless banana plantations of Martinique, the second largest supplier of this fruit in Europe, but also through the typical sugar cane fields.
Martinique is a smaller island than Guadeloupe. An ideal island, therefore, if you want to visit it without having to travel too long.
Sports activities are an integral part of tourism in Guadeloupe, even if the beaches there are just as attractive as those of Martinique. With its warm sea, Guadeloupe is ideal for practicing all sports related to the sea and the wind, such as windsurfing or kite-surfing in particular. Diving is also a very popular activity in Guadeloupe, which has many popular diving spots. Malendure, on the Sous-le-Vent coast, located on the west side of the island, is an essential diving spot in Guadeloupe, like the waters of Les Saintes, true underwater paradises.
But there are not only water sports on the island. Hikers will also be happy on this island in the French West Indies:it has nearly 200 km of forest hiking trails, 150 km of which run through its national park or allow you to discover Soufrière, a volcano that dominates Guadeloupe.
