Guadeloupe- A hidden gem waiting to be explored

Tara Larkai
Jan 22, 2016
6 min read

If you are wondering what Guadeloupe is or Gwada as the locals call it, you are not alone. I didn't know about this Franco-Caribbean country either until my cousin brought it to my attention. If you know me, you know that the Caribbeans are not high on my travel list so I do not often jump at the opportunity to go there. Heck, this was my first time in the Caribbeans and boy am I glad that I went. Guadeloupe is a true gem and now is the time to visit before it becomes old news which I doubt will happen anytime soon. First of all, Guadeloupe is a butterfly shaped island that sits between Dominica and Montserrat. It was colonized by France and as a result is an overseas department of France. They speak French and creole and have a mix of dark and light toned people. Picture taking French people out of France and putting them in small city in Africa to mix. The place is beautiful and has a lot to offer from their delicious Creole/French cuisine, gorgeous beaches, laid-back atomsphere etc but one would not think that from reading other travel blogs or just by hearing the name. I am here to change your mind with my tales from Guadeloupe.

Up until a few months ago, it was very very difficult to find a flight to Guadeloupe from the USA let alone a direct flight. Norwegian airlines came to change the game or should I say "save the day". This is actually how we found out about Guadeloupe. Norwegian airlines was running a deal to Guadeloupe for as low as $124 from BWI. A steal, right? Heck yea! Chloe and I quickly purchased our tickets without even thinking about how we were going to get to Baltimore. We then got 2 of our friends on board. With the winter starting to behave like itself, we were more than excited to escape for some warmth. Norwegian airlines is a budget airline but not the typical budget airlines that we are used to. Of course they charge for checked bags and snacks on the flight even water isn’t free but they do have some perks. Carry-ons are free on Norwegian and the limit is 10kg. 10kg!! Where they do that at? That is 22lbs. If you have ever flown Spirit airlines and Frontier, you know that they charge for Carry-ons so this is a complete upgrade. Their planes are very spacious and the legroom is even more spacious than the major airlines like United and Delta economy sections. My favorite perk is the free wifi on the plane. I mean seriously….what budget airline has wifi let alone free wifi? United airlines charges for their wifi. The only free wifi United has is to browse their in-flight entertainment on their site. I live for Norwegian now! Trust and believe. I will be using them to Norway when I decide to go in the future. Lol Norwegian is still running their special price to Guadeloupe from BWI so this is the best time to go before the price hikes up.

So first impressions of Guadeloupe airport…Very small but had all the essential stuff. Immigration was the quickest. Took our passports with no questions asked and a minute later “Stamp stamp” and we were on our way. Reminds me of my immigration experience in France. I was not complaining though. Now time to find our way to our home for the next 3 days.

Let me bore you with a quick story before I continue telling you why Gwada is worth visiting. Prior to going on this trip, Chloe and I did a lot of research on the country such as things to do etc. One thing that was consistent throughout our research was the fact that we needed a car to move around the country. They do not yet have uber or lyft and taxis are very hard to get. They recommended that we get a rental before arriving. The rental companies in Guadeloupe have a limited amount of automatic cars because they all drive manual vehicles so finding an automatic vehicle was hard enough but the real problem for us was the huge deposits they were requesting. Our airbnb host recommended a private guy who rents out his vehicle to guests. His rental price was excellent except he wanted a 500 euro deposit. We were like heck no! We thought we were going to be able to negotiate with him once we arrived but homeboy was not having it. He told us to go to the car rental place in the airport to get a car. The airport had major rental companies like Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Dollar as well as their local rentals companies. Majority of them did not have automatic cars but the ones that did wanted to damn near charge us an arm and a leg for it. 400 euros for a 3 day rental plus 1000 euros for deposit! No, thank you! We were determined to make it without a car.

After going through all that trouble with the car rental, we decided to get a taxi to our apartment. We also read on blogs that taxis are legally allowed to charge 40% over their normal price especially after 6pm so we were really expecting a ridiculous price. For a 15 minute ride, we were charged 30 euros. We did not even bother to negotiate the fare because we were not trying to get stuck at the airport.

Our airbnb apartment was decent. One bedroom and a futon in the living room. It was basic with a bathroom and kitchen. The view was awesome though but we did not find out until the next morning.

We were staying in the Marina area, walking distance to everything such as shops, restaurants etc. So after settling in, we went out to find food. The restaurant scene in Gwada is amazing especially in the Marina. The Marina hosts a row of different types of restaurants. It remains me of a little cutesy downtown area for the wealthy (Then again they are French and the French are known to be fancy). Obviously, seafood is very big there so almost all the restaurants had some type of lobster or fish on their menu. Our host recommended we go to Zen for dinner. He even joined us with his girlfriend for dinner. First of all, if you don’t speak a lick of French, I suggest you come with a friend who does at least speak elementary level or have your google translator handy. Not only was the menu in French but the waitress didn’t speak any word of English. Ordering was painful. It was so painful that I didn’t even get my food. I ate off of everyone else's plates. The food was pretty incredible though but the serving sizes weren’t. I wouldn’t go there if you are hungry.

They serve pretty looking food for a high price. Typical French restaurant. I fed my hungry tummy at an African restaurant in the same square. The food was good or maybe I was so hungry I didn't notice.

We spent the rest of the night at La Boca, a nightclub that our host recommended that is located next door to Zen. We were dressed casually and had no intentions of clubbing that night but we were glad to have ended up there. It was a typical Caribbean nightclub. It was packed and the dance moves were on fleek! You know those videos you see on social media with Jamaicans grinding and humping each other? Well that was exactly the scene at La Boca. There was even a pregnant woman in there having the time of her life by the looks of her dance moves. The DJ was great! He played all kinds of music from hip hop, to Hip life to French rap to soca/calypso. Name it and he played it! We danced for like 4 hours straight! I do not remember the last time I danced this much at a club. It was so refreshing to let loose and twerk with no care in the world. I had a blast to say the least. La Boca is a must when in Gwada but make sure you go on a Friday or Saturday night after midnight. We were instantly in love with Gwada after this!

What a great first day! Stay tuned for the rest of the tales!