TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums General Caribbean Guadeloupe questions...

My daughter and 2 of her college friends are planning a spring trip to Guadeloupe. Fortunately she can read and speak a fair amount of French. They already booked flights and now the lodging search begins. They are on a college students budget and want a simple clean place near the beach of course. I have read some of the great reports here on TTOL, but I'm still confused on what areas to focus on for them. They were looking around Le Gosier?, but I'm wondering about Saint-Anne and St Francois, can someone describe/compare these areas? They will have a car, anyone know how long it takes to drive from the airport to these areas? Any info is appreciated!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> P.S. I'll be starting another thread for Martinique for my wife and I this spring <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Beerman,

Guadeloupe is an amazing place. Very different from our normal stomping grounds. It is good they will have a car because Guadeloupe is a big place. We stayed in St Francois which is a small town built around a fairly large marina. It would be kinda like staying in Soper�s Hole in Tortola, but a bigger town. There is small beach there that is ok, but it is a short drive to some of the best beaches island out on the peninsula.

St Anne has a much more happening feel to it and is much larger than St Francois. We did spend a day on the beach there and had a wonderful time, but it is right on the main drag (N4).

From the airport, it is about 30 minutes to St Anne and 45 to St Francois. There are multiple ways to go. We found the N4 along the coast the easiest way, but probably is a tad longer of a trip. Easy drive, but a little slow through St Anne.

We found driving around Guadeloupe to be pretty easy, and the roads are in great condition. However, the roads are not marked very well. Direction signs to cities are good, but it is hard to see the route numbers. Having a GPS is a must.

RobT that's good to know, I'll have ladies prepared with gps.

Tom, thanks for info. They are checking VRBO options, they are curious about Le Gosier area? St Francios area is an option. Are there decent beaches in Le Gosier area? Where are the best beaches? Again they'll have a vehicle.

Oops I realized you said best beaches on peninsula but are there names for the best beaches?

Beerman,

We really did not spend anytime in the Le Gosier area. Most of our time was spent from St Anne out to the point, and then on the green side of the island.

The blue side is much more populated as you get closer to and around PTP. There is a cluster of resorts that line the beach and run from Le Gosier to Grande Baie, but we did not go down there. The pics look good.

We did some exploring on a rainy day up around Le Moule. Very cool place, but did not do any beaches.

Check PM - Link 2 has a bunch of info on the beaches we enjoyed.

How many friends are going with your daughter?

They are a group of 4 now, she has learned to sell a Caribbean trip to friends like her old man! Spoke with her today and learned more about their plans. I think they are interested in picking a location that requires no real driving, all they want is a nice beach with a few things in walking distance, i.e. restaurants and shops etc. By the way they bought airfare for $240 on Norwegian out of Baltimore, sweet deal! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

I wish they had that Norwegian flight when I was trying to get to Guadeloupe last spring. I am sure there are some nice resorts that will meet their needs, but we were staying with some locals, so we did not visit those types of resorts.