Guadeloupe: two very different islands

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The island of Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe) is a French overseas department located in the Caribbean, in the Lesser Antilles. The island is located south of Montserrat and Antigua, and north of Dominica. The capital is the city of Basse-Terre. In addition to the main island of Guadeloupe (1,433 sq km), the islands of Marie-Galante (158 sq km) and La Désirade (21 sq km) and the archipelago of Les Saintes (13 sq km) are also part of the department.

The main island of Guadeloupe is in fact made up of two distinct islands, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, separated from each other by a 200-meter wide arm of the sea, but joined by two bridges. The two islands are very different from each other. Basse-Terre (838 sq km), the larger and more mountainous of the two, is of volcanic origin and its highest mountain, the Soufrière (1,467 meters) is still an active volcano. The second island, Grande-Terre (595 sq km), is instead of limestone origin and flat.

The economy of the island is based on agriculture, fishing and tourism. The main agricultural products are sugar, bananas, cocoa, tropical fruit, coffee, vanilla and rum.

FLIGHTS: HOW TO GET TO GUADELOUPE

The island of Guadeloupe has an important international airport, the Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport (PTP), connected by scheduled flights with Europe, the Caribbean and North America (the United States and Canada). The airport is located a few kilometers west of the city of Pointe-à-Pitre in the Grande-Terre of the island of Guadeloupe.

All scheduled flights from Europe depart from France. Air France has flights to Guadeloupe that depart from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports. While Air Caraïbes and Corsair International have flights departing from Paris-Orly. XL Airways France has flights to Guadeloupe that depart from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Pointe-à-Pitre airport (Guadeloupe) is also connected to Europe by charter flights. The flight time between Europe and Guadeloupe varies between 10 and 12 hours, stops and plane changes excluded.

For those coming from USA the island is connected with Air France and American Airlines flights from Miami International Airport.

For those coming from Canada the island is connected with Air Canada flights from Montreal-Trudeau Airport.

The climate of Guadeloupe.

Area: 1,628 sqkm. (Arable 17%, Pastures 14%, Forests and Woodlands 39%, Uncultivated and Unproductive 30%)
Population: 390,000 (2019 data) (Mulattos (descendants of European and African) 65%, Asian 12%, Africans 10%, Europeans 10%).
State Capital: Basse-Terre.
Language: Official language is French. Used the French Creole.
Religion: Christian 95% (Catholic 90%, Protestant 5%), Hinduist 4%.
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Time: UTC -4 hours.