Looking at French islands for late June....We have been to SXM and were looking at St. Barth's and returning to Guadeloupe, but this island caught our eye. Any thoughts on places to stay or things to do? It would be a 3rd leg of our trip from either Nevis or St. Kitts. Thanks in advance!

We liked Martinique more than Guadeloupe. Beautiful all over. Salines Beach, just south of St.Anne, on the southeast coast, is a gorgeous white sand beach, no hotel. Anse Caritan is a beachfront hotel in St.Anne. Interesting island to explore; Fort de France, Josephine's birthplace and gardens, Leyritz Plantation, rainforest, St.Pierre. There are a nunber of hotels across the harbor from FDF, but the beaches there are not very good.

Just curious....What did you not like about Guadeloupe? It has been years....10-13>>>>? since Guadeloupe and the only barrier we had was language.. 5 years of Spanish here, 2 years/German and 1 of Latin for DH...Poor us trying to get around! Thanks for the input, I will look up your suggestions now!

We liked Guadeloupe, but Martinique more.

I am just back from two weeks in Martinique and our stay was great!

There a quite a lot of places to discover, the rainforest is impressive, a few good beaches, excellent rum and food !!!

Joelle, where did you stay? Also have an
interest in this island (speak French well),
but need info on hotel with good beach.
There has some "hype" about new Cap Est
but posters on Trip Advisor say beach is
very lacking. Do you know anything about
Anse Caritan (mentioned by xkenx).

Someone please answer my question(s).
Appreciate the input.

Anse Caritan has a website, www.anse-caritan.com

We stayed at 3 differents places:

- La Fregate Bleue (charming address, but no beach, nice view though) - a 3 star level, but it's more a home than a hotel.

- Sofitel Bakoua : small beach and pool, but conveniently located (close to some shops and restaurants). We went to this hotel 10 years ago and did not like it. But service has improved a lot, and rooms have been refurbished. The only bad point : room size is small (ca. 20/25 sqm)

- We also stayed at Cap Est : great suites, great food (but expensive), nice pool but the beach is so-so.
Good service, high-end resort with all prices in accordance... But this is true this is the best place in Martinique. No other hotel/resort can match it.

Sorry, forgot to post about Anse Caritan: this is a 3 star resort located in the south of Martinique on a lovely but small beach. View is great.

We were supposed to stay there during our trip, but they cancelled our booking, because we did not accept to pay the whole stay in advance... They do have a strange "sales policy"...

Additional point: no TV in the rooms, even in their Junior Suites... And food is supposed to be so-so... (other traveller's reviews).