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| Welcome to Martinique on the Paradise Islands website. Martinique is the most northern of the Windward Islands, 15 miles south of Dominica and 23 miles north of St Lucia. The island is an overseas department of France; French speaking, part of the European Union and with the euro as the official currency. Creole patois is also spoken widely and English is not commonly spoken by locals. The main industry is tourism and island is popular with French travellers and it has a limited number of direct flights, other than from Paris. |
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| The island was discovered by Columbus in 1493 but he did not land on the island until his 4th voyage in 1502, when it was decided by the Spanish not to occupy the island. Martinique remained in the hands of the Carib people for another 133 years until the French arrived in 1635 and settled in the northwest region (now known as St Pierre). Apart from a few occupations by the British, the island has essentially remained in French hands for most of the last 4 centuries and in 1974 was granted the status of a French region. |
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Mount Pelee Volcano
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Fishing Harbour
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| Martinique is a volcanic island and has a mountainous interior with lush rain forests and black sand beaches in the north. Mount Pelee which is the highest peak at 1,397 metres erupted in 1902 killing some 30,000 people and destroying the town of Saint Pierre (the volcano is now dormant). In the south there are beautiful beaches popular with tourists. The capital is Fort-de-France on the west coast of this fairly large island (50 miles long and 22 miles wide) with a total population of over 400,000. |
| Popular sights and destinations include the town of Sainte-Anne in the south with easy access to the white sandy beaches including the most famous beach Le Salines. Balata with is pretty church and Jardin de Balata. The lookout at Macouba; the fishing village of Tartane and the marina at Le Marin. |
| Travel, holiday, vacation and cruise guide to Martinique and the Caribbean. All text and images are Copyright Paradise Islands org. All photographs on this Caribbean travel guide website are obtained with the permission of the owners and come from various sources including the islands tourist boards. Some of our own photos maybe reproduced with permission - please see notes attached to each image to avoid any copyright penalty. |
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Quick Facts
Capital
Fort-de-France
Main Airport
Aime Cesaire
International
Main Port
Fort-de-France
Language
French
Currency
Euro
Government
France
Island Size
440
Square Miles
Population
400,000
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Cruise Port Guide
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