Guadeloupe National Park
Guadeloupe National Park
4.5
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Guadeloupe National Park and nearby attractions
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
3 within 5 kms
Attractions
16 within 10 kms
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
132 reviews
Excellent
90
Very good
40
Average
2
Poor
0
Terrible
0
MajaMontreal
Montreal321 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
The park has a wide choice of activities from easy strolls to picnic areas to waterfalls to challenging hikes. Most trails and destinations are well marked and well maintained. Some have a small fee ( Cascades de Carbet). Well worth spending time. Note that the road is narrow, winding and slippery in heavy rains.
Written 21 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Plymouthtraveller8
Plymouth240 contributions
Jan 2014 • Couples
The National Park in Basse-Terre is certainly one of the highlights in a visit to Guadeloupe. The island is a part of France being a Dom, departement outre-mer (overseas departement) and has all the vestiges of France that you would expect to find on the European mainland plus a rainforest which is a protected National Park!
This park is not large but what it lacks in size it makes up in variety. the best way to experience this park is to walk some of the many walking trails, but most of them require good suitable footwear,water and proper preparation. Walking these trails will give you a true picture of this small but varied National Park. You will pass all manner of vegetation, lianas abound together with various types of epiphytes
An exception to the requirements for good footwear etc. is the walk to the Cascade aux Ecrevisses, the Crayfish waterfall. Here you have a wheel chair friendly paved path which gently takes you into the rainforest with informative information panels on the way (some in Brail). Its only a short walk but it is very informative and is ideal for those with mobility problems. At the end of the path way is a nice waterfall with a pool in which you can take a dip.
This park is not large but what it lacks in size it makes up in variety. the best way to experience this park is to walk some of the many walking trails, but most of them require good suitable footwear,water and proper preparation. Walking these trails will give you a true picture of this small but varied National Park. You will pass all manner of vegetation, lianas abound together with various types of epiphytes
An exception to the requirements for good footwear etc. is the walk to the Cascade aux Ecrevisses, the Crayfish waterfall. Here you have a wheel chair friendly paved path which gently takes you into the rainforest with informative information panels on the way (some in Brail). Its only a short walk but it is very informative and is ideal for those with mobility problems. At the end of the path way is a nice waterfall with a pool in which you can take a dip.
Written 6 February 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
montalker
East Hampton, NY201 contributions
Apr 2014 • Family
This beautiful island is a less travelled gem. Cruise lines don't seem to consider this as an important stop. I beg to differ, however, there were a couple of concerns. Not convenient for tourists. No dollars or credit cards so you need to obtain euros. Our tour guide was very nice but his English was hard to understand. National park was very nice with some lovely waterfalls. We had a stop at a city of the dead which was amazing. Well kept and unique in so many ways. This island I would love to visit again. Very clean and French.
Written 18 April 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lithlith
Michigan931 contributions
Jan 2024 • Couples
We drove through a lot of the national park as part of our cruise ship island tour excursion. It was lush, green, lots of plants. We did make one stop at a small waterfall for a photo. If visiting Guadeloupe, it's worth a drive through the national park.
Written 13 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
bas k
Amstelveen, The Netherlands32,824 contributions
Feb 2013 • Friends
Basse-terre is the mountainous part of Guadeloupe and is comparable to Dominica:volcanic mountains covered with rainforest.
The streams with large boulders invite swimmers and there are many Heliciconia and Philodendron plants.
Very few mammals:therefore the raccoon is the park,s emblem.
At the grande anse beach in the n-w there is golden sand, nearby the bbc detective muder in paradise was filmed(deshaies village)
As I have been to Martinique as well I found the forest in Guadeloupe larger but those of Martinique easier to reach because the forest are closer to resorts.
Grande-terre is the part of Guadeloupe were most of the resorts are.
Grande- terre is comparable to Barbados or Saint Martin:more beaches and hills and plains with sugarcane,more tourism on it,s southern shore were there is decent snorkeling.
The streams with large boulders invite swimmers and there are many Heliciconia and Philodendron plants.
Very few mammals:therefore the raccoon is the park,s emblem.
At the grande anse beach in the n-w there is golden sand, nearby the bbc detective muder in paradise was filmed(deshaies village)
As I have been to Martinique as well I found the forest in Guadeloupe larger but those of Martinique easier to reach because the forest are closer to resorts.
Grande-terre is the part of Guadeloupe were most of the resorts are.
Grande- terre is comparable to Barbados or Saint Martin:more beaches and hills and plains with sugarcane,more tourism on it,s southern shore were there is decent snorkeling.
Written 12 January 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Meredith J
Brookline, MA48 contributions
Feb 2016 • Family
I just barely skimmed the surface doing some of the most common trips right off the traverse road that goes through the middle. I stopped at the Cascade aux Ecrevisses and explored both sides. One side has the actual falls that you can swim in and the other side has picnic areas but if you keep walking there was a gorgeous swimming hole. There were very few people there and it was gorgeous. I did the short hike at the Maison de la Foret. I think there were two routes of different lengths and I ended up unintentionally doing the shorter loop because I couldn't quite figure out how to get to the longer route. I was really gorgeous. I then stopped at Mamelles de Pigeon. Coming from the Cascade toward Malendure it was on the left side, although parking was on the right. It was a 30 minute hike up, mostly stairs, muddy but manageable and a gorgeous view once you are up there. After that in the same direction was a road that you could drive up to Morne a Louis, this was definitely worth doing. It was a steep drive but the view was amazing and gave one more perspective to the area. I wish I had more time to hike and explore, what I saw was beautiful.
Written 25 February 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lynne C
Enfield, UK266 contributions
Jan 2014 • Couples
Went on a cruise ship excursion and really enjoyed it. It was a bit different to trips on the other Islands in that it showed you the interior. Was a bit worried about the walk to the waterfall Cascade aux Ecrevisses but it was on an even paved path and an easy walk from the car park. True to its name it poured with rain but it was all part of the experience. There were plenty of sign posted walks for those who had longer.
Written 8 February 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
stork90
Mount Juliet, TN1,399 contributions
Jan 2019 • Couples
Since it is a rainforest, everything is always wet (and muddy). The circle hike at La Maison de la Foret was deep in the rainforest and beautiful, but you couldn't appreciate it as much because you had to so carefully watch your footing and try to avoid huge mud puddles and balance on roots. The trail we enjoyed much more was at Carbet Falls. Both of these areas are within the national park. There is no charge for Maison de la Foret and there are toilets (with paper!), but there is a 2.50 euro charge per person at Carbet Falls (and well worth it, for much better trails). Many people were swimming or cooling off in the river at Cascade aux Ecrevisses - very short walk to get there.
Along D23, the route de la traversse (crossing across the middle of the island and the national park), we stopped at Maison de la Foret and Cascade aux Ecrevisses.
Along D23, the route de la traversse (crossing across the middle of the island and the national park), we stopped at Maison de la Foret and Cascade aux Ecrevisses.
Written 8 January 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Cheda M
Atlanta, GA116 contributions
Feb 2018 • Solo
I can't imagine who would write a bad review of the outdoors or a park. So, that's not the information that helps. With that in mind, the only useful information I can offer for visiting this incredible place is that the trails throughout Guadeloupe are maintained in a way that doesn't make a lot of sense for hiking. It's very rainy in these forests and they use a lot of wood as both stairs, bridges, and (for some bizarre reason) as what I think were erosion prevention just laid on flat dirt trail. This wood is like an ice skating rink after a drizzle or even just when it's well humid. I scrambled down some stairs, once, picturing my launching into the air like a cartoon and then tumbling end over end down to the bottom. I was so relieved when I made it down...until I considered the climb back up.
Just prepare and try to wear shoes good for slippery conditions.
Just prepare and try to wear shoes good for slippery conditions.
Written 4 August 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nan C
Austin, TX112 contributions
Nov 2016 • Friends
This easy to get to National Park should be on your list when in Guadeloupe. The extreme lushness of the rainforest is mind-blowing and great for kids and adults alike. Some areas are cool and slightly foggy while others are warm and jungle like.
Well marked signage makes navigating here easy. Several waterfall areas and hikes of different distances are available. There is even a volcano.
A nice little gift shop with local artisans crafts and colorful hammocks is located near the La Cascade aux Ecrevisses parking lot.
Highway D23 is also called the Route de la Traversee. This road cuts straight across the island through the park and is a great way to make get to the Caribbean side more quickly. The road takes about 25-30 minutes to cross.
If traveling with children, there is a Mammal Park on the Route Traversee near the western side of the island.
There is also a good Creole food truck right past the round-about just west of Tabacon on D23. If you haven't tried Accras yet, don't miss the opportunity. It's like seasoned hush puppies with whitefish bits inside, yummy!
Well marked signage makes navigating here easy. Several waterfall areas and hikes of different distances are available. There is even a volcano.
A nice little gift shop with local artisans crafts and colorful hammocks is located near the La Cascade aux Ecrevisses parking lot.
Highway D23 is also called the Route de la Traversee. This road cuts straight across the island through the park and is a great way to make get to the Caribbean side more quickly. The road takes about 25-30 minutes to cross.
If traveling with children, there is a Mammal Park on the Route Traversee near the western side of the island.
There is also a good Creole food truck right past the round-about just west of Tabacon on D23. If you haven't tried Accras yet, don't miss the opportunity. It's like seasoned hush puppies with whitefish bits inside, yummy!
Written 21 November 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
How do you go to the National Park from the cruise port?
Thank you!
Written 27 August 2018
You may be able to find a tour that will take you, but more than likely your best bet is to rent a car and drive. When up there I saw a couple vans with groups, but most people were in their own cars.I'm sure you can rent from the cruise port and getting around is quite easy because there is just one road that rings the lobe of that side of the island.
Written 27 August 2018
Hi there,
Im just curious. How did you find a tour guide?
We are staying in St Anne and will do a day trip to Basse Terre. Trying to figure out the best way to get around so we can see as much as possible!
Thanks
Written 2 March 2016
Basse Terre, the island, is far too large to explore in one day. It has a multitude of beaches, hiking trails, waterfalls(with swimming), and the volcano hike. Basse Terre, the city, is small, beautiful and on the west coast.
We did not hire a guide. We went to the tourist information in St Claude. They spoke English and were very helpful . We picked up some maps and brochures. Everything we did, we planned ourselves.
I think any of the larger towns will have places to get information, and everyone on the island is super friendly and helpful.
As for the best way to get around, you definitely need a car. To see as much as possible, you need to do some advanced planning. Oh, give yourselves a bit of extra time, as some of the road signs are not the best, like signs for the National Park.
Written 4 March 2016
Showing results 1-3 of 3
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing