Bienvenue en Martinique! A day in the French Caribbean

Mar 15, 2024

Welcome to Martinique, a picturesque island jewel in the Caribbean known for its French flair and natural beauty. We arrived in Martinique on the third stop of the Sunsets in the Lesser Antilles Virgin Voyage we took in January 2024.

Columbus discovered the island in 1506 and it is the birthplace of Napoleon's famous wife, Josephine. The official language of Martinique is French, and virtually the entire population speaks both French and Martinican Creole. This proved difficult as no one spoke English! This is rare to run into in the Caribbean and if I had done more research upfront, I would have practiced the tiny amount of French I do know (from trying to learn it off and on from the age of 10…Oui, Je suis serieux).

Arriving in Martinique

We arrived at the Fort-de-France cruise terminal at 9 AM and had until 7 PM to explore the island. Right outside the cruise port there are lots of fun vendor shops and artwork; Check out the fun “immersive” artwork on the ground pictured below. Will was doubtful and had no clue what I was doing, but after he lined up the shot, he got it ;-) This island is BIG… at 436 sq. miles, it is impossible to explore in just one day so you will have to choose what you want to do most: Beach, Town, or Rainforest.

In retrospect, I should have booked an excursion for this but a lot of the online reviews said there was plenty to do right by the terminal. I don’t agree that there is enough to do to spend the full day; the beach is very small, so to really enjoy it, you need to plan to travel to a different spot.

Travel More Tip:

We had the option to take a taxi, which would be pricey each way and longer (see map), OR take the public ferry for 7 Euros each and it was good for the day! Luckily, there was a ferry service located here as well, with ferry’s leaving/arriving every 15 minutes! As mentioned prior, no one spoke English, so I did my best to translate and figure out which Ferry to take!! Ultimately we would have been fine with either Ferry, but knowing the name of the beach in advance, I recommend. LOL

Ferry ride to Anse Mitan

We were ideally wanting to find Anse Mitan, but had no idea what stop that would be on the Ferry. We ended up getting off a little early, as we could have stayed on and ended up in the same spot sooner. BUT, we followed the crowds and ended up at a very small beach at Point du Bout (first stop) and ended up just walking through some commercial and residential areas to finally arrive at Anse Mitan beach! :)

This was a beautiful, calm cove with breathtaking views of the Mt. Pelee as well as the clear, turquoise-blue water. The entire beach had a very “European vibe.” Sun-soaked nude bodies were sprawled out on towels in the sand for as far as the eye could see. 😉 We spotted some bright yellow loungers and staked our claim; a few minutes later a man came over and asked that we pay for the chairs in cash (Just FYI, it was only $10 USD for both chairs - it would have been $20 a piece if this were a US territory - minimum…more like $50-100 for the day)

There was a cute restaurant and bar area right behind us where we could order take out beer, wine, drinks, food - again - no English, but google translate helped me maneuver the ordering process. Plus it gave the girl helping me out a good laugh I’m sure! LOL

I grabbed a couple of mini bottles of rose, Will had some local beer and French fries and we ended up chatting with a couple of other people we spotted from the cruise. (Virgin sailors are simple to spot b/c of our fashionable wrist bracelets/fobs!). After learning about an easier ferry option back, we stayed a few hours, enjoyed the ambiance, the waters and then headed back to the Cruise terminal.

All in all, this was a great, relaxing day. If I could do it again, I think I would plan an excursion for this port day. Virgin did offer some unique tours around hiking the rainforest, or exploring one of the many Rum Factories in the rum capital of the world! Diving is excellent in Martinique and if we were to go back, a half day spent exploring the reefs would be time well spent!

Ready to Check out Martinique?

Are you a French Speaker, Enthusiast…perhaps a French Teacher!?

Then this island is FOR YOU! Or better yet, Alors cette île est POUR VOUS. 😉

You would be the ideal tourist for this close, beach paradise for those of us from the United States or Canada and is a chance to be immersed in the language like you are a local. If this piques your interest, then let’s discuss and make this thought a reality! It’s easier than you think.

Go to the “Contact” page now to easily schedule an initial discussion with us to get things started! Thank you for reading and following our travel adventures! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and to follow along @travelmorewithkristin on Instagram for the latest travel tips, tricks and our newest locations visited.

Thank you!

Kristin & Will

#TravelMore