Main pool at Habitation Saint Louis resort in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe
The zero-entry pool at Habitation Saint Louis in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe feels like a rock-lined ocean pool in the middle of a cane field.
Flights

Beaches, Seafood, and Rainforests: The Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe Is Getting New Air Canada Flights 

By: Alexander Britell - May 20, 2025 - 5:31 pm

The rainforests of Basse-Terre. The sugarcane fields of Marie-Galante. The beaches of Grande-Terre. The seafood in Deshaies. Guadeloupe is a layered, fascinating Caribbean destination, and it’s about to hit the travel map in a new way. 

Air Canada is kicking off new nonstop routes between Toronto and Guadeloupe’s Pointe-a-Pitre, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The new service is launching Dec. 20: it will be operating once-weekly on Saturdays, running all the way through April 11, 2026, Air Canada confirmed. 

The flight takes about four and a half hours from Toronto. 

The main distillery at Montebello in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe.
The main distillery at Rhum Montebello is a funky, old-school facility.

So where to go in Guadeloupe? That’s a complicated question. With a full archipelago of choices, you have to think about what it is you’re looking for. 

I’d recommend getting acclimated somewhere like the tourist-friendly town in Grande-Terre called Gosier, where you can stay in one of the area’s popular hotels like the Auberge de la Vieille Tour (I love the rum bar there). 

the beach on ilet du gosier off the coast of guadeloupe
Ilet du Gosier in Guadeloupe, just off the coast of Grande Terre.

Then you should make your way to the island of Basse-Terre to experience its lush, volcanic soil and its cornucopia of rum distilleries (from Montebello and its fascinating container-aging to the splendid history at Reimonenq), staying at the lovely Habitation Saint Louis hotel, where several rooms have private plunge pools.

That should include a stop in Deshaies, the town most famous as the shooting location for the BBC show Death in Paradise and one that is filled with outstanding seafood-focused restaurants.

But Guadeloupe’s greatest joys come after a sea trip: first, in Terre de Haut, the little island that, when you squint, might remind you of a proto-St Barth; and then in Marie-Galante, the rum-filled island that has more distilleries per capita than anywhere on earth. 

Air Canada also announced new nonstop routes to Martinique, another French Caribbean island we love, this winter. 

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