Welcome to Visiting Martinique .com:
The French Island of Martinique has the fashionable shops, cosmopolitan cities, affluent neighborhoods, exclusive hotels and gourmet restaurants like Paris, just take away the dark brooding skies of winter and replace with year-round sunshine.
Martinique was called the Island of Flowers by the Carib Indians who first settled here because of the lush vegetation of hibiscus, poinsettias, bougainvillea, coconut palms, and mango trees.
But it wasn’t long before Martinique turned into an aristocrat’s getaway. Known for its snobbery, and refusal to speak English, Martinique offers one of the highest standards of living in all of the Caribbean.
Approximately 40 miles long and 12 miles wide, Martinique has a landscape of hills and mountains. Rainforests cover the slopes of the mountains in the north and the drier southern part of the island has brushy savanna vegetation, the best beaches and most of the development.
The capital and largest city, Fort-de-France, is busy with traffic and crowds while the other towns are small fishing villages or resort areas.
The highest point on Martinique is the 4582-foot Mont Pelée, an active volcano at the northern end of the island. The center of the island is dominated by a mountain range reaching 3959 feet called Pitons du Carbet.
Like in France, everything shuts down by noon and reopens after 2:30. High season runs mid-November through May, and the island can be quiet during September and October.
Feature Hotel/Resort of the Month:
Anguilla's Cap Juluca
Cap Juluaca regularly rates in the Top 10 world resorts for both Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler.
Cap Juluca is situated on the southwest coast of Angulla and overlooks the mountains of St. Marten. Cap Juluca sits on 179 acres of Land and is renouned for its 2.5 miles of white powder beaches and the unequalled privacy and luxury of the accommodations.
Click here to read more about The Long Bay.