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Pointe-à-Pitre is a fairly uninviting place – a graffiti-sprayed concrete jungle of art-deco and socialist-style architecture, decaying traditional houses and terrible traffic – but it's the main town on Grande-Terre and, due to its central location between Guadeloupe's two biggest islands, it serves as the de facto capital. It's well worth getting off the beach for half a day to visit, if only to see the superb Mémorial ACTe, a world-class museum dedicated to the history of slavery and colonialism. The first of its kind in the world, Mémorial ACTe has quickly become the closest Guadeloupe has to a national museum and it's an absolute must-see for anyone interested in the history and culture of these islands.
Pointe-à-Pitre is a ghost town on Sunday, on national holidays and after dark, and is best avoided at these times.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Pointe-à-Pitre.
Museum
Top billing in the French Antilles goes to this huge museum of slavery, opened by President Hollande in 2015. Housed in a spectacular silver-latticework structure on the site of the former Darboussier sugar factory on Pointe-à-Pitre's long-neglected waterfront, ACTe tackles a tricky subject head-on, with various sections dedicated to stages of the slave trade in the Caribbean and beyond in chronological order. Allow at least two hours to do the audio guide justice.
Museum
This three-level municipal museum occupies an outstanding example of 19th-century colonial architecture and is dedicated to renowned poet and Nobel laureate Alexis Leger (1887–1975), better known by his nom de plume Saint-John Perse, who spent his childhood in Guadeloupe. The house offers a glimpse of a period Creole home and has displays on Perse’s life and work.
Market
This popular market on the seafront in front of Place de la Victoire is Pointe-à-Pitre's main fruit-and-vegetable market. It's full of characters and you'll nearly always be offered some free samples.
Cathedral
Rather than the traditional arches, this attractively painted sand-colored church, nicknamed the ‘Iron Cathedral,’ is supported by iron girders intended to brace it against earthquakes and hurricanes. It's quite unusual but seems to be working well – the church has stood in its current form since 1876. However, as cathedrals go, it's pretty unremarkable: the flower market on the steps outside almost outshines it.