Traveled to Guadeloupe on the second week of May 03.
Weather was great 80's and partly cloudy every day.
Island is Beautiful, except for the more populated parts.

Rented a car through Budget at the airport, first class service, and Mario Andretti for a shuttle bus driver..A+

Stayed briefly at the Viva Club in Gosier. (Time share though RCI)
Terrible resort.
Run down, unclean rooms with leaking pipes, mold and mildew and peeling paint in the bathroom, and clogged air conditioner filters, peeling paint on the exterior, cats and dogs even though they state a no pet policy, etc...
Used car sales/car rental shop out front, printing business in the main building. Useless phone book from 1996!
No on site services except for a breakfast bar.
All in all it was an awful place to stay, far worse than any motel or hotel my wife and I had ever stayed in, and by FAR THE WORST RCI resort/timeshare we and our family have ever been too.
We left after 2 days and have written to RCI with our complaints.

Checked out the Novatel Hotel up the road (sorry dont recall exact name) appeared to be a great resort with a nice beach and pool and bar and restaurant/buffet. All appearances point to a well kept establishment.

Walking on the "beach" next to our "resort" turned into a nightmare for us when a local accosted us, asking us if we were American and calling us criminals and generally ranting about all the problems of the world and how American criminals were at the center of them.

Honestly my wife and I felt a bit out of place even before this, with all but a few people on the island treating us in a courteous manner. We honestly did our best to communicate and to act politely, and in my opinion did not stand out really compared to any of the mostly French tourist that happened to be around. Stares from the locals were quite disconcerting, and after the beach incident we decided to leave.

Unfortunately we did not feel safe since obviously there was not much love for our kind on Guadeloupe.

All in all Guadeloupe is a beautiful place, I only wish we could have been made to feel more welcome.
We had always thought there would be some anti american sentiment, and expected to experience it in subtle ways.
But being made to feel threatened in an exotic and far away locale was the last thing we expected.

All of the reading we had done pointed to the roads being well maintained and marked and not bad to drive around on.
Driving was scary! As a long time driver in the Northeast United States all I can say is I would rather drive in downtown Boston, or New York in rush hour than on Guadeloupe. Staying on your own side of the road is a novelty there, and you darn well better get yourself a good map...we still don't have one.
We were able to piece together a couple of poor maps and make a useable navigation system. For what its worth I drive 60K miles per year, and drving on guadeloupe is by far the most nervous I have ever been.

The Marina Bas Du Fort in Gosier that we had read was such a great place smelled like a sewer (no it wasnt low tide) was dirty (as were most other populated areas) had stray and domestic dogs running around, and was genrally not what we expected.
Apparently American standards of sanitation are very high.

All in all from the information we gathered regarding Guadeloupe we learned very little that is current and or timely.
The resentment toward Americans is obvious, the populated areas are dirty, and somewhat unseemly.
The flora and fauna are absolutely beautiful, and I'm sure that this island is world class as far as its beauty.
Too bad the rest of the island is not.



Recommended: No

Best Time to Travel Here: Never