Les Trois-Îlets

Les Trois-Îlets faces the capital across the bay and holds most of the island's hotels along the Pointe du Bout headland, with a marina, golf course and a run of small beaches at Anse Mitan and Anse à l'Âne. Napoleon's Joséphine was born on the sugar estate here, and the ruins of her family's mill and the stone kitchen survive as the Musée de la Pagerie. A pottery village works the local clay in restored brick kilns. The vedette ferry to Fort-de-France runs all day and makes the town the easiest base on Martinique. The ferry crossing saves an hour of driving round the bay.