Sainte-Anne

Sainte-Anne has the beach most Guadeloupeans name first, the Plage de la Caravelle, a curve of white sand behind a reef that keeps the water flat and shallow enough for children. The town beach beside it is busier and lined with market stalls selling madras, spices and coconut sorbet. A sugar mill of the eighteenth century stands in the square with the church. East of town the coast turns wilder at Anse à la Barque and the salt flats, and the road on to Saint-François runs past cane fields and roadside grills. Buses run along the coast road from Pointe-à-Pitre.