Marie-Galante Island

Although Marie-Galante is the largest of Guadeloupe's outer islands, it is not often visited by tourists. As a result the island retains a rural atmosphere and its lovely beaches are nice and quiet. Marie-Galante boasts some beautiful country scenery. Since very few tourists come to the island, most locals don't speak any English. About half the population live in the town of Grand-Bourg, on the island's southwestern coast. It serves as Marie-Galante's commercial and administrative center. The rest of the inhabitants live mostly in the towns of Capesterre and Saint-Louis.

Much of Marie-Galante is planted with sugar cane and the production of sugar is concentrated at a single mill. At the beginning of the 19th century there were some 100 sugar mills on the island and nowadays you can still see the scattered ruins of many of them. Marie-Galante's three distilleries, where cane is turned into rum, are among the island's main attractions. The best-known rum (Père Labat) is bottled at the Distillerie Poisson, halfway between Saint-Louis and Grand-Bourg. Distillerie Bielle, between Grand-Bourg and Capesterre, offers tours of its age-old operation.

There are several hotels and restaurants on Marie-Galante. The island is 40 km east of Basse-Terre.