Event· Grande-Terre· Leeward Islands
Guadeloupe Carnival
16° 14.5′ N · 61° 32.2′ W
Two months of carnival from the first Sunday of January to Ash Wednesday: Sunday parades around the island, the drum-and-conch 'groupes a po' such as Akiyo and Voukoum, the big Dimanche Gras parade in Pointe-a-Pitre, Mardi Gras in Basse-Terre and the burning of King Vaval on Ash Wednesday.
Practical
Position: Pointe-a-Pitre town centre (Wikipedia). Key days (Wikipedia): Dimanche Gras - main parade in Pointe-a-Pitre; Lundi Gras - pyjama parade at dawn and market-women parade in Basse-Terre, night parades in Basse-Terre and Saint-Francois; Mardi Gras - largest parade in Basse-Terre with floats; Ash Wednesday - Vaval burned before a crowd in black and white; final parades at Mi-Careme. Offices and some clearance points close around Mardi Gras (a Deshaies cruiser found the customs office shut the day before, of and after Mardi Gras in 2024) - plan clearance around it. Roads close for parades.
Best for
Joining a Sunday parade in January-February
Season
First Sunday of January to Ash Wednesday; Mi-Careme parades in Lent
Nearby
- Fete des Cuisinieres (Cooks' Festival)0.2 NM away
- Musee Schoelcher0.3 NM away
- Pointe-a-Pitre Market (Marche Saint-Antoine)0.3 NM away
- Le Yacht Club (La Darse, Pointe-a-Pitre)0.4 NM away
- Marche de la Darse (Pointe-a-Pitre Fish Market)0.4 NM away
- CHU de Guadeloupe0.6 NM away
- Memorial ACTe0.6 NM away
- Route du Rhum Finish (Pointe-a-Pitre)0.8 NM away