Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
850km²
Area
206km
Coastline
1,467m
Highest point
Soufrière
186,000
People
29°C
Warmest sea
September
576km
To the mainland
When to go to Basse-Terre Island
Best for the beach from January to May.
The sea is warmest in September (29 °C) and coolest in February (26 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in Guadeloupe, France
Basse-Terre Island is an island in France. It belongs to Lesser Antilles. It covers 850 km², with 206 km of coastline. Its highest point, Soufrière, rises to 1,467 m. About 186,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 576 km away.
Getting there
- Maryse Condé International Airport (PTP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 19 km in a straight lineCar hire at PTP airport (Pointe-à-Pitre)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- FerriesLigne Trois Rivières - Les Saintes, Ligne Basse-Terre - Terre-de-Haut, Ligne Trois-Rivières - Terre-de-Bas, Bus des Mers
- 576 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Maybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Basse-Terre Island.
- 47beachesPlage de Grande Anse, Plage de Rivière-Sens, Plage de la Perle and 44 more
- 106viewpointsPoint de vue de Gadet, Vue sur deux des Chutes du Carbet, Pointe à l'Aunay - Point de vue sur les Saintes and 103 more
- 5lighthousesPhare de Vieux-Fort, Phare de l'Anse à la Barque and 3 more
- 6ferry terminalsPort départemental de Trois-Rivières, Port de Basse-Terre, Terminal de Croisière and 3 more
- 15marinasAnse Deshaies, Port de Goyave, Port de Sainte-Rose and 12 more
- 63named peaksLa Découverte, Piton Dolomieu, Piton Saussure and 60 more
- 31volcanoesCarmichael Mountain, L'Échelle, Matéliane and 28 more
- 73waterfallsThird Carbet Falls, Cascade Kalinago, Saut d'Eau du Matouba and 70 more
- 4castles and fortsTour du Père-Labat, Fort Delgrès, Hôtel de préfecture de la Guadeloupe and 1 more
- 27ruins and archaeological sitesRoches gravées des Galets, Roche de l'Embouchure de la Coulisse, Batterie de Pointe Taste ou Grande Pointe and 24 more
- 15dive centresNote Bleue Plongée, Les Baillantes Tortues, PPK Plongée Guadeloupe and 12 more
- 1surf spotsPoyo Surf Club
- 38waymarked walking routesTrace des Chutes Moreau, Trace du Petit Malendure, Nez Cassé via Beau-Soleil and 35 more
- 105hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 334restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Basse-Terre Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Basse-Terre Island, each with its own numbers.
100beaches and covesCoastya
18waterfallsCascadyas
Tallest waterfall
245m
Carbet Falls
according to Cascadyas
Beach with the warmest sea
29.1°C
Plage de Rocroy
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
100 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Plage de Viard29.0°C
- Plage de Rocroy29.1°C
- Plage de Roseau29.0°C
- Plage la Ramée29.0°C
- Plage Paul Thomas29.0°C
- Plage des Amandiers29.0°C
- Plage Manbia29.0°C
- Plage de Leroux29.0°C
92 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
18 waterfalls
on Cascadyas, the waterfall atlas
- Carbet Falls245m
- saut de la Lézarde10m
- Acomat Falls
- Crayfish Waterfall
- cascade de La coulisse
- Première Chute
- cascade Vauchelet
- Grande Cascade
10 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 294 m above the sea. 48 % of it is below 200 m.
- 22 %0–50 m
- 25 %50–200 m
- 31 %200–500 m
- 19 %500–1,000 m
- 2 %1,000–2,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
20 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Baie-Mahault30,837 people
- Petit-Bourg24,994 people
- Sainte-Rose20,192 people
- Capesterre-Belle-Eau19,821 people
- Lamentin14,891 people
- Basse-Terre11,472 people
- Saint-Claude10,134 people
- Trois-Rivières8,812 people
- Gourbeyre8,571 people
- Pointe-Noire7,749 people
- Vieux-Habitants7,728 people
- Baillif5,705 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 27 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 |
| Night low (°C) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 26 |
| Sea (°C) | 27 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 |
| Rain (mm) | 45 | 31 | 34 | 57 | 92 | 106 | 126 | 140 | 148 | 172 | 146 | 73 |
| Wet days | 15 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 19 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 7.9 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.6 |
| Wind (km/h) | 26 | 26 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 23 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 25 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +0.3 |
| 2022 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.3 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.1 |
| 2023 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +0.6 |
| 2024 | +0.7 | +1.0 | +1.4 | +1.3 | +1.7 | +1.7 | +1.3 | +1.2 | +1.1 | +1.5 | +1.4 | +1.2 |
| 2025 | +1.0 | +1.0 | +0.9 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.3 | +0.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Dominica
Dominica787 km²1,447 m89 km away
Grande-Terre
France595 km²130 m32 km away
Terre-de-Bas IslandFrance6.8 km²292 m33 km away
Montserrat
United Kingdom102 km²1,042 m88 km away
Marie-GalanteFrance160 km²200 m49 km away
Terre-de-Haut IslandFrance4.5 km²303 m33 km away
La DésiradeFrance20 km²276 m68 km away
Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda272 km²402 m105 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q153822) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Cascadyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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