Caraib'Bay Hotel

With owners from Lyons, France, the Cariaib'Bay is packed with French families with young children. During our visit, we saw kids happily running around the grounds alongside the plentiful roaming chickens and one mischievous little ginger cat, while their parents relaxed with colorful frozen drinks by the lobby bar or the lobby terrace overlooking the pool. (A games-filled hut just off the lobby begs to be turned into a play fort by adventure-minded kids.) That shaded lobby terrace serves as the communal hub of the hotel, where beach-goers going to or coming back from the Grand Anse beach about 500 meters away sit a spell while planning out the rest of their day (or have their Continental breakfast). Nature lovers will appreciate owner Christophe Paulet's zest for the tropical fruit trees that dot the seven-hectare property (slightly more than 17 acres) -- cacao, mango, and carambola. What would be an idyllic respite, however, is occasionally disrupted by the traffic noise from the nearby road.

The hotel sits on the tip of less-visited Basse-Terre, which means that a trip from the airport will take about 45 minutes over curvy mountainous roads -- that is, if the frequent traffic jams around Pointe-a-Pitre don't bog you down. On the upside, though, the hotel is about a 10-minute walk from Grande Anse beach, which means you don't have to deal with the sardine-can parking scene there, and only a couple minutes' drive from the colorful two-horse fishing village of Deshaies, where guests can stock up on food to cook for themselves. Guests who don't feel like cooking for themselves may instead want to get their meals at the beach, where a number of small cafes are clustered. Plus, being on the western half of Guadeloupe means guests feel much less like they're in the midst of a tourist throng than they would on on Grande-Terre. Travelers yearning for more than the beach and a pool from their vacation may want to consider finding a spot on the southern side of Grande-Terre, where most of the tourist attractions are located. Otherwise, they're looking at a good hour of travel each way. 

Rooms are a bright wash of yellows, oranges, greens, and reds, and decorated with whimsical touches like driftwood or beach pebbles -- though windows don't come with screens, meaning guests may have to stay on mosquito patrol. In Standard Rooms, the master bedroom is upstairs in a loft-like space under the rafters, while the remaining beds are tucked into the living room downstairs. Each room has an outdoor kitchenette that, though small basic (two burners, mini-fridge, small sink, no microwave), is plenty to keep a small family fed for a week or so (cooking and eating utensils are included; food is not). Views are mostly limited to the local trees and hillsides -- don't expect to catch a grand view of the ocean. The bathrooms are clean but small, with capsule-like showers. The Standard Rooms come in a two-story duplex format in bungalows spread across the property, and all rooms come with their own patios, though the ones for the Standard Rooms don't afford much privacy. Practically speaking, this means that when your next-door neighbor flushes her toilet, you can hear it. (And people staying upstairs will have to put up with a trip down the stairs for midnight bathroom visits.) Larger rooms can fit up to six people, include larger kitchens (with microwaves), and larger patios with more privacy. Though the Wi-Fi is free, it's limited mostly to the lobby area, so those who wish to stay connected may find themselves spending a lot of time at a table on the terrace or the small desktop that serves as the lobby's business center.

The lobby's bar, with its wall of liquors, serves as the geographic and communal heart of the hotel, and offers a great place to relax with a tropical cocktail while escaping the sun and observing the antics in the pool. (Breakfast is also served here, but lunch and dinner are not offered.) The pool itself is in a fenced-off space below the lobby, and is a basic lozenge-shaped bathing area with a small submerged sitting area sprouting off one side, and two wooden changing booths on the other. Besides that, the hotel offers a respite from the tourist scene of Grand-Terre without forsaking beach time -- the nearby beach may be rife with French and local sunbathers, but the location on Basse-Terre ensures that it's not quite as busy as hot spots on the other side of the island. And best of all, you don't need to worry about parking your car at the bumper-to-bumper lot at the beach! There's a grill in an area just off the lobby -- ask for the necessaries at the front desk. That is also where the business center, really a shelf with a wired-up laptop computer, is.