Fort de France

Coconut trees and gentle waves 
The Sacré Coeur de Balata
French fortress and rum distilleries

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Fort de France

Irresistible seas

Among the great pleasures that disembarking from an MSC cruise ship at Fort-de-France, Martinique can grant you is the immediate possibility of bathing in the Caribbean Sea.

Just stroll down to the Anse Mitan beach in the Trois-Ilets, located on a promontory that protects the interior of Martinique’s main bay; or to the nearby Anse à l'Ane: white beaches, coconut trees for shade and the luxurious inland vegetation as a background, the perfect setting for a holiday in the Caribbean.

Less than 20 minutes away from the island’s capital, in Balata, there is a Botanical Garden set up in the heart of the rainforest. It has over 3000 species of tropical plants and flowers that can be observed along trails some of which are partly suspended. Nearby, you will also find Balata’s Sacre Coeur, a miniature replica of the basilica in Montmartre, Paris.

Here, from the slopes of Pitons du Carbet, you can admire a beautiful view spanning from the bay of Fort-de-France to Pointe du Bout. Of the city churches in the capital, the St. Louis Cathedral, constructed by the architect Henry Pick in 1895, is worth a visit. Because the church had to stand up to fire and hurricane winds, it Roman-Byzantine style and its 57-metre-tall tower were modified to the need of keeping the church profile simple.

To enjoy the most picturesque view of the bay and the port, take an excursion to Fort Saint-Louis, which was constructed by the French in 1640 (it continued to be used up till the Second World War) on the eastern edge of Flamands Bay. There is, however, another way of experiencing the island’s French heritage: visiting the island’s rhum distillery, as the French call rum. The Depaz distillery has been producing the national beverage since 1651, when it was constructed by the Depaz family on their private lands in the northeast of the island, at the feet of the Mont Pelée volcano.

Must see place in Fort de France

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    Martinique

    An explosion of colours
    An explosion of colours

    Probably the most colourful stop on this Caribbean cruise with its shimmering beaches changing from shades of dazzling white to silvery black.

    Where can you experience such striking diversity of landscape? Only on a holiday to Martinique, on the beaches of Les Salines, the Baies des Anglais and Le François. Near Anse Noire, on the south-east of the island, you can even see a black beach neighbouring a white one.

    Turn your back on the sea to discover a verdant paradise which mutates from one end of the island to the other. The North is a lush green mountainous landscape and the wild scenery is crossed by its many streams and just as many natural spring waterfalls.

    Mount Pelée, the Pitons du Carbet, the Canal de Beauregard or the Trace des Jésuites, are only some of the destinations for those explorers who embark upon one of the thirty footpaths at the heart of the island. Don't overlook the island’s Queen of drinks: Rum, produced in eleven different distilleries on the island.

    Along the “Rum Road” you'll find the distillers telling you about the character and the peculiarities of their sugarcane spirit, of how the choices made, from the cutting of the sugarcane onwards, can change the flavour of this perfumed nectar.