North of Grande Terre loop

3 steps

1. 

   Walking

   Port-Louis

   From Port-Louis to Anse Laborde (1st stage)

   North Grande-Terre circular trail

   Pond and wetland

   Coastline and cliff

   Cultural and architectural heritage

   Relaxation area

   • Easy
   • 5h
   • 13,2km
   • +69m

2. 

   Walking

   Anse-Bertrand

   From Anse Laborde to Porte d'Enfer (2nd stage)

   North Grande-Terre circular trail

   Geology

   Coastline and cliff

   Discovery trail

   Top 10

   • Easy
   • 5h
   • 12,8km
   • +273m

3. 

   Walking

   Anse-Bertrand

   Trace des Falaises (3d stage)

   North Grande-Terre circular trail

   Geology

   The Slave Route

   Coastline and cliff

   • Medium
   • 5h
   • 11,7km
   • +168m

45 points of interest

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  History

  Beauport factory

  The Beauport factory, established in 1863 on the site of the Beauport sugar-works, over 70 years managed more than 8000 hectares in northern Grande-Terre, and fed a dynamic network of railway lines.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Chapelle de la Piéta

  200m north of the road, the Chapelle de la Piéta, can be found inside the mill of the Beauport residence.

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  History

  Dispensary

  An ancient dispensary, built by Ali Tur after the cyclone in 1928.

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  History

  Port-Louis Mairie

  The Port-Louis Mairie (Town Hall), originally built on the coastline and destroyed in 1928, was rebuilt by Corbin during the 1930s.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  'Yang-Ting' mansion

  The historic Yang-Ting mansion, restored by the Port-Louis Tourism Office.

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  History

  Palais de Justice

  The former Palais de Justice, built by Ali Tur in the early 1930s, on the site of the old Mairie (town hall).

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  History

  Main Boulevard

  Boulevard de Port-Louis, historical axis of the town since the eighteenth century.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Eglise de Port-Louis

  The Church and its square, originally built in 1725, destroyed three times in the nineteenth century,but always rebuilt in the same place.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Lighthouse of Port-Louis

  The lighthouse, symbol of Port-Louis harbour.

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  Area of relaxation

  Plage du Souffleur

  The Plage du Souffleur, a historical area in Port-Louis and famous seaside centre in Guadeloupe.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Cimetière de Port-Louis

  The Port-Louis cemetery with its variety of graves. The car-park at Port-Louis cemetery, heading northwards along the beach, joins on to that of the Conservatoire du Littoral 'Tras Kas Moustach'.
• • Attachment

  

  

  Pond

  'Chimen Kas Moustach'

  Route of the Conservatoire du Littoral Tras Kas Moustach, to explore the Port-Louis marshes, joins the main axis at the Pointe des Mangles.
  Beware : access not recommended to the boardwalk (currently damaged).

  AttachmentOpen

  • document textedepliant_Port-Louis_CdL

    Credit: CdL : "Les marais de Port-Louis" - Conservatoire du Littoral

    Downloadpdf

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  Viewpoint

  Pointe des Mangles

  The Pointe des Mangles, where the sea and the waters of the marsh come together.
  A fishing spot, but also a spiritual 'démaré' (rebirth) bathing area, not far from the ornithological hide.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Chapelle

  The chapel of Notre Dame des Marais, or 'Chapèl Kilibwa', is one of a network of coastal chapels of the Côte sous le Vent in north Grande-Terre.
• View picture in full screen

  

  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Batterie Pointe d'Antigue

  The buried remains of the old battery of Pointe d'Antigue, the advanced defence post of Port-Louis harbour.

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  Viewpoint

  Pointe d’Antigue

  Pointe d’Antigue or 'Gros Kay', a strategic rocky peak and unique viewpoint embracing the whole 'Gran V', the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Saint-Pierre

  Secondary circuit around the Saint-Pierre residence, a large coastal housing area to the north of the marshes.

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  Area of relaxation

  Anse Colas

  Anse Colas, a lagoon set in a rocky inlet is an area for meeting up and relaxing, at the border of the Anse-Bertrand and Port-Louis areas.

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  Pond

  La Mare Indigo

  La Mare Indigo, a stone's throw from the coast, is a witness to the human resonance between savanna, undergrowth and gardens.
  (Mare Indigo can be seen 150m to the east of the main path)

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  Area of relaxation

  Plage de La Chapelle

  The Plage de la Chapelle, lively and welcoming, was the historical start of the Anse in the eighteenth century (traces of the original religious foundation remain).

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Cimetières d’Anse-Bertrand

  The two cemeteries in Anse-Bertrand are temporal markers of the coastal development of its past.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Eglise d'Anse-Bertrand

  The Church and its square, the heart of the town opening out to the 'cove at Bertrand'.

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  History

  Débarcadère d'Anse-Bertrand

  The old water-tanks, or ways of storing water, and the former landing stage are relics of the maritime relations between the town, Port-Louis and Pointe-à-Pitre, still in use at the beginning of the twentieth century.

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  Ancienne prison

  The former prison, built on the eve of the abolition of slavery in the middle of the nineteenth century, is located on the Boulevard, in the historic fishermen's district.

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  Pond

  Ravine Sable

  Ravine Sable, anchor point of the cove's maritime culture, benefits from both its valuable wetlands and the rich birdlife, at the foot of the cliffs.
  NB: ornithological observatory on the area (opened on October 2017 by the Anse-Bertrand Community and the National Park)

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  Area of relaxation

  Anse Laborde

  Anse Laborde, a renowned seaside cove, starting point of the northern cliffs.
  It is bordered by the Pointe de la Petite Vigie, advanced sentinel of the urban stretch of water.

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  Geology

  Trou de Man Louis

  The only accessible beach with Anse Laborde on this side, barely visible from the cliffs (on the leeward side); the place for cliff fishing, including for 'bougo' (shellfish).

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  Cultural and architectural heritage

  'Yaya'

  Yaya is a mystical space to the north of the village, where you may encounter spirits and other beings (mentioned in the story of Man Koko).

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  History

  Caribbean site

  The site of the village of the last Caribbeans in Guadeloupe, until the beginning of the twentieth century, in the heart of what was then known as the Caribbean Reserve.

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  Viewpoint

  Pointe Montagnier

  A rare viewpoint of this part of the cliffs, open to the Caribbean Sea and the Canal de la Guadeloupe.

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  Viewpoint

  Pointe de la Grande Vigie

  Pointe de la Grande Vigie, with its parking area and its double pathway to explore the site, going towards the point.

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  Geology

  Petite Tortue

  Pointe de la Petite Tortue, a cliff overhang shaped like the head of a turtle.

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  Pond

  Savane Desrosières

  Savane Desrosières : vast space of the Caribbean Reserve, with its pools and grazing land, open to the never-ending movement of the Atlantic waves.

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  Agricultural landscape

  Couloir de Budan - St Jacques

  The end of the Anse-Bertrand plateau, where we see a row of the more northerly sugar works of eighteenth century Guadeloupe, including those of Budan and St Jacques.

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  Geology

  Anse Pistolet

  The Pointe de la Grande Vigie's only maritime access and the natural entrance to the south-west plain from the eighteenth century onwards, L'Anse Pistolet nestles between the cliffs occupied by the Amerindians millennia ago.
  (The Anse is visible 400m to the north of the main road).

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  Viewpoint

  Anse à Tortues

  A spectacular viewpoint nearer the edge of the cliffs, at the feet of which lies a cove of white sand, home to turtles when they come to lay their eggs.

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  Geology

  Pointe du Piton

  Pointe du Piton: witness to the tectonic movements at the start of the Grande-Terre region, and coastal erosion.

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  Geology

  Overlooking the Porte d'Enfer

  At the start of Cadou: go west from the ridge, overlooking the lagoon of Porte d'Enfer, an open book of the geological history of Guadeloupe.

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  Area of relaxation

  Porte d'Enfer

  The Porte d'Enfer lagoon, with its protected stretch of water, its landscaped picnic area, is the only single opening to the sea accessible, albeit difficult, on this coast.

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  Geology

  Trou a Man Koko

  Madame Coco's blowhole is a mythical place linked to the legend of Madame Coco's pact with Lucifer.

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  Geology

  Trou du Souffleur

  The Pointe de la Tortue and the Trou du Souffleur, spectacular sea-water blowholes in the coastal rock.
  Be careful, do not go near the edge !

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  Geology

  Pointe du Souffleur

  Pointe du Souffleur.

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  Geology

  Pointe "Tête à Boeuf"

  Pointe "Tête à Boeuf" is a shore fishing place well known to the cliff fishermen ; it also serves as a seamark to fishermen out to sea off the coast.

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  Geology

  Anse à la Barque

  L’Anse à la Barque: place-names and history. A network of trails, ponds and gullies.

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  The Slave Route

  Route de l'Esclave : La Mahaudière.

  The oldest sources of information about this dwelling date back to 1732. At that time, it was not a sugar farm: around 1770, Etienne Douillard Mahaudière's property was more of a huge cotton estate, with a large number of 'cases' for the slaves but very few industrial buildings. At that time, there were many cotton estates in this part of Grande-Terre. The property grew progressively and turned to the production of sugar, until the Revolution, when it was sequestered. Two hundred people then worked on the 'Lahaut' residence, as it was known at the time. In 1828, 147 slaves were employed to maintain the 465 hectares of the property.
  The owner was then Jean-Baptiste Douillard Mahaudière whose, name remains connected to a famous judicial matter.
  In October 1840, he was taken to court for the abusive sequestration of his slave Lucile, a seamstress.
  She was accused by her master of having poisoned his wife. Lucile was thrown into a cell measuring 5 square metres; it was only 1.20m high, so she could not stand upright. She was kept there for nearly two years in almost complete solitary confinement. Denounced to the law in an anonymous letter, Douillard Mahaudière had to answer for this crime before the Pointe-à-Pitre Assizes. The King's Prosecutor, himself a settler and owner in Guadeloupe, found himself torn between his role as magistrate and the interests of the community to which he belonged. Under pressure from the settlers, Douillard Mahaudière was declared not guilty and acquitted. The slave Lucile was sold.
  In the years following the abolition of slavery, the house slowly fell into disrepair. At the end of the nineteenth century, the conversion of its facilities made it into a large steam-powered distillery. The activity continued on the site until the beginning of the 1950s.