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Filled with ruins and monuments, Martinique has been French, with few interruptions, since 1635, and offers gorgeous beaches, great food and a live volcano. Banana farming, cane raising, the rum business and tourism are all important to the island.

Its many small museums focus on curiosities such as dolls, banana farming and Ancient Island civilizations. Hikers and horseback riders will find plenty of guided adventures among the steep, lush hillsides. Windsurfers and board surfers will welcome the challenges of the choppy Atlantic side of the island.

The Museum of Vulcanology there displays chilling lava-coated mementoes. Carbet, a quaint fishing village, was briefly home for French painter Paul Gauguin, and inland is Morne Rouge, site of MacIntosh Plantation, cultivator of Martinique’s well-known flower, the anthurium.  Be sure to tour one of Martinique ’s 12 fine rum distilleries.

Pointe du Bout is the island’s main resort area, offering hotels, golf, and shopping and casino nightlife. North along the coast is St. Pierre , which was destroyed, along with its 30,000 residents, in 1902 when Mont Pelée erupted. The capital, Fort-de-France , offers chic shops, the flowered Park Savanne, the Bibliothèque Schoelcher, and the Saint-Louis Cathedral, built in 1895. Restaurants are among the best in the islands.

CLIMATE:  The mean temperature averages about 79 degrees F. Average humidity 75%. The rainy season is from the end of August to October. Approximate sunrise-0530. Approximate sunset-1815.

LANGUAGE:  French is the official language. Creole is spoken locally. English is spoken in the tourist areas.

NIGHTLIFE:  Entertainment available includes-Discos. Nightclubs.  Cabarets.  Dinner/dances.  Theaters.  Casino at Meridien Hotel and at Bateliere Plazza.  Cinemas.  Live Music.

SIGHTSEEING:  Fort-de-France , the capital city.  La Pagerie, birthplace of Martinique ’s most famous daughter: Josephine, Napoleon’s Empress.  Diamond Rock.  Botanical Gardens where you can admire over a thousand varieties of tropical and local plants.  Cockfights.  St Pierre and the ruins from eruption of Mt. Pelee , the Pompeii of the New World .  Volcanological museum.  Castle DuBuc. Mont Pelee.