Guadeloupe tourist season
Seasons in Guadeloupe
Published by Henri KESSELS, October 2023
When is the high season in Guadeloupe? When should you come to Guadeloupe? These are probably the first questions you ask yourself when planning your vacation.
To put it simply, let's say that the high season is from Christmas to Easter, with prices accordingly charged by the various tourism operators, and particularly during school holiday periods of course. And then, around these four months of high season from mid-December to mid-April approximately, we can say that the winter pre- and post-season are an average season. This means that from the beginning of November to mid-December and from mid-April to the end of May you will find attractive prices and lower tourist numbers. It is therefore, for those who can travel during these periods, interesting both financially and from a tourist point of view. To help you choose dates outside school holidays, you can consult the 2024 school holiday calendar in France. For other European or foreign countries that have different dates, this can be good news for cheaper plane tickets, because French airlines generally take into account French school holidays to vary their prices.
Personally, I always advise people who can, to travel in June. It is a very beautiful season from a climatic point of view with the trade winds still very present (advice to windsurfers and other sailors!), but as the good weather arrives in Europe (and the exams also for teenagers ;-), the Antilles are much less popular, and it is therefore the low season. Cheap tickets, cheap accommodation, a quiet archipelago, a great climate.
July and August are theoretically a low season for the reason mentioned above: It is summer in Europe, no need to go looking for the sun very far. However, these are very popular months for the West Indians residing in mainland France, and the beaches and rivers are once again frequented. As for prices, since there is demand... the companies take advantage of it!
Hurricane season Guadeloupe
Here too, it is a recurring question. Officially, the "hurricane season" begins on June 1st and ends on November 30th. For my part, I do not really like the term hurricane season, I prefer to talk about wet season. Indeed, the cyclone risk is in reality almost zero in June, July and August, and even in November. Over the six months of the official calendar, there are therefore in reality two months at risk. However, the meteorological centers are on deck throughout this period to work on forecast models. And since they are the ones who define the meteorological season... QED
It should be noted that, whatever the season, the temperature during the day is around 30°C all year round. It is rare for the thermometer to rise above 33°C on the hottest days. At night the temperature drops to around 22°C and, in mountainous areas, it can drop to +15°C in the winter months.
September and October are therefore the months when the risk is real, but it remains only a risk, which is defined by the combination of a probability and severity factor. The last cyclone we had in Guadeloupe dates back to 2017 with Maria. Afterwards, we can experience the passage of a tropical storm from time to time... or not, but the weather remains generally nice and warm... and humid or even heavy.
And then in November, the weather cools down, especially at night, and the cyclonic risk is very low. The gradual arrival of the trade winds with their constant wind during the day announces the beginning of winter, the dry season, from December to June.
To summarize, you can come all year round to Guadeloupe, even if certain periods are more conducive to episodes of wind or rain. But as you know, climate change affects everyone and also causes us to notice anomalies such as rainy periods in January, or wet seasons that are not so rainy after all.
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