Martinique

Best months by our weather score: February, March, April. Daytime highs, rain and sunshine are 2016–2025 averages at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (Open-Meteo historical weather archive); sea temperatures are 2022–2025 averages for the nearest sea area (Open-Meteo marine archive). Months marked in the storm row fall in the Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 to November 30); the score takes that risk into account.

Gateway airport

Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (FDF)

US nonstops

MIA

Distance

3,802 mi from Los Angeles, 1,957 mi from New York

Passport

Needed for US citizens

Hotel, one night

$102 on Jan 13, 2027 · $82 on Jul 14, 2027 (Les Trois-Îlets (Pointe du Bout and Anse Mitan))

Visitors a year

571,511 overnight visitors (2024), plus 266,943 cruise passengers

Bringing a dog

Easy: Same rules as mainland France: ISO microchip before a rabies vaccine given at least 21 days earlier, and an EU health certificate endorsed by USDA within 10 days of arrival; no titer test listed for US dogs.

Hotel prices: Cheapest 3-star-or-better double, 1 night, 2 adults, taxes and fees in, Kayak (USD), checked 2026-10-20. Both dates: Impératrice Village, a beachfront residence-hotel. Cheaper Fort-de-France results excluded as outside the area.. Visitor figures: INSEE, Fréquentation touristique en Martinique 2024.

Martinique suits couples and families who like to drive and explore: rent a villa or a gîte, cook with market produce, beach in the south, hike in the north. Food and rum lovers will find more to do here than on almost any other island in this guide.

Skip it if you need English everywhere or want an all-inclusive resort with nothing to organize. Away from the main hotels, French is the working language, and a rental car is close to essential. For an English-speaking island with similar volcanic scenery, look at St. Lucia, a short hop south. For easy beaches and many flights, Barbados.

• Les Trois-Îlets (Pointe du Bout and Anse Mitan) is the main resort area, across the bay from Fort-de-France and linked by passenger ferry. Best for a first visit.
• Sainte-Anne and Le Diamant in the south are close to the best beaches, with villas, small hotels and gîtes. Best for beach-focused families.
• The north (Saint-Pierre, Le Carbet, Le Prêcheur) is greener and quieter, near Mount Pelée and the rainforest. Best for hikers.

On Kayak, the cheapest double in a 3-star-or-better hotel in Les Trois-Îlets was $102 for Wednesday, January 13, 2027, and $82 for Wednesday, July 14, 2027, for two adults with taxes and fees.

The best swimming is in the south and southwest. Grande Anse des Salines, near Sainte-Anne, is the classic: a long curve of pale sand under leaning palms, with calm water most days. Grande Anse d'Arlet and Anse Dufour are village bays where turtles graze over the seagrass close to shore, and Anse Noire next door has black sand and good snorkeling. Anse Mitan at Les Trois-Îlets is convenient rather than beautiful.

Some beaches need care. The long beach at Le Diamant faces the open sea and has strong currents. The Atlantic east coast is rough and is the side most exposed to sargassum seaweed in some seasons. The north has dark volcanic sand. Overall: very good southern beaches, but you will drive to them.

• Mount Pelée, the volcano that destroyed Saint-Pierre in 1902, is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelée and the Pitons of Northern Martinique, inscribed in 2023. The summit hike is steep and often in cloud.
• Saint-Pierre: the ruins of the old city, once the island's capital.
• Rhum agricole, made from fresh cane juice: distilleries and estates such as Habitation Clément, Depaz, JM and Saint-James welcome visitors.
• Route de la Trace through the rainforest, the Jardin de Balata botanical garden, and canyoning and river hikes in the north.
• Fort-de-France: the Schœlcher Library, the covered market and the waterfront.
• The Caravelle peninsula on the Atlantic coast, and boat trips to see Diamond Rock off Le Diamant.

That is a week or more of varied days, which is why Martinique scores near the top of this guide for things to do. Split your stay if you can: a few nights in the south for beaches, and a few in the north or center for the volcano, the rainforest and the distilleries, so you are not driving the full length of the island every day.

The dry season, which locals call carême, runs from about February to April, with steady trade winds. The rainy season, hivernage, runs from about June to November, with heavier showers, especially in the mountainous north. The 12-month table on this page has the numbers.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaking around September 10, per the NOAA National Hurricane Center. Martinique sits in the main path of storms crossing the Atlantic. In NOAA's HURDAT2 best-track records since 1950, seven hurricanes passed with their center within 50 nautical miles (58 miles), including David in 1979, Dean in 2007 and Maria in 2017, and 24 storms of tropical-storm strength or more came that close. See our hurricane season guide.

Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (FDF) has one US nonstop: Miami, on American Airlines, according to the airport's Wikipedia airline table read October 20, 2026. Other routes go to Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City and nearby islands. From elsewhere in the US, connect in Miami or fly to St. Lucia or Barbados and take a short regional flight.

US citizens need a passport and no visa for stays of up to three months. The State Department's Martinique page asks for six months' validity beyond arrival and one blank page, while the French government's service-public.fr page asks for at least three months beyond your planned departure; plan on the stricter six months. The French government also notes that overseas France is not part of the Schengen area. The EU's ETIAS travel authorization, which the European Commission says is not yet operating and has no start date, will cover Schengen-area countries; we found no official statement that it will apply to Martinique, so check before you travel. See our passport rules guide.

Our Kayak checks found $102 a night in mid-January and $82 in mid-July for the cheapest 3-star-plus double in Les Trois-Îlets, taxes in. Prices on the island are in euros, and US dollars are not generally accepted, so use a card without foreign-transaction fees. Budget for a rental car for most of your stay; supermarket food and market produce keep self-catering costs down.

Martinique: Dolphin Watching and Snorkeling With Turtles Day Trip

Drinks and a fruit snack are included. Boarding is from Fort-de-France or Case-Pilote; check which when you book.

4 hours

4.9★★★★★★★★★★(333 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on GetYourGuide

Bathtub of Josephine and Islands Half day Boat trip

Drinks are included and brunch is listed, though one recent reviewer said no food was served. No pickup is mentioned.

4 hours

4.9★★★★★★★★★★(213 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

North Island Tour and Martinique Best Secret

Garden entry and lunch are listed as included but the page also says no drinks or snacks are provided. Departure is from the Fort-de-France cruise terminal.

Full day

4.8★★★★★★★★★★(199 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.