Highest point: Mont Pelée
1397m
Population 414,000
Main town Fort de France (pop. 120,000)
Language French and Creole spoken by the majority of the population
Currency Euro
Political status French Overseas Department
Distances to other islands
St Lucia (Castries)/Le Marin 25M
Dominica – Cachacrou/Le Prêcheur 25M

AIRLINE CONNECTIONS

Lamentin International Airport
Long-haul flights daily to France. Various services to European destinations and flights to N America, Canada, Haiti
Inter-island services daily flights by local companies to Guadeloupe, St Martin and the English-speaking islands.

FERRIES

Express inter-island services between Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St Lucia

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Calling Martinique from abroad: ✆ (0) 596 + six figure number
Prepaid cards for mobile phones

YACHT CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Yacht Club de la Martinique, Boulevard Chevalier Ste Marthe (Carénage), ✆/Fax 05 96 70 26 76
www.yacht-club-martinique.com
Club Nautique du Marin, Bassin Tortue,
✆ 05 96 74 92 48 Fax 05 96 74 62 02
CROSSAG: Centre Régional Opérationnel de Surveillance et de Sauvetage Antilles-Guyane
(French regional coastguard service),
✆ 05 96 70 92 92 Fax 05 96 73 57 30
SNSM: Société National de Sauvetage en Mer
(French lifeboat service),
✆ Fort de France 06 96 32 62 89
Le Marin 06 96 26 01 74

TOURIST INFORMATION

www.martinique.org
Fort de France, 76 Rue Lazare Carnot
✆ 05 96 60 27 73
Comité Martiniquais du Tourisme, Immeuble Le Beaupré - Pointe de Jaham, 97233 Schoelcher
✆ 05 96 61 61 77 Fax 05 96 61 22 72
Email info@martinique.org
Gîtes de France Martinique,30 rue Ernest Deproge, 97200 Fort de France
✆ 05 96 73 74 74 Fax 0596 63 55 92
Email contact@gites972.com
St Anne ✆ 05 96 76 73 45

FESTIVALS/EVENTS

Course des Gommiers (Dugout Races): January
Carnival: March
Commemorative festivals: St Pierre (St Peter): May
Régates de Juin (June Regattas✆ at Le Marin: June
Tour de Martinique des Yoles (Round Martinique)
Yole Race✆: August

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

New Year’s Day (1 January), Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Labour Day (1 May), Ascension Day, Whit Monday, VE Day (8 May), Slavery
Abolition Day (May), Bastille Day/National Day (14 July), Schoelcher Day (21 July✆, Assumption (August), Toussaint (All Saints Day, 1 November✆, Fête des Morts (All Souls Day, 1 November), Armistice Day (11 November), Christmas Day (25 December)

GOLF

Trois Ilets

PLACES TO SEE

Fort de France
Bibliothèque Schoelcher (Schoelcher Library)
Musée ‘Gen Lontan’ (history of Martinique in costumes✆
La Savane (Public Garden)
St Louis Cathedral: Organs
Fort St Louis: said to be by Vauban.
Precolumbian archaeological museum
St Pierre
Franck A Perret Museum of Vulcanology
Historical museum, Old theatre, Cyparis’ cell
Elsewhere
Domaine de la Pagerie: Trois Ilets – Museum and gardens, Maison de la Canne
Château Dubuc ruins and mini-museum: Presqu’île Caravelle (nature reserve)
Savane des pétrifications, Pointe d’Enfer (jaspers and petrified wood✆
Diamond Rock: Le Diamant
Le Jardin de Balata (Balata Gardens)
Le Sacré-Coeur de Balata (1928)
Route de la Trace
Plantation MacIntosh: Morne Rouge
Pitons du Carbet: for walks and waterfalls
Mont Pelée: walks and waterfalls
Gorges de la Falaise: Ajoupa-Bouillon, walks and butterfly house
Musée Paul Gauguin (Gauguin Museum, Gallery of History and the Sea): Le Carbet
Plantation de Leyritz: Basse Pointe (1705), museum of dolls made of plants by Will Penton
Musée de Rhum St James/de la Banane (Rum and Banana Museum)
L’Habitation Fonds St Jacques: Ste Marie
Many distilleries to visit throughout the island

ROAD TRANSPORT

Drive on the right
Taxis
Hire car companies in the main towns and at the airport

FORMALITIES

Arriving by air
Customs and immigration in the airport
Arriving by sea
Customs Offices:
Fort de France Quai des Paquebots
Open everyday 0715-1145m & 1330-1615
La Trinité customs only, variable hours
✆ 05 96 58 17 90
Clearance services:
Le Marin Capitainerie VHF 9
Open weekdays 0800-1800, Sundays and
holidays 0800-1230
Grande Anse D’Arlet Restaurant Petit Bateau,
1030-1800 7 days a week
Fort de France
Sea Services chandlers, 109 Rue Déproge
Open weekdays 0830-1700, Saturdays 0830-
1200
DCML fuel dock, Baie des Tourelles
Open Mon-Sat 0800-1900, Sundays and holidays 0800-1230
Anse Mitan Capitainerie
Open weekdays 0900-1230 & 1500-1800, Saturdays 0900-1230
St Pierre Tourist Information
Open weekdays 0900-1400

In theory, formalities in Martinique are free