10/10 Excellent
Joyce J.
Jan 3, 2018
A Perfect Hideaway
This lovely cottage, tucked away in a small neighborhood behind fences and lush, enveloping greenery, offered complete privacy and more than met our expectations. The owner, Jean-Luc was very friendly and helpful, even meeting us at the local supermarket (3 minutes away and quite adequate) to guide us to the cottage when we arrived late at night. His English is much better than our French and so we managed just fine. We were able to prepare simple meals on the stove-top and restaurants are not far (5-10 minutes) away in nearby Deshaies. We had asked about bicycles which Jean-Luc kindly provided (with helmets) but the roads were a little busy for our novice skills (and age!). The outdoor shower was especially nice for washing off the beach sand! Having a washing machine on site and highly efficient air conditioner and fans were particularly nice to have.
Cluny beach is easily in walking distance and we saw it both pretty tranquil and once with rough surf. La plage de la perle and Grand Anse are also close but you need a car and both are amazingly beautiful. If you’re a fan of the TV series Death in Paradise you’ll find familiar location settings in Deshaies which is small but filled with lots of shops, a botanical garden to visit and cozy waterfront restaurants – highly recommend Mahina who, although they were closing on our late night arrival, came through with pizzas for us (only a small part of their menu offerings)
Have to echo a previous comment – if you need to be anywhere early, the road to Pointe a Pitre gets clogged with rush (and I mean crawl) hour traffic – even trying side routes proved to be the same. We had to cancel our ferry trip to Iles de Saintes after an hour on the road with no end in sight to the line of cars.
We drove the entire island during our stay and have to say this part of Guadeloupe was our favorite spot.
Thank you, Jean-Luc!
Joyce J.
Stayed 9 nights in Nov 2017
