Escaping the cold grey British winter for a week of Caribbean sunshine and beach days has to be the dream. But with peak prices during the winter and a reputation for luxury, it’s unlikely to be a cheap holiday. You can probably bag a bargain winter sun package to the Dominican Republic or Jamaica if you shop around, but what about the more unusual islands – the ones where not many tour companies go or where you can’t get a direct flight? Are you going to end up paying a premium – or does being a bit off the beaten track mean you avoid tourist prices? Here I share my budget breakdown for seven nights in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
Note: these costs are based on my travel style – mid-range with a touch of affordable luxury – so I keep costs down where I can to can splash out on special experiences. There’s usually a mixture of hotels and apartment rentals, cooking and eating out, free activities and paid excursions
Read more: A guide to Guadeloupe: Where France meets the Caribbean
Budget breakdown for a week in Guadeloupe

Views from the Pointe des Châteaux
Accommodation
The Caribbean isn’t exactly known for its budget accommodation, so this was always going to be our biggest expense. There are a few resort hotels on the south coast of Grande-Terre, but most of the accommodation in Guadeloupe is a mixture of guesthouses, villas and apartments. As there were three of us travelling, it worked out as better value to rent a self-catering place – which also meant we could cook some of our own meals.
We split our time between two locations to see more of the island, with four nights in Grande-Terre and three nights in Basse-Terre. Our first stop was a two-bedroom AirBnB apartment in Sainte-Anne with a big lounge and a little balcony overlooking the street. It was only three minutes’ walk to the beach and there was a supermarket in the next street. Four nights cost €617/£530/$680 (€154/£133/$170 a night or €51/£45/$57 per person per night).
Our second stop was a super-cute cabin, just outside the village of Saint Claude in the hills of Basse-Terre. It was small but perfectly formed – and beautifully decorated – with one bedroom downstairs and a open-plan loft with two more beds. We were way out in the middle of nowhere but it was so peaceful and surrounded by tropical gardens. Three nights cost €456/£392/$503 (€152/£131/$168 a night or €50/£44/$56 per person per night).
Total accommodation cost: €1073/£922/$1183 or €358/£307/$394 per person – €51/£44/$56 a day each on average.

Our AirBnB in Basse-Terre
Transport
There’s a bus around the islands, but we wanted to do lots of exploring so it was easiest to hire a car. Car hire isn’t cheap in Guadeloupe – we got a few quotes from local car hire companies but ended up going with Europcar. An ‘economy’ car (1-litre Seat Ibiza) cost €338/£292/$377 for seven nights. We could’ve done with a bit more power on the hills, but it was cheap to run. We covered most of both islands and only filled the petrol tank up once for €42/£36/$47.
I haven’t included flight costs as they vary so much depending on where you’re coming from. From the UK, you usually have to go via Paris to reach Guadeloupe. Our cheapest route was to book separate flights from Birmingham to Paris (€143) and Paris to Point-à-Pitre (€400 with Air France – though we ended up getting a refund because our flight was so late!).
You can get flights from Paris to Guadeloupe with budget airlines XL Airways, Air Caraibes and Corsair from around €370. Or from the US you can fly direct to Guadeloupe from Atlanta for $330 or Miami for $523. There are also ferries from Martinique and Dominica.
Total transport cost (excluding flights): €380/£328/$424 or €127/£109/$141 per person – €18/£16/$20 a day each on average.

Deshaies church
Activities
The Caribbean is all about the sun, sea and sand – so you could easily get away with spending very little on activities while you’re visiting Guadeloupe. Mostly we spent time on the beach, did a few road trips around the coast, took a free tour of a rum distillery, went walking up in the hills in Basse-Terre and explored some of the little villages around the islands.
We did pay an entry fee at a couple of places – the Deshaies Botanic Gardens and the Parc des Mamelles Guadeloupe Zoo cost €15/£13/$17 each and there was a €4.40/£4/$5 entry fee for the walking paths to the Chutes du Corbet waterfalls, so still not a lot.
Total activities cost: €34.40/£30/$39 per person – €5/£4/$6 a day each on average.

Deshaies Botanic Gardens
Food and drink
After my trip to the Seychelles last year I was expecting island life to equal crazy expensive food and drink prices, but Guadeloupe was nowhere near as bad. We had kitchens in both places we stayed so we could mix up eating out and self-catering. Supermarket prices (including wine) were similar to what you’d pay in France, plus there were markets selling local fruit and veg.
We usually ate out at lunchtimes and made our own breakfasts and dinners – partly because our second cottage was down a tiny winding road in the middle of nowhere so we didn’t fancy heading out at night. And in Saint-Anne most restaurants bizarrely opened for lunch and then closed in the evenings, so the one place that was open was fully booked.

Ti’ Punch (rum, lime juice and cane syrup)
Between the three of us we spent €162/£140/$181 at the supermarket plus €24/£21/$27 at the bakery and fruit stall for breakfast. Lunches out normally cost around €12–€15 per person for one course plus a drink, though we did have a really good seafood meal in Deshaies one day which cost a total of €80. Altogether we spent €164/£142/$183 on eating out.
Then of course there were a few rum cocktails in there too, with a total of €85/£74/$95 spent on drinks. Both the places we stayed left us a bottle of local rum and limes so we could make our own ti-punches, we also bought a bottle for €13/£11/$15 from the distillery. A (pretty potent!) cocktail from a beach bar cost around €7/£6/$8 or a Carib beer €4/£3.50/$4.50.
Total food and drink cost: €435/£377/$486 or €145/£126/$162 per person – €21/£18/$23 a day each on average.

Beach bar in Sainte-Anne
The grand total
When you add it all up, our total spend worked out at €664/£572/$736 per person (€95/£82/$105 per day). That doesn’t include flights (with them my total spending just topped £1000), but it’s still not a bad price for a week in the Caribbean in peak season.
I expected our DIY Caribbean trip to be pricier than a package would be, so I had a look at prices for the same dates next January. All-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic started from £1100 per person for a week including flights, so we managed to beat that – with a lot more flexibility. So it shows you can go independent in the Caribbean on a budget too.

The Cascade aux Ecrevisses
Lower budget? If you want to keep your costs down, then the car was a big expense so you could use local buses to get around on a budget instead. Cooking more meals for yourself or buying food from street stalls would also help save money – and as most accommodation is self-catering, then the more of you there are, the cheaper it works out.
Higher budget? Guadeloupe doesn’t have a lot of luxury hotels, but there are some beautiful villas to rent (most of which have been a location for Death in Paradise, particularly the ones with infinity pools in the hills above Deshaies. You can also charter a boat to explore the coast and nearby islands or add activities like diving the marine reserve off Pigeon Island.
21 Comments
Keith Kellett
March 15, 2018 at 7:48 pmI certainly wouldn’t recommend XL Airways … that kind of seating would be OK for European short-haul, but totally unsuited for a transatlantic flight.
Lucy
March 15, 2018 at 11:10 pmYes it didn’t sound like a very good option either – if I go back I might have to go by boat next time!
Jessica Cantoni
March 15, 2018 at 11:12 pmThis is so interesting Lucy! I’m looking to visit Anguilla soon, so I’m wondering if it would be of a similar price I have found some cheap accommodation but I think flights are what’ll make the price go up! xx
Lucy
March 15, 2018 at 11:33 pmAnguilla sounds amazing! It seems that food and drink are usually the biggest island expenses so it depends whether they grow/make much or have to import it all and looks pretty reasonable there and lots of street food. The flights are always the toughest to find though – I signed up for Google flight alerts to stalk the Guadeloupe ones which helped.
Jessica Cantoni
March 16, 2018 at 7:50 amIt does! I’m a little bit obsessed with wanting to go to any Caribbean island! That’s very true! On Twitter I found this amazing little shack on the beach called the Sunshine Shack – the food looks amazing! Ooh i’ll have to sign up to Google flight alerts then. Thanks!
Jordan
March 16, 2018 at 6:27 amThis post was really helpful. Thoroughly enjoyed it – thank you for sharing!
Lucy
March 19, 2018 at 5:20 pmYou’re very welcome!
DCast
March 17, 2018 at 4:35 amThank you so much for these! Travel inspiration goes a long way, yes, but these posts are one of the most valuable ones out there. It really REALLY helps. I appreciate all your research and meticulous recordkeeping. 🙂
Lucy
March 19, 2018 at 5:23 pmThank you so much – I try to write the posts I’d like to read in advance and always want to know the details, makes it so much easier to plan!
Keri | Ladies What Travel
March 17, 2018 at 9:13 amThat Air BnB looks so lovely Lucy! Lovely to see this is in my budget range, may have to consider for a future trip!
Lucy
March 19, 2018 at 5:24 pmIt was so gorgeous – felt like stepping into an interiors magazine, and surprisingly good value too!
Sara @ Travel Continuum
April 1, 2018 at 10:44 amI agree with the other comments, Lucy – you’re a role-model for good organisation as well as your writing and photos! Honestly, I do try to note everything down when I travel, but there’s usually one hurried day where I’ll tell myself ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ and that’s it, game over – I never quite get back on track!
Lucy
April 2, 2018 at 7:51 pmHaha, I do love a good list or spreadsheet! Don’t remember to do it with every trip but I do try to when it’s places where I’ve been unsure about the prices when I did my planning and would’ve liked to read it myself!
Suzanne Jones
April 2, 2018 at 7:03 pmLove the look of that AirBnB – really cool. Lovely to have the freedom to do your own thing and not to be tied to hotel restaurant timings for breakfast or feel that you’re missing out if you want to go out for the day!
Lucy
April 2, 2018 at 7:53 pmIt was so beautiful – proper interiors inspiration! And the surrounding definitely made it too.
Jaillan Yehia
April 4, 2018 at 3:11 pmI went to Guadeloupe when I was at university, and liked it so much that I extended my flight and missed part of the term to stay 😉 I would love to go back and always kind of thought it would be expensive now, but you’ve shown that it isn’t actually that pricey with airBnB!
Lucy
April 8, 2018 at 3:55 pmThere are some lovely AirBnBs out there too – especially up in the hills – and if there’s a few of you it’s a really good deal.
Emily Ray
April 23, 2018 at 12:28 pmWow, that’s actually pretty affordable considering it’s such a Caribbean gem! And what a bonus you got the flights refunded for all your troubles – it’s the least they could do!!
Lucy
April 30, 2018 at 10:35 amHaha yes they did owe us! We’ve got some vouchers too so might have to brave Air France again when I feel up to it…
Moni
June 7, 2019 at 7:17 pmWow, cool, thanks a lot! Was looking for something exactly like this. Good job Lucy! 🙂
Lucy
June 11, 2019 at 12:28 pmThank you – great to hear it was useful!