SIGHTSEEING
For a drive that encompasses some of the island's most beautiful scenery, take La Trace road north from Fort de France. Ten minutes will bring you to the town of Balata and Sacré Coeur, a scaled-down replica of the famed basilica in Montmartre that overlooks Fort de France. Stop at the Jardin de Balata, one of the Caribbean's finest tropical gardens - which will set the stage for the drive north (a route blazed by Jesuits in the 1600s) that cuts through a verdant landscape of mountains, rain forest, and waterfalls. At Morne Rouge, turn toward the west coast and Saint Pierre, where museums tell the story of the tragic 1902 explosion of Mount Pelee. Head back down the coast to Fort de France, but stop in at the Paul Gauguin museum, which features memorabilia and reproductions of paintings he did here in 1887.
DINING
In Martinique, most dishes reflect a delicious marriage of French and Creole cuisines. You won't always find an English menu, but you won't go wrong starting the evening with a classic
petit punch (rum, sugar syrup, and lime juice), followed by
poulet au nois de coco (coconut chicken),
gratin de christophines (baked squash), and
bananes flambees au rhum blanc (bananas flambéed with white rum).
NIGHTLIFE
Zouk once meant only "to party," but zouk today is a hot dance music unique to Martinique - and popular far beyond the Caribbean. Inspired by both the bolero rhythms of
biguine dance music and the modern sounds of synthesizers, groups like the legendary Kassav turned zouk into a major force at dance clubs. Fort de France has more than a dozen lively clubs, but one of the best places to hear both zouk (and
le jazz hot) is the Cotton Club on the beach at Anse Mitan.
