Guadeloupe is not one island but a butterfly shaped pair joined by a mangrove channel, with Les Saintes, Marie Galante and La Desirade scattered around it. That makes it the best short cruising ground in the French Caribbean and one of the very few places in the region where a week never leaves national waters and so never clears customs.
What a boat costs
Read on 11 September 2026, Click and Boat lists 282 boats in Guadeloupe, including a 6.6 metre motorboat for eight at Sainte Rose from 310 EUR a day, a 6.4 metre motorboat for ten at Saint Francois from 420 EUR a day, and a seven metre RIB for fourteen from 350 EUR a day. Those are day rates on a marketplace rather than a fleet's weekly card, so they move with the season and with availability.
The archipelago
Les Saintes, eight miles south of Basse Terre, is the set piece: a drowned volcanic crater with one village, a bay that is routinely called one of the finest in the world and a mooring field rather than open anchoring. Marie Galante is fifteen miles south east and flat, agricultural and quiet. La Desirade is a ridge off the eastern point. Between them and the two main islands a week fills without a single long passage.
The French Caribbean difference
Guadeloupe is a French department, so it uses the euro, French paperwork and French provisioning, and a charter here neither clears customs nor changes currency for the whole week. Martinique, ninety miles south, is the other half of that market and has the region's largest charter harbour at Le Marin. Dominica sits between them and is a different country, so the crossing south does need clearance.
Questions people ask about yacht charter Guadeloupe
How much is a boat in Guadeloupe?
Click and Boat lists 282 boats from 310 EUR a day for a 6.6 metre motorboat at Sainte Rose, 350 for a seven metre RIB and 420 for a 6.4 metre motorboat at Saint Francois, read on 11 September 2026.
Where should a Guadeloupe week go?
Les Saintes eight miles south, then Marie Galante fifteen miles south east and La Desirade off the eastern point, with the mangrove channel between the two main islands in between. No long passage is needed.
Do you clear customs?
Not within the archipelago, which is all one French department. Sailing south to Dominica or on to Martinique crosses a border, so those legs clear in and out.