Baie-Mahault - Tourism, Holidays & Weekends (2024)

Common West Indies, Baie-Mahault is located in Guadeloupe, east of Basse-Terre. Second most populous city of the island behind Les Abymes, it is part of the agglomeration of Pointe-à-Pitre which it borders. Rich with two bays overlooking the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marine, it is, with its peninsula, the western part of the Autonomous Port of Guadeloupe.

Long considered a lost territory, because of its many swamps, the city of Baie-Mahault has however become over time the economic heart of Guadeloupe. If for centuries the cultivation of sugar cane was the only resource of the municipality, it has developed a rich and important industry. Long uninhabited because of its insalubrity, Baie-Mahault became a full-fledged commune only at the beginning of the 19th century.

Mainly industrial, the city of Guadeloupe has an interesting cultural and architectural heritage that allows to better understand the history of this once hostile and isolated territory.

Built in the early twentieth century by the famous Ali Tur architecture, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church is an impressive building made of reinforced concrete. It takes place on the remains of an old church destroyed in the 1920s by a cyclone. Original, it has a facade mixing full and rounded volumes reminiscent of some fortified churches in the southwest of the metropolis.

Several old mansions or other dwellings are visible in Baie-Mahault. One can notably admire the house Wonch, house of wood master of the XIXth century having belonged to the second mayor of the commune. Also from the 19th century, the Descamps house is also worth a visit, just like the Dupuy house. The latter is a creole house built in the 1940s, in terms of old homes of the nineteenth century.

It is possible to see a remnant of the old sugar refinery of Auguste Nouy built in the middle of the 19th century. The fireplace still stands proudly, all in stone and brick. Nearby, a neoclassical tomb houses the remains of Bidlet families of Quintinie and Rozière, former landowners.

Several sandy beaches take place on the territory of Baie-Mahault, like the largest, that of Petite-Rivière Cove.

The Baie-Mahault bio market is held every Wednesday afternoon.

The patronal festival takes place every year from June to July. For this month of festivities, several activities are offered such as concerts, exhibitions, conferences, sports tournaments, regattas, an agricultural fair or colorful parades. The city is a permanent animation at this time of the year.