Caribbean Birding Trail

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You are here: Home / Guadeloupe / Pointe des Chateaux

Pointe des Chateaux

  • About Pointe des Chateaux
  • The Birds
  • How to Get There

Pointe des Chateaux Grand National Site is in the town of Saint-François on Grande-Terre and is one of the most visited sites in Guadeloupe, known for its 10 km of hiking paths. A steering committee in the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development works to develop hiking trails, protect the beaches and salt marshes, and establish interpretive signage.

Aerial view of the end of Pointe des Châteaux and La Grande Saline salt pond
Aerial view of the end of Pointe des Châteaux and La Grande Saline salt pond (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

The area is well-maintained for visitors, with bathrooms, garbage cans, and parking lot at the end of the road (as well as several smaller parking areas and wide shoulders for accessing different beaches and lagoons on the road to the far point).

The Trace Pointe à Cabrit is about a 25 minute walk, Trace Anse à la Gourde is about a 15 minute walk, Trace de L’Anse Tarare is about a 40 minute walk, Trace des Salines is about an hour walk, and Sentier du Morne Pavillon is about an hour walk.

Along the trails, there are numerous view points, particularly at Pointe des Colibris at the end of the island which offers 360 degree views and on which also stands a monumental cross which was first erected in 1951 and recently replaced by a monumental cross of 9 tonnes and 10m high.

The Arawak Indians used the site in 300 AD and stayed for 1100 years. the Cappucins were here in 1683 and built a church called “Parish Castles,” which is how the site got its name, Pointe des Chateaux or Castle Point. There are no man-made castles here, however, the monks could have been referring to the rocky headlands and islands just offshore.

View of “La Roche” where a few thousand Sooty Terns nest each year alongside Bridled Terns and Brown Noddies
View of La Roche, where a few thousand Sooty Terns nest each year alongside Bridled Terns and Brown Noddies (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

The birding can be great, especially in the peak of migration and on stormy and extra windy days when the birds will need a rest. Look out for shorebirds between July and November en route to South America.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is the most abundant shorebird during the fall
The Semipalmated Sandpiper is the most abundant shorebird during the fall (Photo by Anthony Levesque)
8–10 pairs of Wilson’s Plovers nest at Pointe des Châteaux, their main nesting site in Guadeloupe
8–10 pairs of Wilson’s Plovers nest at Pointe des Châteaux, their main nesting site in Guadeloupe (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

March to June is an incredible period to boost your Caribbean list if you have a scope: Manx’s, Audubon’s, Great, Cory’s and Sooty Shearwater are not exceptional here, you can even get them all in a single day (in May) when weather is good for migration (strong easterly wind is the best to push birds closer to the shore). You can also spot the two Storm-petrels (Wilson’s and Leach’s) and all five Skuas/Jeagers species, but don’t forget to carefully check all the white terns, for the migratory Arctic Tern!

Pointe des Châteaux is by far the best site in the Caribbean for a sea watch session, Manx’s Shearwaters pass here by the thousands each year
Pointe des Châteaux is by far the best site in the Caribbean for a sea watch session, Manx’s Shearwaters pass here by the thousands each year (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

The peninsula has enough vegetation that it could also be an excellent stopover for migrant songbirds. Good numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and Yellow-billed Cuckoo could be seen in October, Swallows are also using this bottle neck to leave the land (Aug–Oct).

Blackpoll Warblers migrating by the hundreds at Pointe des Châteaux produced an incredible spectacle during Guadeloupe's first International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD)
Blackpoll Warblers migrating by the hundreds at Pointe des Châteaux produced an incredible spectacle during Guadeloupe’s first International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

There are several easy trails and lots of walking on beaches and rocky substrates. Good tide-pooling (for the Caribbean), some very shallow lagoons protected by reefs, and fun scope viewing of the tropicbirds just offshore (e.g. peregrines chasing tropicbirds).

View of the lagoon where shorebirds love to rest during fall and winter
View of the lagoon where shorebirds love to rest during fall and winter (Photo by Anthony Levesque)

From Saint-François, go east on D118, past the golf course and airport, for 11 km to the end of the road. The inland lagoon is accessed via openings in the mangroves or a trail/road that parallels the peninsula.

Pointe des Chateaux

Guadeloupe Sites

  • Mountain Road
  • Pointe des Chateaux


Guadeloupe Tour Operators

  • Levesque Birding Enterprise

Recommended Field Guides

Birds of the West Indies by Guy M. Kirwan, Anthony Levesque, Mark Oberle, and Christopher J. Sharpe

Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith, and Janis Raffaele

Birds of the Lesser Antilles by Ryan Chenery

Want to know how you can be involved?

Do you know of a place that should be part of the Caribbean Birding Trail? Are you the owner of a lodge or hotel and want to attract eco-tourists? Are you a guide interested in the birdwatching market? Then, get involved with our project!

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