Experience the best of Fort-de-France

Fort-de-France lies on the west coast of Martinique, on a deep bay sheltered by green hills, with the fortress that gave the city its name standing above the harbour. La Savane, a park of palms and lawns, runs along the seafront beside Fort Saint-Louis. The poet Aimé Césaire was mayor of the city for more than five decades, and the island's airport bears his name.

The Bibliothèque Schœlcher, a library with a metal and tile front designed by Henri Picq, was first shown at the 1889 Paris exhibition before being taken apart and rebuilt here, and Picq also designed the iron-framed cathedral of Saint-Louis. The covered market sells spices, rum and tropical fruit. Ferries cross the bay to Les Trois-Îlets, birthplace of Empress Josephine, and the volcano Mont Pelée rises in the far north.

Creole cooking mixes French and West African traditions, from accras of salt cod to colombo, a curry of chicken or goat, and boudin créole, a spiced blood sausage. Rhum agricole, made from fresh cane juice, is Martinique's pride. The drier months run from December to May, and the rainy season, with hurricane risk, from June to November.