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A trail drops through thick tropical vegetation in Dominica and ends at a beach moviegoers have already seen on a cinema screen. In Martinique, tables at a legendary beach bar stand just beyond dark volcanic sand, with ti’ punch and grilled fish coming out of the kitchen. On another part of the island, steep cliffs rise behind a tiny cove reached by a long staircase.
The Caribbean’s volcanic islands have produced some of the region’s most dramatic beaches, with black and charcoal-colored sand, jungle-covered hills, cliffs, volcanic peaks, fishing villages, and French Caribbean beach towns all appearing along the same trip.
You’ll find many of them in Martinique, Dominica, St. Vincent, and St. Kitts, islands where volcanic geology remains visible almost everywhere you travel. Some beaches stretch for miles. Others hide at the bottom of steep footpaths. A few have beach bars close enough for lunch and rum. Several can feel almost empty even during the heart of the Caribbean travel season.
These are 7 of the best black-sand beaches in the Caribbean, and each gives you a very different reason to go.
Le Carbet, Martinique: Black Sand, Ti’ Punch, and One of the Caribbean’s Great Beach Towns
There’s a particular pleasure in spending an afternoon in Le Carbet because the beach and town remain closely connected. You can swim, walk back onto the dark sand and make your way toward a restaurant or bar while still wearing your beach clothes.
The long black-sand beach runs beside one of the most enjoyable small towns in Martinique, on the island’s Caribbean side north of Fort-de-France. Hills rise inland, fishing boats appear offshore and the dark beach gives the entire scene a visual character you rarely encounter on neighboring islands.
Le Carbet also gives you one of the strongest reasons to turn a beach stop into an entire afternoon: Le Petibonum.
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