Hiking Mt. Pelee

We will be in Martinique as one of the ports in January, and were hoping to hike Mt. Pelee. I've seen that you can take a shared taxi to St. Pierre, but how do we get to Morne Rouge? Is there a shared taxi that goes directly there? And the bigger issue - getting back- are taxis available in that area? We would really like to do this, but not at the risk of missing the ship!

Thank you for any help.

Xenia

You may want to consider a private guide we are using toursbylocals I think it was like $400. Can't tell you how it is since we haven't taken it yet

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Thank you for the information. It looks like Meri will drive to Mt. Pelee and we can see the views. Maybe if a couple others from the cruise would join us it would be affordable.

Xenia

Thank you for the information. It looks like Meri will drive to Mt. Pelee and we can see the views. Maybe if a couple others from the cruise would join us it would be affordable.

Xenia

Please post any information that you have about hiking Mt. Pelee as we are considering this for our upcoming cruise in March on the AOS. Thanks. Looks like you are cruising this week.:)

Sorry this post isn't in time to help the OP, but hopefully this post will help others looking for a guide to go to Mt. Pelee in the future. Getting to Mt. Pelee while on a Martinique cruise stop is quite a challenge due to the distance and local language barrier. It's about an hour's drive from the port to either of the two viable trail heads on opposite sides of Mt. Pelee.

We visited Martinique in December 2014 and had a difficult time finding a guide online that would respond to our inquiry about going to Mt. Pelee, possibly b/c English isn't the primary language spoken there and second the Martinique economy isn't centered around cruise tourism like many of the other Caribbean islands. You could take a taxi to get there, but getting back after the hike would be a challenge.

The guide that did respond about going to Mt. Pelee was Meri Saaristo. We found her through Viator under "Meri S." She is also in toursbylocals. Her email is mamesaar@hotmail.com. We felt safe with her and found that she was very knowledgeable of the area. She'll customize a Martinique tour for the amount time you have available.

We took the Aileron route up Mt. Pelee and made it to the summit from the 1902 eruption. The slightly higher 1929 summit would've taken about another 30 minutes to get to and I wasn't sure if we had enough time to make it. Ultimately, we would had sufficient time to do it. Oh well, guess we'll have to go back. When we go back, we'll go again and try the Grande Savane Route from Le Prêcheur.

Good luck.

atgood

Thank you atgood. So happy to see your post. I have sent an email to Meri S inquiring about a tour in June. We were hoping to book with Christelle but she is already booked for the date we are there.

Your welcome. Have a great time. Take a clothing layer to put on as there was a least a 20 temp difference near the top when we went and the weather can change quickly. The Aileron route is more exposed, but you can enjoy the view as walk along.

We will be on Carnival Pride next month. Will we be able to see Mt. Pelee from the ship?

Hi All,

Wanted to get back to everyone since my initial email to Meri S.

She just got back to me and was very apologetic for the delay. She has offered a full day private tour including Mt. Pelee, Balata Gardens, Saut de Gendarme and lunch for 240 euros. Pretty sure we are going to go with her.

Additional follow up : We completed our booking with Meri S this morning. She has been great so far! Has answered all questions and has customized the tour for us. It will just be the two of us with her for the day. Very excited.

Which route will you will take up Mt. Pelee?