Visiting Death in Paradise filming locations in Guadaloupe: Deshaies/ Honoré (1/2)
I have explained recently that we love to watch Death in Paradise and that's an understatement. I guess we watch 2-5 episodes per week since BBC First runs at least one per day and they are all recorded as well and Kabouter sometimes launches an episode after school during his school work.
Our vacation choice in Guadeloupe was chosen because of Death in Paradise. We were watching some Christmas specials over the Christmas holidays when Kabouter asked where it was recorded. We explained that Sainte Marie is an imaginary island, but it is recorded in Guadeloupe. He wanted to know if you could visit. And that was the seed that lead to us booking a vacation to Guadeloupe. And of course we wanted to visit some of the filming locations of Death in Paradise.
Deshaies:
The main location of the series is "Honoré", the capital of Sainte-Marie with the police station, the bay that is in the start scenes, Catherine's bar where the team at least has one drink during each case, the harbour that often plays a role, ...
All of that can be found in Deshaies on the Basse-Terre region in Guadeloupe.
We lived in Pointe-Noire which is 12 kms south of Deshaies, a 20' drive along the coast line.
The village is dominated by the recognizable church tower in the village, the curved bay with anchored boats in the bay, not much beach but some water edged restaurants and a small harbour. Once you pay attention to it, the big white graveyard towering above the town on the north side is very visible too and a good landmark to spot, even though it's not been a focus in any of the episodes that I can remember off, but it can be seen often quite well.
Honoré Police Station:
Next to the church in Deshaies you can find the "Honoré Police Station". The filming usually takes place from May until October/ November. Outside the filming, you can visit the police station as a Death in Paradise museum with a little gift shop where they sell T-Shirts and baseball hats from the series. You can scroll the desks of the police officers and detectives and see the 2 cells behind.
The emblematic location is in reality the former presbytery of the nearby church. It is visible very prominently in the series, and in real life it is the only place where you can so obviously find Death in Paradise information. For other locations, you simply have to know as a fan but there are no signs or proof of the filming part of the year.
The visiting hours are from 9.30-14.30 on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. (8644+HFH, Deshaies 97126, Guadeloupe). We were there already before 9 am in town (in pouring rain) so it was very calm but a little minivan with clearly a "Death in Paradise" sign with more tourists stopped (and we crossed this van later on that day more often). Some Club Med or cruise excursions do Death in Paradise Tours. Other than that, we did not spot any other tourists hunting for Death in Paradise locations, so it doesn't seem to be big business, it's not drawing crowds.
The emblematic location is in reality the former presbytery of the nearby church. It is visible very prominently in the series, and in real life it is the only place where you can so obviously find Death in Paradise information. For other locations, you simply have to know as a fan but there are no signs or proof of the filming part of the year.
The visiting hours are from 9.30-14.30 on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. (8644+HFH, Deshaies 97126, Guadeloupe). We were there already before 9 am in town (in pouring rain) so it was very calm but a little minivan with clearly a "Death in Paradise" sign with more tourists stopped (and we crossed this van later on that day more often). Some Club Med or cruise excursions do Death in Paradise Tours. Other than that, we did not spot any other tourists hunting for Death in Paradise locations, so it doesn't seem to be big business, it's not drawing crowds.
We absolutely loved sitting down at each of the officer's desks, take place in the cells, discover the little ugly kitchen corner (which I thought was never visible on screen...but afterwards now I notice them taking cups etc there all the time) etc... The desks were much wider apart than I would think. The corner of the gift shop is rarely shot, but we've spotted it sometimes since, and it's used as an extra entrance or just a high desk to hang on.
The main detective's desk with Humphrey Goodman's and Jack Neville's suits in the back
The sergeant's desk (Dwayne, JP, Marlon, ...)
Camille Borday's / Florence Cassell's/ Madelines or Naomi's desk with the ugly kitchen corner in the back
The gun close-up from season's 13 final episode!
The church
The Église catholique Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul (8644+MCQ, Deshaies 97126, Guadeloupe) in Deshaies is the church that is always visible next to the police station, but that has also been featured in some episodes such as some of the Christmas specials but also in other seasons a couple of times.
In Deshaies there is a small fisher port. In Honoré it is a more important ferry port which has a small market in front of it. There is no market in reality but a construction site that will create a nice new fish hall etc. There is also no ferry connection here.
There is a nice bridge covering the Deshaies river arriving in the see that is sometimes in view, and then a rock protected little port, with a concrete dock that has a nice view over the Deshaies/Honoré bay.
There is a nice bridge covering the Deshaies river arriving in the see that is sometimes in view, and then a rock protected little port, with a concrete dock that has a nice view over the Deshaies/Honoré bay.
Catherine Bordey's bar
The police team will have at least one drink per episode...sometimes in the middle of investigation, sometimes to celebrate and unwind at the end of solving the murder investigation. It often caters for the side-story lines that are more personal, such as the love-interests of the main characters. There are dates, family reunions, ... Here the newly arrived English detectives discover the local kitchen (or not... Catherine does serve some traditional dishes for them when the need is high). Catherine, who is Honoré's mayor and was also the mother of the first sergeant's detective Camille, is a secondary character, but I love her wits very much. She has a clear impact on the characters, she knows what's happening in town and has very good people knowledge and she is one of the few characters that has lived through the 13 series. Personally, if I could meet any character live or wish they existed in real life, it would be Catherine Bordey for me.
At first the local bar was Le Kaz de Douanier (84 Bd des Poissonniers, Deshaies 97126, Guadeloupe) in one of the 2 main streets in Deshaies (both one-direction). But apparently the filming was too disruptive for the mobility in this town as they had to stop traffic constantly, so a new bar location had to be found.
Then Catherine's bar was located in the current Madras restaurant (7 Rue de la Vague Bleue, 97126 Deshaies, France, Guadeloupe) in the north side of the bay, no longer on one of the 2 main streets. I suppose closing traffic here is less of an issue.
The restaurant boasts a little terrace on the beach, with a staircase to the little stretch of sand nearby (don't confuse it with the large beach where the detective lives). It is shielded to the sun with big plant leaves. The actual restaurant is across the street. I had hoped to spend time here with several cocktails, but the restaurant in reality is only open in the evening. I guess that matches the filming scene's time as most are on daylight. (I just realized that all those "after work drinks in daylight are in day-time since the sun sets at 6pm already. So they must film when it's not actually quite after work -time yet at all. Which also means they film all the time in the full heat. I've learned to pity the crew a lot about that).
The restaurant boasts a little terrace on the beach, with a staircase to the little stretch of sand nearby (don't confuse it with the large beach where the detective lives). It is shielded to the sun with big plant leaves. The actual restaurant is across the street. I had hoped to spend time here with several cocktails, but the restaurant in reality is only open in the evening. I guess that matches the filming scene's time as most are on daylight. (I just realized that all those "after work drinks in daylight are in day-time since the sun sets at 6pm already. So they must film when it's not actually quite after work -time yet at all. Which also means they film all the time in the full heat. I've learned to pity the crew a lot about that).
Actually the terrace seems rather unimpressive and surely not specifically the best in town. If you didn't know about Death in Paradise you might just walk by. But when you peek through the leaves and see the view from the terrace on the bay...then you see it. Oh yes baby, this is Catherine's bar. Such a shame you can't drink cocktails here at noon!
We did return one of the evenings here and had dinner in Madras. Unfortunately, the terrace had no more room for reservations. You must be in time to reserve for the terrace! It must be a prime location to watch the sunset! We had a nice indoor dinner though! Unlike the restaurant's name, this is not an Indian restaurant but a traditional Guadeloupe/Creole restaurant.
Well, surely this a superb Guadeloupe view, that I love to see in the series opening and closing shots but also in real live. Awesome view.
The dock which is also sometimes well visible in the series.
Sunset in Deshaies near Madras
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