Nature Island Destinations, Dominica - getting to Dominica - Getting to Dominica, from UK and Europe, North America, neighbouring islands - Guadeloupe, Martinique, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Puerto Rico, Saint Maarten, Barbados, Grenada, by air travel and by ferry, Liat, Caribbean Star, L'Express, Caribbean Ferries

CARNIVAL in pictures
Introduction to Dominica
Scuba + Whale watch outings
Birdwatch/ Botany tours
Car Hire in Dominica
Nature Island Destinations Guest Book
Things to do & see in Dominica

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Birdwatching tours - click image for details

whale + dolphin safaries, scuba diving centres




. Where to Stay in Roseau Fort Young Hotel Sutton Place Hotel Garraway Hotel Narakiel's Inn Eve Green Apartment Symesze Guesthouse Saint James' Guesthouse .

. Where to Stay around Roseau Accommodation Wallhouse Anchorage Hotel (+Dive Centre) Angie's Hideaway Castle Comfort Lodge (Dive Dominica) Comfoft House Croton Cottage Emerald Cottage Evergreen Hotel Itassi Cottages Lena's Apartment Pete's Casa luxury villa with pool Sisserou Lodge Tranquile Villa Wallhouse Apartment .

. Where to Stay in Roseau Valley & Laudat Cherry Orchard Apartment Chez Ophelia Cocoa Cottage D'auchamps Cottages Fallsview Guesthouse Kaiche country villa Rainforest Shangri-La Roseau Valley Hotel Roxy's Mountain Lodge Symeszee Villas .

. Where to Stay in the south Deaux La Mers Apartments Castille Paradise Gallion on Sea Garvin's Apartment Ocean View Apartments Petit Coulibri Windsor Villa Apartment .

. Where to Stay in the interior Brandy Manor Hibiscus Valley Inn Floral Gardens Rainforest Cottages Layou River Hotel Layou Valley Inn Harmony Villa Vena's Paradise Springfield Plantation Rainbow Village . Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge .

.Where to Stay along the north & mid west coast (north to south) Heaven's Best Guesthouse Brandy Manor Comfortel Des Champ Picard Beach Cottages Villa Oceane Stonedge Villa Verde Casablanca Gite Dominique Marie's Seaview Apartment Caribbean Sea View Holiday Apartments Morning Bird Apartments Petini Layou .

. Where to Stay along the north facing north east coast (west to east) Blenheim Estate Guesthouse Windblow Estate Calibishie Lodges Dominica's Sea View Apartments Point Baptiste Guesthouse Red Rock Haven Hodges View Cottage Sunrise Gardens Coffee River Cottage .

. Where to Stay along the east coast (north to south) Coffee River Cottage Rosalie Bay Resort Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge Ginger Lily Cottage Jungle Bay Resort .

Getting to
DOMINICA

September 2010 update
Following work to upgrade Dominica's Melville Hall Airport, it was
officially opened for night landing on Monday 20th September 2010

Dominica has two airports, Melville Hall Airport on the north east coast and Canefield Airport on the south west coast, just to the north of the Capital, Roseau. Neither of these are international airports, though Melville Hall Airport has the longer runway and can accommodate medium sized planes. The connecting leg of your journey will be on one of the inter-island carriers, from either San Juan in Puerto

Dominica's airports, national parks and marine reserves

Rico or one of the neighbouring islands, the nearest being Guadeloupe then Antigua to the north and Martinique then St. Lucia to the south, beyond these St. Maarten to the north and Barbados and Grenada to the south.

If you are planning to visit other islands - Jamaica, Antigua, St Lucia, check out Island Routes Tours for an island paradise adventure.

Dominica lies in the East Caribbean, between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique

GETTING HERE from UK:- there are regular fights from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester to our neighbours, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados with British Airways, Britannia, BMI and Virgin. Most travel agents will quote fares of around £450 to £700 return depending on the season, though cheaper excursion fares may sometimes be found via Teletext, Cefax, Sunday Telegraph etc. and can be arranged over the phone using your credit card. Dominica is 4 hours behind GMT (5 hours behind BST). Flights generally leave London's Airports mid morning, arriving Antigua mid afternoon. Your connecting flight is usually arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35 minutes. Flights from UK are usually in the daytime and return flights are overnight. Try the Caribbean Reunion Club if booking your flight online or compare prices with travelsupermarket.com. Another option is to fly from either Orly or Charles De Gaul Airports in Paris to our nearest neighbouring islands, Guadeloupe or Martinique, which remain Departments of France. Consequently these are regarded as domestic flights and are often cheaper than those from London. Air France and various charters fly regularly, also giving you the opportunity to do some duty free shopping in France on your return.
If you would like to buy travel insurance without wishing to purchase this from your UK travel agent, check out this provider: Essential Travel - UK travel insurance
Even though Barbados is a little further away, there are often very cheap excursion flights on offer from the UK.
Nov 2011 update:- After a long period of roadworks, the section of the Imperial Road between Canefield and Pont Casse has now re-opened and is much improved. Work is now in progress to the eastern section between Pont Casse and Hatton Garden, this sometimes requires a diversion through the Carib Territory, which adds approx. 30 minutes to the journey between Melville Hall Airport and the capital, Roseau.

GETTING HERE from EUROPE:- Paris is also a main point of departure for visitors from all over EUROPE. Depending on your arrival/ departure times from either Guadeloupe or Martinique you may prefer, instead of flying, to take the fast catamaran ferry to Dominica (max. sailing time 1hr. 45min). These do not, however, sail on every day of the week (see schedules below).

Airawak Voyagez! is a Martinique based private airline established in 2003 which flies to other Caribbean islands, offering an alternative to Liat. http://www.airawak.com/en/

GETTING HERE from NORTH AMERICA:- the most frequent route used by visitors from USA is on American Airlines and their subsidiary, American Eagle via San Juan (their 'HUB' for the Caribbean and where you pass through U.S. customs). The cost of flight tickets for this option, however, can vary tremendously, depending on the time of year and how far ahead you book - AA policy seems to be to increase the fares as the number of seats available on any particular flight diminishes, so the earlier you book the better. As landing and take-off times at Dominica's airports are currently still limited to daylight hours, connecting times from some western States may necessitate an overnight stopover in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Worth noting - AirLiat also has late afternoon flights from Puerto Rico, so if you are travelling from the western States and arrive too late for a same day AA connection, you could book Liat instead for the final leg of your journey. JetBlue also fly to San Juan and some Caribbean islands, including Barbados. WestJet provide a similar service from Canada. Other options you may care to explore: charter flight destinations from the USA include Barbados, Grenada and St. Maarten and possibly our closer neighbours, Antigua and St. Lucia, though the connecting leg to Dominica will be on local (non U.S.) carriers, which U.S. travel agents seem reluctant to utilise. Air Canada has regular direct flights from Montreal to our nearest neighbours, Guadeloupe or Martinique (you can connect from Toronto at no extra cost). There are also direct flights from Toronto to Antigua from where your connecting flight is usually arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35 minutes. Those wishing to take out suitable travel insurance may try TravelGuard.com cruise insurance.

If your agent can offer you an economy fare to any of our neighbouring islands, but is unable to arrange the connection to Dominica, then we will assist in arranging and booking this for our clients, for which there will be a 7.5% surcharge.

L'Express des Iles is a fast French owned catamaran ferry service, linking the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia. Sailing times shown in the tables below are generally applicable all year round. Occasionally, during the busier periods, additional sailings may supplement these. Schedules may change at any time so for accurate and up-to-date info use their website.

latest schedule update - Feb 2011
Schedules below are often interrupted for maintenance during
off season. Last year L'Express des Iles had it's ferries in dry
dock for annual maintenance from 21 Sep to 12 Oct 2010
At busy periods there may be extra sailings or scheduled times may change
Please note that the sailing times displayed below could change at any time.
For more accurate information visit the L'Express de Iles website
Select from the top tags - Horaires, which will bring a pop-up window with
a calendar, which you can navigate month by month. Select either départe or arrivée

GUADELOUPE / DOMINICA

	Point-A-Pitre	Roseau	Roseau	Point-A-Pitre
Monday (lundi)	-	-	3.00pm	5.30pm
Tuesday (mardi)	-	-	-	-
Wednesday(mecredi)	8.00am	9.45am	-	-
Thursday (jeudi)	-	-	3.00pm	5.15pm
Friday (vendredi)	8.00am	9.45am	-	-
Saturday (samedi)	-	-	10.00am	11.45pm
Sunday (dimanche)	10.00am	11.45am	-	-

DOMINICA / MARTINIQUE / ST.LUCIA

	Roseau	Forte-De-France	Forte-De-France	Castries
Monday (lundi)	-	-	-	-
Tuesday (mardi)	-	-	-	-
Wednesday(mecredi)	10.15am	11.45am	1.30pm	2.50pm
Thursday (jeudi)	-	-	-	-
Friday (vendredi)	10.15am	11.45pm	1.30pm	2.50pm
Saturday (samedi)	-	-	-	-
Sunday (dimanche)	12.15pm	1.45pm	3.00pm	4.20pm
	Castries	Forte-De-France	Forte-De-France	Roseau
Monday (lundi)	-	-	8.00am	9.30am
Tuesday (mardi)	-	-	-	-
Wednesday(mecredi)	4.00pm	5.20pm	1.30pm	2.50pm
Thursday (jeudi)	-	-	1.00pm	2.30pm
Friday (vendredi)	4.00pm	5.20pm	-	-
Saturday (samedi)	-	-	8.00am	9.30am
Sunday (dimanche)	5.00pm	6.20pm	-	-

Fares from Roseau, DOMINICA to...	€ single	€ return
Point-A-Pitre, GUADELOUPE	€64.50	€99.90
Forte-De-France, MARTINIQUE	€64.50	€99.90
Castries, ST.LUCIA	€64.50	€99.90

Note:
Reductions:

Local agent in
Dominica:
Local agent in
St. Lucia:

Passenger's Port taxes have to be added to the above fares
Children under 2 : 90%
Children from 2 to under 12 : 50%
Youths (under 26), senior citizens (60 and over) : 10%:
Whitchurch Travel Agency
Old Street Roseau
Cox & Company Ltd.
William Peter Boulevard, Castries

May 2011 commentary - uncertain times ahead.

Still fresh in our minds is the world financial crisis of late 2008, in response to which those who engineered it were rewarded with key government posts in the new US administration and the governments of both Britain and America rewarded the 'banksters' with a 'bailout' - essentially a carte-blanch gift of trillions of £'s and $'s of tax-payer money, so they could continue their crooked practices until the next crisis, which may be looming very soon. Since 2008 there has been belt tightening amongst vacationers and world travel has become more difficult and more expensive.
Air Liat, our local Caribbean air taxi service, currently enjoys little competition. There are fewer direct flights between St. Lucia and Dominica nor does it utilize Dominica's west coast Canefield Airport (the only passenger service now using this airport is Coastal Air, which flies just twice a week between Dominica and St. Croix). In early 2011 WinAir resumed flights between St. Martin and Dominica, then in May announced their suspension. The only carrier to bring medium sized passenger jets into Dominica's Melville Hall Airport is American Eagle, a subsidiary of AA, who use San Juan as their 'Hub' for the Caribbean. Changes to their timetables, however, have resulted in fewer travellers between USA and Dominica being able to make a same day connection. Travellers from the UK to the Caribbean have been burdened by a higher tax charge than to other world-wide destinations despite public protests and petitions containing thousands of signatories. The French owned L'Express-des-Iles ferry service, linking Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia, has reduced it's service to St. Lucia and when boats are in dry dock for maintenance for about 6 weeks in the summer, sailings to Dominica are suspended.

In a nutshell - the future of tourism in the Caribbean looks uncertain, as the soaring gold price bares testimony to the weakness of the dollar and the USA announces that it has reached its 'debt ceiling' - again!

Fasten your seat belts - the roller coaster ride is about to begin.

Where to Stay in DOMINICA

Roseau : Around Roseau : Roseau Valley + Laudat : South : West Coast : North Coast : East Coast : Interior
Home : Introduction : Scuba + whale-watch : What to do + see : Birdwatching + Botany : Car Hire : Property

We accept payment by Mastercard and Visa credit cards
Due to difficulties experienced with American Exress in Dominica, we
have suspended use of this facility until merchant conditions improve
not American
Express