Maybe it was the mushroom risotto. Or the amuse bouche, a fish bisque. Or was it the tree frog soundtrack? Or the white-lit plunge pools in every room? Martinique’s French Coco will instantly enchant you — but it’s hard to pinpoint precisely which feature is the most memorable. At a boutique hotel, that usually means you’ve found a gem.
Martinique is not a destination filled with must-stay hotels; you have to dig a little deeper to find the best places to stay, whether they’re beachfront residences (like another excellent option, the Madicreoles in Carbet) or luxury villas.
Unique in Martinique
But the French Coco, a boutique hotel with 17 rooms in the surf town of Tartane is the best: combining sleek, luxurious rooms with friendly service and a marvelous on-site restaurant. It’s also the island’s best adult-friendly hotel: the setting is quiet and serene.
Is It On the Beach?
It’s not on the beach, but it’s literally just down a short street from the sand. The location is great, with easy, walkable access to a host of great restaurants and bars in Tartane and the legendary Rhum Hardy and its rooftop bar. The lush, leafy setting really makes you feel like you’ve found a private hideaway.
What’s the Restaurant Like?
Fantastic. Helmed by a young, up-and-coming chef, the menu (which also has an option of a rum-pairing tasting menu) has a bit of everything, done in an avant-garde, Michelin-inspired style and creative plating. It’s called Ylanga, and it’s easily one of Martinique’s greatest places to eat.
What I Loved About It
The biggest draw about French Coco are the rooms, and it’s easy to see why. I have long maintained that having your own pool is the single best amenity you can have in the Caribbean, and I haven’t wavered on that. These are nicely-sized, well-lit plunge pools with very comfortable, very private decks outside the rooms (some of the patios are even larger). They also all come with Nespresso machines. (And there is a main pool, too).
In all, this is a cool, hip, quintessentially French Caribbean hotel. (Note, there is one room that comes without a pool.) Some other nice touches? The concierge service, which will help you with all of your activities beyond the walls’ daily breakfast; and ti’ punch kits in the rooms to help you make your first French Caribbean cocktail.
How Much It Costs to Stay at Martinique’s Top Hotel
Rooms at French Coco start at around $336 per night right now, according to Google Hotels data. Obviously that goes up depending on the time of year. But summer is an excellent time to visit the island, when rum production is going on at many of its famous distilleries and the crowds from mainland France largely spend their summers on the continent, not in the Caribbean.
The Takeaway
This is the premier hotel on the island of Martinique — it’s the most complete place to stay, just a whisper of a stroll from the beach and home to lovely rooms that you’ll love coming back to after a day of exploring or lazing on the sand with a ti’ punch.
How to Get to French Coco
Flying to Martinique isn’t broadly easy, but there is regular service from Miami on American Airlines throughout much of the year (typically Sundays at a minimum). The beach town of Tartane is about 30 minutes from the airport on the Atlantic coast’s scenic Presq’uile de la Caravelle peninsula. I always recommend renting a car in Martinique. It’s a big island, with high-level infrastructure and roads that make it easy to get out and explore — which is exactly what you should be doing in a place as fascinating as this, whether seeking out rum distilleries, navigating the rainforest or visiting the Volcanic Museum in Saint Pierre.
