Although it's the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the French West Indies, much of Fort-de-France's charm lies in its natural setting on the edge of the Baie des Flamands, framed by the Pitons du Carbet rising to the north. The city's mix of narrow bustling streets, parks, offices and turn-of-the-century buildings housing boutiques and cafes gives it a flavor owing as much to the sidestreets of Paris as it does to that of the Caribbean.The city's focus is the Savane, a large park with fountains, tall palms and occasional open-air concerts. The city's other large waterfront space is the Park Floral, where you can shop for coconuts and other island-grown produce at the public market; there's also a fish market nearby.Fort-de-France's interesting buildings include the Bibliothèque Schoelcher, an elaborate, colorful structure with a Byzantine dome. Designed by architect Henri Pick and built in Paris for the 1889 World Exposition, it was then dismantled, shipped to Fort-de-France and reassembled. Another Pick creation is the Cathédrale Saint-Louis, dating from 1895 and featuring fine stained-glass windows and a massive organ.Other places worth visiting include the Palais de Justice, a neoclassical 1906 courthouse resembling a French train station; the Musée Départemental d'Archéologie, which has displays on the island's Amerindian past; and the Aquarium de la Martinique, featuring a tropical river habitat.

If you want to hit the beach, head for the undeveloped southern tip of the island and lay down your towel at Les Salines, widely regarded as Martinique's finest strand. The arid climate here means that Les Salines is often sunny when other parts of the island are not. The beach attracts scores of visitors on weekends and holidays, but it's big enough to accommodate everyone without feeling crowded. Les Salines gets its name from Étang des Salines, the large salt pond that backs it. Beware of the poisonous manchineel trees (most marked with red paint) on the beach, particularly at the southeastern end.

The Route de la Trace follows a trail blazed by 17th-century Jesuits into the mountains north of Fort-de-France. It winds through a rainforest of tall tree ferns, anthurium-covered hillsides and clumps of bamboo, and along the eastern flanks of the volcanic mountain peaks of the Pitons du Carbet. Islanders like to say that the Jesuits' fondness for rum accounts for the road's many zigs and zags.Less than a 10-minute drive out of the capital is the Balata Church, a scaled-down replica of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris. The view from this domed Roman-Byzantine church looks out across Fort-de-France to the Pointe du Bout resort area. A further 10-minute drive takes you to the Jardin de Balata, a botanical garden in a rainforest setting laced with paths winding past tropical trees and flowers, including lots of ginger, heliconia, anthuriums and bromeliads.

Once the 'Little Paris of the West Indies' and the capital of Martinique, Saint-Pierre soldiers on in the shadow of its cosmopolitan past and the nearby volcano that destroyed it nearly a century ago. Despite this disaster, Martinicans began rebuilding the city soon after the eruption, and much of Saint-Pierre, with its wrought-iron balconies and shuttered doors, still has a fin-de-siècle flavor. The Musée Vulcanologique displays such intriguing artifacts of the 1902 eruption as petrified rice and a blob of molten nails. If that isn't enough wreckage for you, stroll a short way to the ruins of the old theater, where you can mount the twin staircase and view what's left of the lower story.Anse Turin, a long gray-sand beach just south of Saint-Pierre, is the home of the Musée Paul Gauguin, shrine to one of the great post-impressionist painters. Browse memorabilia, letters and reproductions of Gauguin's paintings, including Bord de Mer I and L'Anse Turin - avec les raisiniers, which were painted on the nearby beach during Gauguin's five-month stay on Martinique in 1887.