The Domaine de Macabou and its beaches

Welcome to the municipality of the Vauclin, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, it is known for its particular spot for sliding sports and school (windsurfing, kyte surf, ….). This territory also has two beautiful beaches of white sand on the Macabou area, beaches popular for bivouacs to sleep at the beautiful star. Another activity possible is the well- known hiking of the Boucle of the Vauclin, or the Trace des Caps whose starting point is the beach of Petit Macabou

The beaches of Petit and Grand Macabou are part of a section of this famous hiking trail “The Trace of the Caps”. It can be broken down into 5 sections that add up, give a route of 27 kilometers with at least 11 to 12 hours of walking. You will discover this beach during the first part (Petit Macabou- Cap Macré).

• Petit Macabou – Cap Macré (5 km, 2h),
• Cap Macré – Cap Chevalier (7 km, 3h),
• Cap Chevalier – Baie des Anglais (6 km, 2h30),
• Anse Trabaud – Salines (5 km, 2h),
• Salines – Anse Caritan (4,5 km, 1h30)

In terms of services, the town of Vauclin has a post office, distributors, many shops, restaurants and a waterfront gas station at the entrance of the town.

The two beaches of Domaine de Macabou are located next to each other and both have a more pleasant charm.

The beach of Petit Macabou has the particularity of having a forest of back beach done up with tables and enough space to make bivouacs, while the beach of Grand Macabou is longer and will offer you a sandbar more important to put a towel and relax.

Itineary

To access the beach, coming from Fort-de-France, take the main road of the island (A1 then N5) and take the exit towards the town of François (N6). After 10 to 15 minutes of road, you will arrive on the roundabout allowing you to go towards the commune of  the François, follow this direction. Stay on the N6 when you arrive at the roundabout just before the town of the François, take the first exit towards the Vauclin. Continue straight on and after 25 minutes drive past the Vauclin and take a road on your left 5 minutes later. Normally you will see the sign indicating the area of Macabou and its beaches (Little Macabou). Once you have turned, drive slowly as the road is really damaged until you reach the next small roundabout where you will take the first right to arrive at the Macabou beach and parking area

The parking is spacious, so you will not have any problem finding a place to park.

These two beaches are located on the Trace des Caps but also on the Macabou Loop trail that will take you to the beach of Anse Grosse Roche and the Chapel of the Virgin of the Sea (Link to these items at the bottom of the page).

Petit Macabou

Once parked, go to the first beach of Petit Macabou located behind the backgrown vegetation made of grapes and mancenilliers.

View on the beach of Petit Macabou

You will see many wooden tables for picnicking and where you can meet there with family or friends. Many people bivouac here on this beach.

Cross this vegetation to go on this beach and discover the magnificent panorama with the coconut trees located all along the beach. Bathing is not supervised.

Click on this link to have a first video preview of this beach on our Facebook page

The beach of Grand Macabou is located right next to this beach. Go backwards and head to the back of the car park then go straight, the road climbs a little, then you will find a small, smaller car park just in front of the beach access.

Grand Macabou

Reach the access at the end of the parking that will make you join the Macabou Loop hike. At the signpost, take on your right to go down to the beach.

The path goes down to the beach, you can choose to head directly to the beach.

or to walk along the backside vegetation to better contemplate the immensity of this white sand bath.

Click on this link to have a first video preview of this beach on our Facebook page

Enjoy this beach, the sea is usually agitated. This beach is not supervised.

As you can see in the photos above, both beaches have places in the shade. However, think, if you are with your family, to provide the protections for children with sun cream index 50 or lycra. The sun is harmful between 10 am and 2 pm

Time for you to discover it now !

Tips:

Ø Circulation in Martinique:  During the weeks you will encounter many traffic jams from 7 a.m. to 9. 30 a.m. in the industrial and commercial areas. Especially mornings driving from south (Rivière Salée, N5) to the North (Fort-de-France, A1), but also East (Robert , N1) going North , you will find the same traffic jams every evening on the other side from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Tip, think of the way and time you want to travel in order not to lose time.

Ø  Equipments : hats, Swimsuit, towel, beach bag (knife, k-way, cap, sunglasses, sunscreen, cash, mosquito repellent).Ø  Santé :

–          Quality of the bathing area: Excellent (Source: Ministry of Health, see map);

–          Access : Easy by car then walking;

–        Sunscreen mandatory beacause the beach is exposed to the sun, think even lycras for children and adults;

–        Important tip: always have a bottle of water per person and a snack in your bag.

Others :  you can go hiking the Trace of the Caps, the Loop Macabou or swim on the Anse Grosse Roche accessible by the last hike.

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Dom Loisirs et Culture at your service.

OLIVIER Damien, your humble guide

The Dom Loisirs and Culture team is committed to raising awareness of the protection of the biodiversity of the overseas departments.