The La Toubana hotel, Guadeloupe’s only five-star: three generations above the sea in Sainte-Anne

In the early 1970s, a man from Savoie who had settled in Guadeloupe bought a rocky clifftop above Sainte-Anne. Opened in 1983, La Toubana Hôtel & Spa is today the only hotel in Guadeloupe rated five stars, and the same family has run it for three generations. Here is its story, and what you need to know to stay there this winter.

☰Contents

1. A clifftop bought against all advice
2. 1983: bungalows in a tropical garden
3. From two to five stars in three generations
4. Guadeloupe’s only five-star, really?
5. 31 bungalows, 12 suites and 3 villas by the sea
6. Le Grand Bleu, the beach and the Sisley spa
7. Going this winter: €688 a night in mid-January

A clifftop bought against all advice

Robert Vial-Collet reached Guadeloupe by boat in the 1950s. There he married Michèle, a Guadeloupean, and made the island his adopted home. In the early 1970s, he spotted a headland overlooking Sainte-Anne, with the Caribbean Sea and, on the horizon, Marie-Galante, La Désirade and Les Saintes. His father-in-law advised him to buy sugar cane or banana land, and certainly not a cliff with no road. He bought it anyway.

“This horizon hasn’t changed since the day my grandfather first stopped here,” says Chloé Arnoux, managing director and granddaughter of the founder. “Our role is to preserve that original emotion and share it with every traveller.”

1983: bungalows in a tropical garden

The hotel opened in 1983. Rather than one large building, the family scattered bungalows across a tropical garden that follows the lie of the land, going against the big hotel complexes of the time. The name comes from the language of the Arawaks, an Amerindian people of the Antilles: Toubana means “the little hut”. The hotel says it has kept that founding principle: space, privacy and natural light.

From two to five stars in three generations

Rated two stars at the outset, the hotel earned its third star in 2005, its fourth in 2012, then its fifth in 2019, becoming the first five-star establishment in the islands of Guadeloupe. In the meantime, the second generation had taken over: Patrick Vial-Collet and his wife Corinne extended the hotel, created the spa and modernised the facilities.

In 1986, Patrick Vial-Collet also co-founded the Leader Hôtels group with Daniel Arnoux, which today owns four hotels in Guadeloupe, including La Créole Beach and Le Jardin Malanga; they are marketed by Des Hôtels & Des Îles. The third generation is now at the helm, with Chloé as managing director; her brother Aston also worked there for five years.

Guadeloupe’s only five-star, really?

Yes. On the official list kept by Atout France, the agency that awards the stars, updated on 21 October 2026, La Toubana is the only five-star hotel in the département, with its rating renewed in April 2024. The other five-star hotels nearby are on Saint-Barthélemy, an island that has not been part of Guadeloupe since 2007. For comparison, read about Airelles’ takeover of the Guanahani in St Barts.

31 bungalows, 12 suites and 3 villas by the sea

The bungalows measure 50 to 60 m², each with a private terrace; the Ti Kaz, more intimate bungalows, each have their own private pool. The suites range from the Suite Panoramique (70 m²), set high above the rest, to the Suite Master (161 m²) for two couples or a large family. Three villas complete the picture: Ura and Idika (350 m², four bedrooms) and Ayati (400 m², three bedrooms), with a 25-metre infinity pool.

Le Grand Bleu, the beach and the Sisley spa

Le Grand Bleu restaurant overlooks the sea and serves Creole and international cuisine, with locally caught spiny lobster, from breakfast to dinner, plus a buffet at Sunday lunch. Down below, Toubana La Plage serves lunch with your feet in the sand, with service at your sun lounger, and the Bar de la Mer sees out the sunset.

Since summer 2025, the spa has worked with the French house Sisley: facials and body treatments, sauna, hammam, hot tub and a relaxation room open to the sea, daily from 9am to 7pm. The hotel also has an infinity pool, a fitness room and a private beach.

Going this winter: €688 a night in mid-January

On the hotel’s booking engine, the night of 14 to 15 January 2027 costs €688 for two in a sea-view bungalow, on a flexible, cancellable rate without breakfast; the website advertises flexible rates from €360 depending on dates. Mind the festive season: the dinners on 24 and 31 December, like the one on 14 February, are compulsory and included in the room rate.

The hotel is 20 km from Pôle Caraïbes airport, about eight hours by direct flight from Paris (Orly or Roissy); Corsair is adding direct flights from Toulouse and Marseille from mid-December 2026. For more ideas in the sun, see our 20 most beautiful luxury hotels in the Caribbean and our pick of hotels in the Grenadines.