Don't like being hassled by beach vendors? You won't be in Guadeloupe, with 200-plus public beaches that stand out for their natural state and lack of salesmen or towering resorts. 
Guadeloupe's best rum is produced on Marie-Galante. Dotted with sugar cane, oxcarts and ancient windmills, it's home to three award-winning distilleries -- Bellevue, Bieille and Poisson. 
Hugging the bay of Anse du Bourg, Les Saintes archipelago is Guadeloupe's most prized possession. Inhabited Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas are a perfect blend of the old Caribbean and southern France. 
Deceptively called "small" punch in French Creole, the potent national drink mixes a teaspoon of brown sugar with fresh lime, topped with white rum and stirred with a sugar cane stick. 
Mega-resorts have yet to reach Guadeloupe. Aside from Club Med on Grande-Terre, locally run hotels, inns, apartments or villas dominate. Beach and sea views remain unobstructed, by law. 
Popular sunset spots: St. Anne Beach on Grande-Terre, dotted with seafront cafes; Basse-Terre, against a mountainous backdrop; Les Saintes' with views over surrounding islets. 
With dramatic cliffs surrounding a white sand beach, one of Guadeloupe Islands' most striking landscapes is reminiscent of the Mediterranean. 
The park's 54,000 acres cover rainforest, mangrove and coral reefs. The crown is La Soufrière, an active volcano that's home to 800 species of flora and fauna. 
Guadeloupe lives up to its Carib Indian name Karukera, or "island of beautiful waters." The most renowned dive spot is the Jacques Cousteau Reserve, a 988-acre protected area off the coast of Basse-Terre. 
Guadeloupe National Park has more than 100 waterfalls. The most spectacular may be Les Chutes du Carbet, a series of three waterfalls reaching 360 feet. 
Colorful spices compete with bottles of homemade fruit rum punch, bright as a painter's palette. On Grande-Terre, St. Anne's beachfront market is a local favorite. 
Guadeloupe is dotted with ancient forts -- remnants of a colonial tugs of war between the French and British. 
Jardin Botanique de Deshaies is a 12-acre park with more than 200 species of plants and trees, orchids, fish, lily ponds and flamingos. 
Guadeloupe's cuisine is a mélange of Indian, African and European influences. Meals often begin with cod fritters followed fresh seafood in spiced tomato stews, curries and stuffed vegetables. 
A row of 15 boutiques in St. Anne, the Village Artisanal carries a selection of hand woven beachwear and woodcarvings. Contemporary fashion also thrives -- after all, this is French territory.
- In the eastern Caribbean, Guadeloupe is a perennially overlooked paradise
- New flights from the United States may change its tourist profile
- The five-island group is an overseas region of France
- French traditionally make up more than 80% of all tourists to Guadeloupe
(CNN) -- Think the old, pre-megaresort Caribbean is gone?
It's not on pristine Guadeloupe -- a five-island overseas region of France located in the Leeward Islands -- but the era of relative obscurity there may be coming to an end.
First the pristine part.
With modern infrastructure and top-notch cuisine, Guadeloupe is a 629-square-mile treasure of near-empty beaches, forests, waterfalls, cliffs and healthy coral reefs.
Fresh conch kebabs, seaside bars, gwo ka drummers playing and chanting against the sound of lapping waves -- how this cluster of islands has remained off-the-beaten path for so long is a mystery for out of work travel agents to contemplate.
That may change. Soon.
Traditional Caribbean culture still prevails on Guadeloupe.
Historically, a stronghold of French tourists, Guadeloupe is vying to become the next big winter escape for North Americans, launching formal marketing efforts aimed at those tourists just last year.
In April 2013, American Airlines and Seaborne Airlines launched weekly, direct flights from Miami and Puerto Rico to the main city of Pointe-à-Pitre (population 132,884).
JetBlue followed in November, signing an interline agreement with Seaborne.
By the close of 2013, Guadeloupe Islands' Tourist Board reported a 22.5% annual increase in visitors from the United States.
According to the Caribbean Journal, Guadeloupe received just 420,000 visitors overall in 2013.
If all of this doesn't convince you to give Guadeloupe a look now, the gallery above just might.
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