The Hardy distillery is located in Tartane, facing Anse de la Brêche and near the Caravelle Peninsula. It is undoubtedly one of the lesser-known distilleries in Martinique. Yet it produces a historic rum of the island, born in 1830 when the estate—then called “La Grâce”—was renamed “Habitation Sucrerie Tartane.” At the time, it included a residence, industrial buildings, sugarcane plantations, and a windmill, which can still be admired from the roadside.

A few years later, Émilien Bonneville, a wealthy landowner from the Tartane region, decided to purchase the estate.

In 1880, in a habitation that had previously produced only sugar, Bonneville installed a steam engine to begin distilling rum. Martinique was then in the midst of a sugar crisis, and many distilleries had turned to rum production.

He later passed the estate on to his daughter Clémence, who was married to Gaston Hardy des Sources.

In 1905, the estate was officially transferred to Gaston Hardy, who gave it its name: “Rhum G Hardy Tartane.” His rum was distinguished and won several medals in mainland France. Although the distillery was devastated by two fires, it was fully restored by his son—also named Gaston—who was an engineer.

In 1955, Gaston Hardy Jr. became the owner. To boost the brand’s reputation, he created the famous Rhum Paille, aged for 12 to 18 months in oak barrels. This helped solidify Hardy’s renown.

In the 1970s, he personally oversaw the renovation and modernization of the production facilities, including the windmill mechanism, a concrete chimney, a distillation column, and an automatic feed belt that he built himself.

He passed away in 1990, and the distillery continued operating until 1994.

His heirs took over and transferred production to the Saint-James distillery in Sainte-Marie. Hardy rum is now produced according to the strict standards of the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (A.O.C.). A boutique at the entrance of the original site offers tastings and sells the full range of Hardy rums. Production remains limited (120,000 bottles), and distribution is local only.

Over time, the buildings suffered damage from humidity, but public authorities launched a fundraising campaign to restore the site. Some buildings are currently undergoing renovation, but this historic location remains open to visitors.

The Bernard David Museum Space showcases a collection assembled by Bernard David, former priest of Le Diamant (1970–1998), to retrace the town’s history. He generously donated his entire collection of pre-Columbian archaeological objects and documentary archives to the southern Martinique commune.

Bernard David, a priest from Vendée, arrived in Martinique in 1970. He first served at the church of Terres Sainville, then at Bellevue in Fort-de-France, before being assigned to the church in Le Diamant. Eager to connect with the local population, he studied Creole and began collecting the proverbs he heard. He later published Creole Proverbs of Martinique: Language and Society.

Passionate about local history, he conducted daily research and published several works on Martinique’s past, including The Origins of the Martinican Population Over the Years (1635–1902). He also took a keen interest in the pre-Columbian heritage of the town that welcomed him, Le Diamant. The objects he collected from that era are now housed in the museum that bears his name.

The Bernard David Museum Space is located in the town center of Le Diamant, near the Anse Diamant pier, where local fishers enjoy line fishing. Exhibitions are occasionally offered.

Habitation Saint-Étienne, or H.S.E., is a distillery built to replace an old sugar mill, La Maugée, covering more than 400 hectares from Gros-Morne to Saint-Joseph.

In 1882, the distillery was bought by Amédée Aubéry, a young captain of industry who became one of the iconic figures of the Martinican economy. Towards the end of the 19th century, faced with the sugar crisis, it was converted into a distillery, like many sugar plantations of the time.

Amédée Aubéry expanded the factory and gave it a remarkable façade with 28 arched windows, ensuring optimal ventilation of the building. He modernized the entire facility to maximize rum production efficiency.

In 1909, the distillery was bought by the Simonnet family, who developed the business until its decline in the late 1980s. In 1994, Yves and José Hayot took over the operation, relaunched the Saint-Étienne brand, and undertook the restoration and enhancement of the architectural heritage of the property.

Today, although rum distillation no longer takes place (since 1988), it continues to produce rums, known as HSE rums. Its preserved architectural ensemble is one of the best examples of the housing system in Martinique, offering a glimpse into life in the 19th century. The master's house and the former slave huts, later used by paid workers, have survived for two centuries and are open to visitors.

The site is listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments (I.S.M.H.). During the tour, you can see how HSE rum is produced, including the barrel storage system and bottling process, before tasting the rums made on site. Numerous exhibitions are held there throughout the year.

The Sea Museum replaces the former Shell and Sea Museum, which was once located in the town of Le Diamant, inside the Écrin Bleu hotel. This small museum houses a collection of 2,000 shells from Martinique, other Caribbean islands, and from around the world.

It was the hotel owner who came up with the idea of showcasing his collection. Arriving in Martinique from Marseille at the age of 9, he developed a deep passion for the sea and began collecting shells at the age of 16.

With over 2,000 specimens in his possession, he decided to share them with the public. His goal? to highlight the wonders of the ocean floor, such as corals, sea urchins, fish, crustaceans, and starfish.

Plan for a 30 to 45-minute visit. There are no guided tours.

A gift shop is available on-site. You can leave with one or more of the 150 shells on offer, or choose from a selection of jewelry and handcrafted items made from shells and other marine treasures.

The museum was recently relocated to the town of Trois-Îlets, in the Village of Poterie.

Located in a lush green setting, the Banana Museum sits within the “Limbe” plantation, a banana estate in the town of Sainte-Marie. During your visit, you'll explore the history of the banana—from its introduction to the Caribbean during 16th-century colonization to its role today.

The museum showcases over 65 banana species out of the 300 recorded worldwide, spread across a scenic 4-hectare trail.

You’ll also discover fascinating insights into the world’s favorite fruit: its origins, cultivation techniques, culinary uses, and more.

On-site, the restaurant “La Bananeraie” invites you to enjoy inventive dishes where bananas take center stage.

Occasional exhibitions are also held, celebrating the banana in all its cultural and botanical richness.

If you want to discover the history of Mount Pelee or simply view without climbing, go to the Maison des Volcans (Volcanoes house) in the town of Morne Rouge. This museum dedicated to the Pelee volcano was inaugurated in 1991 by volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft few weeks before their disappearance on the slopes of a Japanese volcano.

Volcano House, cult step from the center of Morne Rouge, heiress of volcanoes life presents particularly the ascent of Mount Pelée by video projection, much less tiring than in reality, and offering views sometimes ignored by climbers.

It’s also an opportunity to discover a remarkable petrographic collection made up of rocks and sands from Martinique, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world. A large model of Mount Pelée and its surroundings helps visitors better understand the volcano’s topography.

Documents and fragments are presented in a simple framework. Panels addresses the monitoring of volcanoes to eruptive mechanisms through applications of volcanology. Finally a video recounts the 1902 eruption.

Another way to become familiar with the Mount Pelée... in pictures. 

Occasional thematic exhibitions are offered to visitors.

Saint James rum is said to have originated in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Martinique in 1765. In utmost secrecy, Reverend Father Edmond Lefébure, superior of the Brothers of Charity convent and a learned alchemist, crafted a white spirit of unprecedented quality. This cane-based eau-de-vie was known as “guildive” or “tafia,” terms derived from the English expression kill-devil, once used to describe early rum.

In 1763, King Louis XV authorized Martinique to export its rum. At the time, the only permitted destination was New England — now part of the United States. In 1765, to facilitate its sale abroad, it was decided to give the rum a name with strong Anglo-Saxon resonance: “Saint James.”

In 1885, the “Saint James” brand was officially registered, along with its iconic square bottle — the first of its kind in the world. This innovative design allowed for easier storage in ship holds and reduced breakage during rough crossings. That same year, Saint James launched its first rum, relying on advertising to quickly build its reputation.

On May 8, 1902, the eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre and the main site of Saint James. The Saint James Habitation was only partially damaged.

In 1974, all production was centralized at a single site in Sainte-Marie, where the distillery still operates today. The official inauguration took place on December 23, 1974, in the presence of Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister.

A museum was established near the Habitation to trace the history of rum in Martinique, from its origins to its modern evolution.

Today, the Saint James distillery remains active. Its sugarcane plantations span nearly 300 hectares.

A must-see: hop aboard the “Train des Plantations,” an authentic vintage steam train offering a scenic ride through the Atlantic North, winding through sugarcane fields and banana plantations.

Distillerie Dillon owes its name to Count Arthur Dillon, general and hero of the American Revolutionary War. He married a cousin of Joséphine de Beauharnais, Laure Girardin de Montgérald, owner of the house which, through this marriage, became the Dillon house. Elected deputy for Martinique in 1789, he was accused of conspiracy by Robespierre and beheaded in April 1794.

In 1857, Habitation Dillon was bought by the mayor of Saint Pierre, Pierre Hervé, who restored the canal and the dyke, and built a sugar mill, a guildery and railroads. But the sugar crisis of 1866 ruined it, and the plantation became a public limited company managed by Louis Domergue.

In 1891, a cyclone devastated the 18th-century dwelling and led to the death of Louis Domergue. In 1900, his son Raoul rebuilt it from a house in Saint-Pierre, which he had dismantled beam by beam, thus saving it from disaster.

But in 1919, one of the administrators had to comply with the quota policy and ended up transforming, in 1928, the distillery into a sugar factory. Managed by the de Laguarigue family, Habitation Dillon did not start making agricultural rum again until 1954.

It was bought in 1967 by the Bordeaux family company Bardinet: in more than twenty years, the Bardinet Group will quadruple its annual production by investing in fermentation tanks, distillation columns and an aging cellar with a capacity of three thousand barrels.

Since 1981, Dillon rum has been regularly awarded at the Concours Général Agricole, thus confirming its qualitative and commercial progress both on the Martinican and Guyanese markets as well as in mainland France, where it holds first place. Having become the property of the company La Martiniquaise in 1993, the Dillon brand continues to contribute to the influence of the Controlled Designation of Origin (A.O.C. in French for Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) Martinique, obtained in 1996.

Today, the Dillon distillery produces both rums and punches. During the visit, a slide show will allow you to see and understand the production and the different stages of production of agricultural rum, and then a tasting will be offered.

The Maison de la Canne (House of Sugarcane), formerly known as the Sugarcane Museum, is housed in a former distillery. It traces the evolution of sugarcane over the past three centuries. Located in the Vatable district of Trois-Îlets, the museum spans more than two hectares.

The Maison de la Canne is the result of a research and archival project on Martinique’s sugar industry heritage, led by the Association Martiniquaise de la Maison de la Canne (AMMCA), with major contributions from teachers at Lycée Schoelcher.

The association aimed to preserve traces of Martinique’s sugar-producing past, which had suffered significant degradation of its plantation estates and the disappearance of central factories.

During your visit, you’ll learn more about the arrival of sugarcane in Martinique and its development through to its modern-day uses. When sugarcane was introduced to the French colonies, the entire economic and agricultural life revolved around this plant, which produced the sugar so prized on the tables of European nobility. Today, it remains a key crop, especially for the production of world-renowned rums.

Since 1991, the Regional Council—which supported the project—has been responsible for managing the museum, which has since attracted a large number of visitors.