Carrefour Sights and Landmarks Guide, Haiti

Carrefour in Haiti presents some of the saddest sights in modern times: of a poverty-ridden picture of how political upheavals and military coups can destroy the soul of a nation. If recent media reports are anything to go by, this small maritime city of Carrefour, lying adjacent to Port-au-Prince (Haiti’s capital), is nothing more than a shanty town today with inhabitants either fighting bullets to make a measly day’s earnings (as low as $0.60 daily) in the town’s square or fleeing like refugees to the US. However, the depressing reports notwithstanding, there’s more to the sights at Carrefour, Haiti than simply an opportunity to click award-winning photographs for humanitarian appeal charities.

 Must-visit places in Carrefour, Haiti:

Carrefour, Haiti though poor and ill serviced has many developmental works in progress, which the city’s government expect will help increase the tourist inflow into this neglected Haiti island and restore it to its former glory.

l'Habitation Leclerc, located at Martissant 23, is worth a visit when in Carrefour; when driving down from Port-au-Prince to Carrefour, it falls on the left turn next to the place tagged Borlette Céleste. On the first left-entrance is the house of Katherine Dunham’s spouse (the lady was regarded as a voodoo priestess with a temple attributed to her practices also!)

A relic of an old-fashioned British hotel that existed 20 years ago lies to the left side further on; only its garden survived the inglorious fate of this once beautiful public house. On the right side of the entrance to this street is a memorial erected to commemorate glory of the British Empire. 

The Katherine Dunham Botanic Garden, initially planned with much fanfare with botanists from UK, Canada, US and the Dominican Republic consulted for the project, has mostly squatters laying claim to the ambitious tourist attraction it was proposed as being, which lies on the remains of the former hotel. However disheartening this may be here for those looking at sight-seeing options in Carrefour, there is always the hope offered in the form of exciting excursions to nearby places, like Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Cap-Haitien, Santiago, La Vega, San Chritobal, Santo Domingo and Pedro de Macoris. All are well connected by road or air transport and offer reasonable sightseeing options for those finding Carrefour’s tourist attractions too narrow in scope.

If nothing else, visitors to Carrefour can sunbathe at the Carrefour Raymond beach, enjoy exotic Caribbean food at inexpensive prices (as compared to neighbouring towns), especially if they sample the buffets hosted by most of the larger hotels that specialize in the occasional floorshow as well. If that’s too tame an option, tourists to Carrefour can hop a taxi to Jacmel (3 hours by car from Port-au-Prince) and located on the southern peninsula with beaches that are more picturesque and stunning 19th century architecture besides scouring the famous Iron Market there to pick up unique mementoes.

Though the economic downslide due to the continued political instability has left much of Carrefour’s beauty damaged, tourists can still enjoy taking in the charms of old Victorian houses with their typical gingerbread trim amid the few modern homes that are sparsely scattered around the more prosperous part of the town.