Where is Death in Paradise filmed? The real island behind Saint Marie
Saint Marie doesn't exist — you won't find it on any map of the Caribbean. But the beaches, the harbour, and Catherine's Bar are all completely real, and you can have lunch there. Here's where the BBC actually films its sunniest crime drama.
The real island
Death in Paradise is filmed on Guadeloupe, a French overseas region in the Caribbean made up of six inhabited islands. The show's fictional town of Honoré is really Deshaies, a small fishing village on the north-west coast of Basse-Terre island. The series — a BBC and France Télévisions co-production — has filmed there since the first episode aired on 25 October 2011, which is also why so many extras speak French.
The cast and crew decamp to Guadeloupe for roughly six months a year, typically filming from April to August. Glamorous, yes — but not always comfortable. Then-lead Ralf Little put it plainly in a 2022 interview with Hello! magazine:
"It's a constant battle with the heat."
Average temperature: 27°C. In full detective costume.
The locations you'll recognise
Almost everything is in and around Deshaies:
- Honoré police station — a real building beside the Church of St Peter and St Paul in the centre of Deshaies. The set, complete with detectives' desks and two small cells, opens to visitors.
- Catherine's Bar — actually Le Madras, a working waterfront restaurant serving seafood and cocktails year-round.
- The DI's beach shack — not a permanent building at all. The famous wooden cabin is assembled on the beach by the production team each year.
- The harbour and bay — the sweeping aerial shots of Honoré are simply Deshaies itself: a red-roofed church and colourful houses around a semi-circular bay.
Can you visit?
Easily. Deshaies is about an hour's drive west of Guadeloupe's Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport, and several Death in Paradise location tours now run for fans. In real life it's a sleepy fishing port popular with passing yachts — decidedly not the murder capital of the Caribbean.
The show is serious business for the island, too. Each series carries a budget of around €12 million, with the Guadeloupe region contributing up to €500,000 a year — and the very first series alone generated an estimated €4.5 million for the local economy.