Martinique Sensation 2026: Four Weekly Toronto Nonstops, and What Advisors Need to Know
Martinique's tourism authority returned to Toronto with new winter nonstops from YYZ, YUL and YQB. Flights, entry rules, regions, rum and an advisor brief.
Martinique’s tourism authority brought its Martinique Sensation roadshow back to Toronto on 3 November. The pitch to the trade was blunt: Martinique has never been easier to reach from Canada. More than a dozen weekly nonstops serve Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto this winter, and the island has no visa requirement for short stays and no entry or exit fees.
“Our message to Canadians this year is simple: there’s more to see and experience in Martinique than ever, and it’s easier than ever to get there,” said Karine Roy-Camille, Deputy Director Americas at the Martinique Promotion Bureau (CMT Canada), speaking to advisors, hoteliers and media at the Malaparte Event Space. Island hotels and attractions came north for the evening’s workshop. Here is what advisors need to know.
The flights
According to the Martinique Tourism Authority (MTA), peak-winter nonstops to Fort-de-France (FDF) look like this:
- Montreal (YUL): up to six a week on Air Canada and five on Air Transat, the most of any Canadian gateway.
- Quebec City (YQB): one a week on Air Canada and two on Air Transat.
- Toronto (YYZ): two a week on Air Transat. Air Canada starts on 17 December with one flight a week (Sundays) and goes to two a week (Sundays and Thursdays) from 7 January, according to the MTA’s agency, Jesson + Company. That makes up to four weekly nonstops from January.
Frequencies ramp up through the season, so check exact start dates and days of operation with each airline before quoting. All flights land at Martinique Aimé Césaire International, the island’s only airport. The airport handled more than a million passengers last year and is being expanded.
Entry and money
- Entry: Canadians need no visa for stays under three months, and there are no entry or exit fees.
- Currency: Martinique is part of France and uses the euro. Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted. Clients should bring euros or withdraw them on arrival rather than count on US dollars.
- Prices: listed prices include tax, and there’s no tipping culture in restaurants. The MTA says that makes budgets easy to follow.
- Practicalities: clients need European plug adaptors, and tap water is safe to drink across the island.
- Driving: traffic drives on the right, as in Canada. The MTA advised that a French-language Quebec licence needs no translation, but visitors with an English-language licence are required to carry an International Driving Permit, the MTA confirmed. Automatic and electric rentals are common.
When to go
High season runs from mid-December into spring, with May as a shoulder month the MTA recommends. Low season runs from June to the end of November. It’s warmer and wetter, but the MTA says that doesn’t mean daily rain, and flights, hotels and car hire are cheaper. Average air temperature is 26°C and the sea averages 27°C year-round. Martinique keeps Atlantic time all year: the same as Halifax in winter and one hour ahead of Toronto. The MTA pitched that for remote workers, citing good internet and coworking spaces.
Four coasts, four briefs
The island is 80 km long and 35 km wide, small enough to cover in one trip. The presentation split it into regions, and they sell to quite different clients:
- Centre (Fort-de-France and Le Lamentin): home to 42% of the population. Covered markets, heritage sites, Friday-night street events, business hotels and apartments. It’s the natural base for a pre- or post-cruise stay.
- North Caribbean (Saint-Pierre): black- and silver-sand beaches below Mont Pelée, sunset views, seafood restaurants, and dive sites on the wrecks sunk in the 1902 eruption.
- North Atlantic: rugged coastline, surf schools, canyoning, banana and pineapple plantations, distilleries, and mostly villas.
- South Atlantic (Le François): reef-sheltered lagoons and islets reached by boat. The local ritual is the fonds blancs: shallow white-sand banks offshore where groups stand knee-deep with a punch and accras. This coast also has the villas that sleep 20 or more, with concierge and private-chef service. See our guide to Martinique’s luxury villas.
- South Caribbean (around Les Trois-Îlets): the postcard white-sand beaches, snorkelling with protected sea turtles, and the island’s main cluster of three- and four-star hotels. The ferry from Trois-Îlets reaches Fort-de-France in about 15 minutes. La Savane des Esclaves, an open-air history museum, is here too.
Three UNESCO listings and an AOC rum
Martinique’s pitch leans on three UNESCO recognitions:
- the yole, a keel-less traditional sailing boat balanced by its crew leaning out over the water (December 2020);
- the whole island and its waters as a biosphere reserve (September 2021);
- Mont Pelée and the northern peaks as a World Heritage Site (September 2023).
Its rhum agricole, distilled from fresh sugarcane juice rather than molasses, carries a French AOC. The MTA says about 15 distilleries and rum sites can be visited, most of them free, and four of them are close enough to suit a short cruise stopover.
For active clients there are about 300 km of free trails, five marinas, and whale and dolphin watching. Diving starts at age 8, and the MTA says some dive boats are equipped for families and wheelchair users. Fort-de-France is also a home port this season for four cruise lines, the MTA says: MSC Cruises (MSC Opera and MSC World Europa), Costa Cruises (Costa Favolosa), CFC Croisières (Renaissance) and Ponant (Le Bougainville). That makes cruise-and-stay itineraries straightforward.
The calendar
- Carnival (February): free and open to visitors.
- Easter: crab season. The dish to order is matoutou, crab with rice and spices.
- Summer: music festivals, and the Tour des Yoles, a staged regatta around the island.
- November: sporting events, including a women’s raid across the island, with a Quebec team taking part this year.
- Before Christmas: Chanté Nwèl, neighbourhood carol-singing gatherings.
Martinique Sensation is one of two fixed dates on the MTA’s Canadian calendar. The other is September’s Martinique Gourmande festival.
Sources
- Martinique Tourism Authority news release, “Martinique Sensation Puts Accessibility in Spotlight in 2026 Return to Toronto Market”, via Jesson + Company, 3 Nov 2026
- Martinique Tourism Authority destination presentation, Martinique Sensation, Malaparte Event Space, Toronto, 3 Nov 2026 (attended by Not An Atlas)
- Air Canada Toronto schedule: Jesson + Company for the MTA, 5 Nov 2026 (pending final confirmation from the MTA)
- martinique.org
Andrew Lovesey is Editor-in-Chief of Not An Atlas, and always on the hunt for the next big thing: where to go, where to stay and what's worth the photo. His first trip was to the family cottage in Prince Edward Island, all rolling hills, red sand cliffs and jellyfish drifting in the North Atlantic. He'll sit anywhere but the middle seat (no armrest wars), never flies without the adapter that lets his AirPods play the in-flight movie, and has eaten at a McDonald's in every country he's visited. Iceland gets a pass because it doesn't have one. He once learned to bead earrings from Aleqa Hammond, Greenland's first female premier, on a ship in the Northwest Passage, and will tell anyone who'll listen that Cincinnati is wildly underrated. Friends say charming, driven and loyal. His mum says persuasive. Next stop: Greece.
