Not to miss

Port-au-Prince

Gingerbread trim and a view of the harbour are about all Port-au-Prince has in common with other Caribbean capitals. It's crammed with people soldiering on amidst rundown buildings, open sewers, brightly coloured murals and taptaps, public buses emblazoned with fine art and Creole sayings.

Much of the activity is centred on the Marché de Fer (the Iron Market), a 19th-century iron and tin mix of Parisian class and African style. It's chaos inside, packed with stalls, vendors and piles of fruit, baskets, soap, religious totems and toys. It's hot, noisy and overwhelming.

Good places to seek post-shopping repose are the Cathédrale de Port-au-Prince, where the decor owes as much to Africa as to Rome, and the Cathédrale de la Ste Trinité, where you can gaze up at murals by some of the country's most famous artists. The Musée d'Art Haïtien du College St Pierre has an excellent collection of paintings. The Musée National is more of a national curio cabinet, featuring King Christophe's suicide pistol and a rusty anchor reputed to have been salvaged from Columbus' Santa Maria. There are areas of the capital travellers should avoid, chiefly the shantytowns on the northern edge of the city.

Plaine du Cul de Sac

The Plaine de Cul de Sac is a fertile plain that runs from Port-au-Prince to Étang Saumâtre near the Dominican border. The area isn't exactly a tourist magnet, but does have some interesting features that more adventurous travellers won't want to miss.

Croix des Bouquets is a market town east of Port-au-Prince and boasts the biggest livestock market in Haiti. In the early 1950s, long-time resident Georges Liautaud began making amazing metal crosses for the local cemetery. He was convinced by an art collector to make free-standing figures.

Today, Liautaud's apprentices, known as the 'Blacksmiths of Vodou,' have created a veritable art colony of figures depicting Vodou spirits. The workshops are well worth visiting.

The best place to see birds in Haiti is Trou Caïman, known to locals as Eau Gallée, northeast of Croix des Bouquets. The large marshy lake is home to a colony of 150 greater flamingos, seven species of heron and rare ibises and ducks. To the southeast, Étang Saumâtre, the country's largest saltwater lake, supports more than 100 species of waterfowl and more than a few American crocodiles. Farther south, the Parc Nacional Forêt de Pines is the largest remaining tract of pine forest in Haiti.

Étang Saumâtre

This is the place to come if you are interested in looking at some local flora and fauna. Haiti's largest saltwater lake supports over 100 species of waterfowl, flamingos and American crocodiles. It's an intense shade of blue and skirted by brush and cacti.

Parc Nacional Macaya

At the tip of Haiti's southern claw, Parc Macaya is the country's best-known national park, and rightly so. The mountains, criss-crossed with rough but beautiful trails, are covered in lush rainforest.

The most challenging hike takes eight days round-trip, and the view from the top of Pic Macaya (2347m) is worth every blister. Guides are absolutely essential, and might even loan unprepared hikers a machete, necessary for hacking through the undergrowth.

There are two University of Florida campsites within the park, and both are extremely basic. You will need to bring all of your camping gear with you if you wish to tackle the park.

Bassins Bleu

The Bassins Bleu are three cobalt-blue pools joined by spectacular cascades. Dissolved minerals give the falls their distinctive colour. According to legend, water nymphs live in the grottos and sun themselves on a rock in Palm Lake, but disappear at the sound of mortal footsteps. Given the number of mortals hanging around, you probably won't see them.