Little Pompeii, as Martinique's former capital, ST-PIERRE , is now known, begins due north of the Habitation Anse Latouche. On May 8, 1902, a sudden eruption of Mont-Pelée devastated the then 250-year-old town along with its 30,000 inhabitants in a mere ninety seconds. The lone survivor, Louis Cyparis , only made it out alive because the prison cell in which he was locked up was sufficiently ballasted to withstand the heat. The grim effects of the lava's path are evident throughout the compact town, where blackened ruins dominate the landscape.

The best place to start your explorations is the must-visit Musée Vulcanologique on rue Victor Hugo (daily 9am-5pm; ¬1.53), a small museum containing contorted glass and soot-streaked porcelain salvaged from the rubble; the staggering centrepiece is a squashed church bell that once sounded Mass.

Facing the museum are St-Pierre's most impressive ruins, those belonging to the 1831-32 Bordeaux-inspired theatre : all that remain are the twin entrance staircases and the archway-encircled oval auditorium, but they capture something of its former splendour. Connected one level below the theatre's northeast corner is what's left of the town jail - Cyparis's life-saving thick-walled cell is among the foundations. South towards the waterfront finds the Quartier du Figuier , the extensive ruins of several eighteenth-century portside storehouses.