All-Inclusive or a Villa in Guadeloupe? We Ran Both Simulations for 8 People

Is an all-inclusive resort really simpler and cheaper than renting a villa in Guadeloupe? The question comes up in almost every group holiday plan, and it is rarely settled with actual numbers.

So we ran the exercise for real. On the same day, for the same dates and the same party size, we completed two full booking simulations: one week at Club Med La Caravelle in Sainte-Anne, and one week in a ZeWelcome villa. Here is everything we found, including the parts that do not favour us.

Our simulation in four numbers

One week, 13-20 February 2027, 8 people, departing Paris. Prices recorded in September 2026.

🏡

€14,610

The complete trip for 8 people in a villa: flights, cars, groceries, restaurants and activities included.

🏨

€28,512

The same trip all-inclusive, on the same dates and with the same services.

🚫

6 people

The maximum party size bookable online at Club Med. Beyond that, you have to phone.

✈️

€295

The per-person gap between the flight sold in the package and the same non-stop flight booked directly.

Why 8 adults rather than a family?

Let us be clear straight away: this scenario is the one that favours the villa most. Club Med applies significant child discounts and includes its kids' clubs from ages 4 to 17, whereas a villa costs the same regardless of who sleeps in it. With four adults and four children, the gap narrows considerably.

We chose 8 adults because it is the most common configuration in our four-bedroom villas: two or three couples, an extended family, a group of friends. If you are travelling with young children, redo the calculation — which is exactly why every line is itemised below.

The Club Med simulation

The first surprise had nothing to do with price.

We therefore simulated six adults, the maximum allowed, and worked back to a per-person rate.

Package	Total	Per person
All-inclusive stay only, land package	€13,788 (down from €15,312)	€2,298
All-inclusive stay + flights from Paris	€21,384 (down from €22,908)	€3,564

By subtraction, the flight sold by Club Med works out at €1,266 per person. We checked what the identical route costs when booked directly, on the same dates.

Airline	Route	Return fare
Cheapest displayed	all options	€778
Air Caraïbes	Orly to Pointe-à-Pitre, 1 stop	€840
Air Caraïbes	Orly to Pointe-à-Pitre, non-stop (8 h 50)	€971
Corsair	Orly to Pointe-à-Pitre, non-stop	€1,141
Air France	Charles de Gaulle to Pointe-à-Pitre, non-stop	€1,167
Club Med	flight bundled into the package	€1,266

Booking the non-stop flight yourself saves roughly €295 per person, or €2,360 for a party of eight. In exchange, the Club Med package includes assistance if anything goes wrong and airport transfers — which has genuine value if you want to organise nothing.

The villa simulation, same week

On those dates, 24 ZeWelcome villas could sleep eight. We picked one of the cheapest, Villa Ayana in Saint-François: four air-conditioned bedrooms including three suites, two pools, a bar, sleeping 8 to 10.

Here is the full breakdown, fees included — the amount actually charged at checkout, not the headline rate.

Line item	Amount
Rental price	€2,760
Cleaning fee	€370
Service fee	€138
Tourist tax	€138
Total	€3,406

That is €426 per person for the week, against €2,298 for the Club Med stay. But stopping there would be dishonest: that figure covers no meals, no drinks, no activities and no transport.

What the villa has to add

This is where most comparisons cheat. All-inclusive means what it says: meals, drinks including alcohol, 27 supervised sports, kids' clubs from 4 to 17, evening shows and airport transfers. To compare fairly, you have to rebuild the equivalent on the villa side.

Item	Amount	Basis
2 rental cars	€476	Recorded: €238 for 7 days, compact car, unlimited mileage, airport pick-up. Two vehicles are needed for eight people with luggage.
Fuel	~€100	Estimate: around 600 km combined over the week to see both Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre.
Groceries	~€800	Estimate: about €15.50 per person per day — a mainland budget of roughly €11 uplifted for Guadeloupe price levels, excluding the three restaurant nights.
3 dinners out	~€960	Estimate: €40 per person, three courses with a drink, at a seafront restaurant.
Drinks and nights out	~€400	Estimate: the villa equivalent of the resort open bar, plus a few evenings at a bar.
Watersports lessons	~€500	Estimate: four surf lessons and two kite tasters at local school rates.
Babysitting	~€200	Estimate: three evenings, as a partial substitute for the kids' clubs. Remove this line if your group has no children.

The final comparison

Item	ZeWelcome villa	Club Med La Caravelle
Accommodation, fees and taxes included	€3,406	€18,384
Return flights × 8	€7,768	€10,128
Cars and fuel	€576	included (transfers)
Groceries	€800	included
Restaurants	€960	included
Drinks and nights out	€400	included
Watersports	€500	included
Childcare	€200	included (ages 4-17)
Total for the group	€14,610	€28,512
Per person	€1,826	€3,564

The gap is €13,902 for the group — close to half the price in a villa, fully loaded and with equivalent services rebuilt.

A harsher variant for us: if the group books its own flights and takes only the Club Med land package, the resort total drops to €26,152. The gap is still €11,542.

What the table does not say

What Club Med genuinely does better

• Unlimited access to activities. Our €500 covers six sessions. The resort offers kitesurfing, wingfoiling, sailing, windsurfing, paddleboarding, kayaking, tennis, pickleball, archery, flying trapeze, yoga and fitness on free access all week. That is not equivalent, and it should be said.
• Zero mental load. No shopping, no cooking, no washing up, no driving. For exhausted parents, that is a real product.
• Supervised kids' clubs. Ages 4 to 17, split by age group, run by trained staff. No villa replaces that.
• A locked budget. You pay once and never take your card out again. Our seven estimated lines, by contrast, can drift.

What the villa adds that appears on no line

🏡

Everyone under one roof

Eight people at a resort means four double rooms scattered across the village. In a villa it is one house, one table, one pool.

⏰

Your rhythm, not the buffet's

Get up at ten, eat at ten in the evening, leave at dawn for the Carbet Falls. Nobody is waiting for you.

🥭

Guadeloupe, not a resort

The Saint-François market in the morning, fish bought straight from the fisherman, dinner at a lolo. The grocery premium buys that too.

🏊

A private pool

No reserving a sunlounger, no neighbour under the next parasol.

🎚️

A budget you can flex

Cook every night and you save €960. Skip the babysitting and lessons and you keep another €700. A package cannot be negotiated down.

🔑

Booked in three clicks

Full price displayed upfront, instant online booking, no phone call to a travel advisor.

When all-inclusive is still the better call

We rent villas, and we are not going to pretend all-inclusive makes no sense. It is clearly the better option in four cases.

• You are travelling as two, three or four with young children: child discounts and included clubs change the maths entirely.
• You do not want to drive. In Guadeloupe, a villa without a car quickly becomes limiting.
• You want supervised sport every day rather than exploration.
• You need a budget fixed to the last euro, with no decisions to make once you land.

The tipping point: how many people?

This is the real lesson of the exercise. A resort charges per person; a villa charges per house. The bigger the group, the wider the gap grows, mechanically.

On our figures, the villa's €3,406 works out at €426 per person for eight, but €851 for four. The Club Med package stays at €2,298 whatever the headcount. From six adults upwards the question barely arises — and at seven you cannot book online anyway.

The limits of this comparison

So you can form your own view, here is what our exercise does not cover.

• The Club Med price for eight is extrapolated from the per-adult rate, since the site cannot simulate beyond six. A quote obtained by phone may differ.
• The Club Med rates we recorded included a live promotion. Without it, the land package showed €15,312 for six people.
• Excursions are chargeable on both sides. We excluded them from both columns.
• Travel insurance, souvenirs and spa treatments are counted nowhere.
• Only one villa was used, among the cheaper of the 24 available. Our high-end properties cost considerably more.
• February 2027 is a peak-season week. In low season both options come down, but not at the same rate.

Questions before you book

Is all-inclusive cheaper than a villa in Guadeloupe?

No, except for small groups with young children. In our February 2027 simulation with eight adults, a fully loaded week costs €3,564 per person at Club Med against €1,826 in a villa, with meals, cars, activities and nights out all rebuilt. All-inclusive is justified by convenience, not by price.

Can you book Club Med online for 8 people?

No. The booking engine displays "Limited to 6 participants" from the seventh traveller and redirects you to a phone advisor. A four-bedroom villa can be booked online for eight people in a few clicks, with the full price shown immediately.

How much does a week in a villa for 8 people cost?

On our peak-season dates, expect around €3,400 all-in for the villa itself, cleaning fee, service fee and tourist tax included. Adding flights, cars, groceries, restaurants and activities brings the complete trip to roughly €14,600 for the group, about €1,800 per person from Paris.

Do you need a rental car if you stay in a villa?

Yes, and for eight people with luggage you need two. Public transport is poorly suited to a holiday, and the distances between Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre mean you will drive. Budget around €240 per vehicle per week for a compact car with unlimited mileage and airport pick-up.

Is Club Med better value with children?

For young children, Club Med has two real advantages: supervised clubs from 4 to 17 included in the package, and substantially reduced child rates that narrow the price gap. For independent teenagers or groups of adults, that advantage disappears and the villa wins comfortably.

Can you use Club Med without staying there?

Yes. Club Med La Caravelle offers a Day Pass giving access to the facilities and dining for one day, bookable directly with the resort subject to availability. From a villa in Saint-François or Sainte-Anne, it lets you give the children a club day without paying for the whole week.