143 POIs verified on OpenStreetMap · guides, Mauritian press and official sources · no Eater coverage
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by Metro Express, bus or car. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Mauritius brings together 143 hand-picked places: 62 attractions, 36 restaurants, 21 cafés and 24 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
3.1 km · ~4 h · 7 stops · start at 8:30 at the market and finish at sunset at La Citadelle · everything free except the Blue Penny · Monday to Friday (Aapravasi Ghat does not open on Sundays) · 7 stops
62 km · ~8 h · 6 stops · leave at 7:30 from the west coast · a car is essential · Le Morne Section 1 opens at 07:00 and the last ascent is 14:30 · 6 stops
48 km · ~7 h · 6 stops · bring a jacket: Curepipe sits at 550 m above sea level and gets twice the rain of the coast · entry charged at Bois Chéri and Saint Aubin · 6 stops
34 km · ~7 h · 6 stops · book the Île aux Aigrettes tour ahead · Monday is the big day at Mahébourg market · 6 stops
41 km · ~7 h · 6 stops · L'Aventure du Sucre opens 10:00-16:00 Monday to Saturday and the botanical garden 08:30-17:30 every day · finish at Cap Malheureux at sunset · 6 stops
Le Morne Brabant · Le Morne
The basalt monolith listed as World Heritage because of the maroons: escaped slaves who lived free in its caves. In 1835, seeing the police climbing up to announce abolition to them, many threw themselves off rather than return to slavery.
Tip: 🚨 Section 2 (from viewpoint 2 to the metal cross) has been closed since October 2026 because of rockfall risk, by Cabinet decision. Section 1 (2.53 km, easy) is still open: 07:00-16:00, last ascent 14:30, free. Sign the visitors' book at the entrance.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Le Morne (3.0 km)
Featured in: Le Morne Heritage Trust Fund · ION News 3-Oct-2026
Show on mapTerre des 7 Couleurs · Chamarel
Volcanic sand dunes in seven shades that never blend, no matter how hard it rains. The same ticket gets you both viewpoints over the Chamarel waterfall and the giant tortoise park.
Tip: Rs 800 for non-resident adults, Rs 400 for children aged 5 to 11, under 5 free. From October to May it opens 08:30-17:30 and last entry is 17:00. Rupees or card only: they do not take foreign cash. Walking down to the waterfall on your own is not allowed.
🚇 bus to La Gaulette, then 25 min on foot
Featured in: chamarel7colouredearth.com (official site)
Show on mapChamarel Waterfall · Chamarel
Mauritius's most photographed 83 m free fall, with two streams that merge in mid-air above a jungle-covered basalt amphitheatre.
Tip: There is nothing extra to pay: it is covered by the Terres des Sept Couleurs ticket. Do the waterfall first and the coloured earths afterwards: early in the morning the light hits it head-on and you avoid shooting into the sun.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 26 min on foot
Featured in: chamarel7colouredearth.com
Show on mapगंगा तालाब · Grand Bassin
The most sacred crater lake in Hinduism outside India: legend has it a priest dreamt the Ganges had spilled water here. Around it, temples, monkeys and the cool air of 550 m above sea level.
Tip: Free entry. Take your shoes off before entering any shrine and cover shoulders and knees: swimwear does not work here. The macaques will open your backpack, so keep it shut and do not eat in the open. Go on a weekday between 8 and 11.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Bois Chéri (4.7 km)
Featured in: Le Mauricien · local guide 2026
Show on mapमंगल महादेव · Grand Bassin
The 33 m bronze Shiva that greets you at the entrance to Ganga Talao, twin of the one at Sursagar in Gujarat. Facing it, a Durga Maa of the same height.
Tip: You can see it from the road before you arrive, but get out of the car: from the base the scale changes completely. Park in the lot by the lake and walk; do not try to pull over on the shoulder.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Bois Chéri (4.9 km)
Featured in: Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority
Show on mapSir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden · Pamplemousses
The oldest tropical botanical garden in the southern hemisphere, founded in 1770 by Pierre Poivre to break the Dutch monopoly on spices. The pond of giant Victoria amazonica water lilies is the obligatory photo.
Tip: Open daily 08:30-17:30. Guides wait at the entrance and charge separately, per person: they are worth it, because without someone telling you the story it is just a pretty park. Ask them to show you the talipot palm, which flowers once at 40-60 years old and then dies.
🚇 bus to Canton Belle Eau, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council · local guides
Show on mapChâteau Mon Plaisir · Pamplemousses
The white colonial house at the heart of the botanical garden, with wooden verandas looking over the deer park. The perfect postcard of eighteenth-century French Mauritius.
Tip: It sits inside the botanical garden, so you have already paid for it. Behind it are the deer enclosure and the sugar mill: that is the corner where children stay put.
🚇 bus to Canton Belle Eau, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council
Show on mapआप्रवासी घाट · Port Louis
The landing place where almost half a million Indian indentured labourers came ashore from 1834 on, the experiment with which the British Empire replaced slavery. A World Heritage site. Almost every Mauritian of Indian descent passed over these 16 steps.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday 09:00-16:00 and Saturday 09:00-12:00 by appointment only; closed Sundays and public holidays. It is five blocks from Caudan: pair it with the Blue Penny on the same morning.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: aapravasi.govmu.org (official site)
Show on mapNatural History Museum · Port Louis
Here is the most complete dodo skeleton in the world: 98 % complete and, uniquely, from a single bird. It was put together by Louis Etienne Thirioux, a barber and amateur naturalist, near Le Pouce in the early twentieth century.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 09:00-16:00, Wednesdays from 11:00. Every other dodo in the world is a composite skeleton built from the bones of several animals: this one is not. That is the fact that sets you apart from the souvenir.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: Guinness World Records · Mauritius Museums Council
Show on mapBlue Penny Museum · Caudan, Port Louis
The two 1847 stamps — the Penny Red and the Two Pence Blue — that read 'Post Office' instead of 'Post Paid' and are worth a fortune because of that mistake. The museum also tells the island's maritime history and the story of Paul et Virginie.
Tip: The originals sit in the dark and are lit for only a few minutes at a time so they do not fade: ask at reception when the next window is and wait for it, instead of turning up just before closing.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: bluepennymuseum.com · Caudan Waterfront
Show on mapCentral Market / Bazar · Port Louis
Two floors of noise: fish, fruit and vegetables downstairs; food stalls, herbalists with their tisanes and clothing upstairs. The beating heart of the capital since 1844.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 05:30-18:00 and Sunday until midday; the fish section closes mid-morning. Ask the price BEFORE they bag it: there are two price lists and neither one is written down.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Port Louis City Council · local press
Show on mapFort Adelaide · Port Louis
A British fort of 1835 on the hill that commands Port Louis. The cannons never fired at anyone: it was built out of fear of a revolt after the abolition of slavery.
Tip: There is no entry fee. Go up late in the afternoon: from the battlements you get the harbour, Champ de Mars and Le Pouce mountain in side light. The climb is steep, so leave the flip-flops behind.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 16 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority
Show on mapChamp de Mars Racecourse · Port Louis
A racecourse opened on 25 June 1812 by the Mauritius Turf Club, on the same oval where the French drilled their troops. On race days the whole city piles in.
Tip: November 2026 race days: Saturdays 7, 14 and 28; the season closes on Sunday 6 December. The MTC bills itself as the oldest racing club in the southern hemisphere, but that superlative is self-declared: the solid fact is the 1812 date.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then bus or taxi (1 km)
Featured in: Mauritius Turf Club · Supertote 2026 calendar
Show on mapमस्जिद जुम्मा · Port Louis
The Friday mosque, built in 1850, tucked in among the shops of Queen Street. A marble courtyard, a century-old almond tree in the middle and carved teak doors brought from India.
Tip: Visitors are received outside prayer times, Saturday to Thursday in the morning. Women and men with shoulders and knees covered; barefoot in the courtyard. Do not go in on a Friday at midday.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: local press · Diocese and communities of Port Louis
Show on map關帝廟 · Les Salines, Port Louis
The oldest Chinese temple in the southern hemisphere, raised in 1842 by the first Cantonese migrants. Dedicated to Guan Yu, the general who became the god of loyalty and business.
Tip: It sits off the tourist circuit, in Les Salines, which is why you will have it to yourself. Go in quietly, people are genuinely praying. Pair it with the Chinatown arch.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: local press · Sino-Mauritian community
Show on map唐人街牌坊 · Port Louis
The red gateway that opens Port Louis's Chinatown, with its shops selling a thousand things, the boulettes — steamed dumplings served in broth — and the Cantonese signs above the French names.
Tip: Chinatown is a daytime place: at night the shutters come down. Walk it on a Saturday morning, when the tabagies, the corner shops, put their freshly made boulettes out on the pavement.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: Port Louis City Council
Show on mapMarie Reine de la Paix · Port Louis
A 1940 shrine on the slope of Signal Mountain, with a stone stairway and a terrace looking over the whole capital. John Paul II said mass here in 1989.
Tip: Climb the steps all the way to the top level: it is the best free view of Port Louis and there is almost nobody up there. At sunset the stone turns orange.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: Diocese of Port Louis
Show on mapLe Caudan Waterfront · Port Louis
The old harbour reinvented: a promenade over the water, cinemas, the Blue Penny, the casino and the craft stalls. This is where the capital turns walkable.
Tip: It is the only corner of Port Louis still alive after 18:00, when the rest of downtown empties out. Park here and do the historic centre on foot from the footbridge.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: caudan.com
Show on mapCentre d'Arts Caudan · Port Louis
Port Louis's modern performing arts venue: séga, Creole theatre, arthouse cinema and exhibitions. The place to see contemporary Mauritian culture rather than folklore laid on for tourists.
Tip: Check the programme before you travel: when there is live séga tipik, it is the best night on the island. It is steps from the Blue Penny.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: caudanartscentre.com
Show on mapPhotography Museum · Rue du Vieux Conseil, Port Louis
Tristan Bréville's private collection on the oldest street in Port Louis: daguerreotypes, wooden cameras and the first photographs ever taken of the island. A wonderful mess.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday 10:00-15:00 and that is it: if you want to see it, it has to be a weekday morning. Rue du Vieux Conseil is itself the prettiest block in the capital.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Photography Museum · local guides
Show on mapMusée National d'Histoire · Mahébourg
The colonial house where the wounded French and English captains were treated after the 1810 naval battle of Grand Port, the only French naval victory of the Napoleonic wars engraved on the Arc de Triomphe.
Tip: Free entry. The whole of Mahébourg works as an open-air museum: do the museum, the market and the seafront in the same morning.
🚇 bus to Beau Vallon, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council
Show on mapBazar de Mahébourg · Mahébourg
The market of the south-east, far less touristy than the Port Louis one. On Mondays the big fair takes over and the whole town turns up.
Tip: Monday is the big day; the rest of the week it runs, but smaller. At the food stalls along the seafront you eat dholl puri, the split-pea flatbread, and mine frit at Mauritian prices.
🚇 bus to Mahebourg terminal, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: local press · Mahébourg
Show on mapÎle aux Aigrettes · off Pointe d'Esny
A 26-hectare coral islet where the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation rebuilt the original ebony forest and brought back the pink pigeon and Telfair's skink. The closest thing to seeing Mauritius before humans arrived.
Tip: You cannot go on your own: you have to book the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation guided tour, which includes the 10-minute boat ride from Pointe Jérôme, in Mahébourg. It runs 1.5 to 2 h. Book ahead: weekend places go fast.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Beau Vallon (2.9 km)
Featured in: Mauritian Wildlife Foundation
Show on mapParc Marin de Blue Bay · Blue Bay
A protected marine park of 353 hectares with living coral a few metres down and turquoise water that looks retouched. The best easy-access snorkelling on the island.
Tip: The glass-bottom boats leave from the public beach and the price is haggled on the spot: ask three of them before you get in. Ask to be taken to the coral section, not just around the bay. Touching or taking anything is forbidden.
🚇 bus to Blue Bay, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: National Parks and Conservation Service
Show on mapÎle aux Cerfs · Trou d'Eau Douce
The postcard island of the east coast: blinding white sand, a lagoon in two different turquoises and a golf course. The most photographed spot in Mauritius, and also the most crowded.
Tip: The only way in is by boat from Trou d'Eau Douce: the boatmen at the jetty charge a good deal less than the hotel packages, and there is a second landing at Pointe Maurice that is cheaper still. Take the first boat: after 11 it fills up with catamarans.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Grand River South-East (2.8 km)
Featured in: local operators in Trou d'Eau Douce
Show on mapTrou aux Cerfs · Curepipe
The dormant crater, 350 m across and some 85 m deep, right in the middle of Curepipe, with a path that circles it completely and a 360° view over the central plateau.
Tip: Free and always open. This is the highest and cloudiest point on the island: if the coast is clear and up here it is misty, do not insist, come back another day. Walk the full loop around the rim, it takes 20 minutes.
🚇 Metro Express to Curepipe North, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: Curepipe Municipality
Show on mapParc National des Gorges de Rivière Noire · Black River
The only mountain national park in Mauritius: 6,754 hectares of the last native forest, with Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (828 m above sea level), the highest summit in the country.
Tip: There is no entry fee for the park. The western-side trails start from this visitor centre, including the one that climbs the Piton. Bring your own water: there are no stalls inside. If a torrential rain warning is issued, the park closes.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Grande Rivière Noire (5.5 km)
Featured in: National Parks and Conservation Service
Show on mapGorges Viewpoint · Plaine Champagne
The balcony on the Plaine Champagne road over the gorges: an entire valley of indigenous forest falling to the sea, with white-tailed paille-en-queue gliding below you.
Tip: You stop the car and that is it: no walking involved. Come early, before the plateau mist rises. From here to Alexandra Falls is five minutes.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Bois Chéri (7.1 km)
Featured in: National Parks and Conservation Service
Show on mapChute Alexandra · Plaine Champagne
A viewpoint over a waterfall that drops into the gorges, with the south of the island and the sea behind it. It sits on the road between Grand Bassin and Chamarel.
Tip: Free, and fifty paces from the car park. In November, with little rain, the flow drops: the view over the valley is worth it just the same.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Chamouny (6.3 km)
Featured in: National Parks and Conservation Service
Show on mapTamarin Falls / Sept Cascades · Henrietta
Seven waterfalls chained together in a basalt canyon. The full walk goes down past all seven and back up: the prettiest freshwater outing on the island.
Tip: The descent is unmarked and some sections need a rope: go with a local guide, that is the difference between an adventure and a rescue. From the Henrietta viewpoint you see the first falls without walking at all.
🚇 Metro Express to Sadally, then bus or taxi (6 km)
Featured in: local trekking guides · NPCS
Show on mapRochester Falls · Souillac
A wide waterfall dropping over basalt columns so straight they look carved. In the south, ten minutes from Souillac.
Tip: Access is along a sugarcane track: an ordinary car manages it if it has not rained. Local kids jump from the top and then ask for a tip; do not feel obliged, and do not copy them.
🚇 bus to Surinam, then 16 min on foot
Featured in: local guides in Souillac
Show on mapGris Gris · Souillac
The one stretch of the south coast with no reef: the Indian Ocean hits the cliff head-on and explodes. You cannot swim here, and that is exactly why it is worth the trip.
Tip: Dangerous to get into: there is no lagoon slowing anything down. Walk east along the cliff edge to La Roche qui Pleure, ten minutes, and that is the best stretch.
🚇 bus to Souillac, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: local guides · NPCS
Show on mapLa Roche qui Pleure · Souillac
The rock that weeps: a formation in which, seen in profile from exactly the right angle, the face of the poet Robert Edward Hart appears, looking out to sea.
Tip: Find the sign with the drawing of the profile and stand exactly there: from anywhere else you see nothing. It is the trick half the visitors miss.
🚇 bus to Souillac, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council · local guides
Show on mapLe Macondé · Baie du Cap
The most famous bend in Mauritius: a horseshoe of asphalt hanging over the cliff at the south-western tip, with steps up to the viewpoint above.
Tip: Climb the steps on the left: from the top you get the whole coast road and Le Morne in profile. There is room for two cars, no more.
🚇 bus to Baie du Cap, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: local guides in Baie du Cap
Show on mapLe Souffleur · L'Escalier
A natural chimney in the rock through which the sea, when the swell is big, fires a jet of spray upwards. It was a world-famous spectacle in the nineteenth century; today it blows far less.
Tip: It only works with heavy seas: on a calm day nothing blows at all. The access crosses a private cane field. Even when it does not blow, the cliff and the natural bridge are worth the detour.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is L’Escalier (3.9 km)
Featured in: local guides · Mauritian press
Show on mapPointe du Diable · Vieux Grand Port
An eighteenth-century French gun battery on the headland facing Grand Port bay. It got its name because ships' compasses went haywire over the basalt.
Tip: Free, almost empty and with one of the widest views in the south-east. The original cannons still point out to sea. Ideal for breaking the drive between Mahébourg and the east coast.
🚇 bus to Grand Sable, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council
Show on mapLa Tour Martello · La Preneuse
A British artillery tower of 1832, built right after the abolition of slavery to keep an eye on the big sugar owners who opposed it. Walls three metres thick.
Tip: The guide takes you up to the roof and shows you the swivelling cannon: half an hour, and one of the best value-for-money visits on the island. Closed Mondays.
🚇 bus to La Preneuse, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritius Museums Council
Show on mapAlbion Lighthouse · Albion
The only lighthouse on the main island open to visitors, built in 1910, on a black lava cliff with the west coast opening out on both sides.
Tip: Getting into the compound depends on the guard: if it is shut, the cliff next door gives you almost the same view and costs nothing. At sunset it is one of the best spots on the west coast.
🚇 Metro Express to Barkly, then bus or taxi (6 km)
Featured in: Mauritius Ports Authority · local guides
Show on mapL'Aventure du Sucre · Beau Plan, Pamplemousses
The Beau Plan sugar mill turned museum: the history of sugar, of slavery, of indentured labour and of how cane made this country. The best museum in Mauritius, by a distance.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 10:00-16:00, public holidays included; entry Rs 1,200 for adults, Rs 600 for ages 6 to 25, under 6 free and 10 % off for families. Guided tours run Monday to Thursday at 10:30 and 14:00, Friday at 14:00. Finish in the shop: that is where you taste the speciality sugars.
🚇 bus to Beau Plan, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: aventuredusucre.com (official site)
Show on mapChâteau de Labourdonnais · Mapou
An 1856 teak mansion restored down to the last door handle, with an orchard of tropical fruit, a rum distillery and a huge park. Franco-Creole Mauritius, intact.
Tip: Open daily 09:00-16:00. The combined ticket with the rum and orchard-juice tasting is the one to take. The craft shop here is genuinely good.
🚇 bus to Mapou, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: domainedelabourdonnais.com · OSM
Show on mapCasela · Cascavelle
An adventure and wildlife park on the western slope: ziplines, quad bikes, an African safari with giraffes and rhinos, and a view over the Flic en Flac lagoon.
Tip: Watch the opening hours: OSM and several guides list it as open Thursday to Sunday 09:00-17:00. Confirm the day before you drive out there, and book the adventure activities online, since places are limited.
🚇 Metro Express to Quatre Bornes Central, then bus or taxi (8 km)
Featured in: caselapark.com · OSM
Show on mapLa Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes · Rivière des Anguilles
The largest captive colony of Aldabra giant tortoises in the world, plus Nile crocodiles, a famous insectarium and a fern forest in the deep south.
Tip: Open daily 08:30-17:00. They let you into the tortoise enclosure to stroke them: for children it is THE activity of the trip. Check the crocodile feeding time before you go in.
🚇 bus to Rivière des Anguilles, then 16 min on foot
Featured in: lavanille-naturepark.com · OSM
Show on mapEbony Forest Reserve · Chamarel
A private reserve replanting the native ebony forest on the Chamarel mountain, with a raised walkway and a viewpoint over Le Morne and the south-west lagoon.
Tip: The walkway and the Piton Canot viewpoint are the best of the reserve. If you have time, the guided tour explains why Mauritian ebony nearly disappeared: it was felled for Dutch furniture.
🚇 bus to La Gaulette, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: ebonyforest.com
Show on mapCurious Corner · Chamarel
A house of optical illusions: upside-down rooms, tilted floors, infinity mirrors. It sounds like a trap and turns out to be the most fun hour with kids on the whole island.
Tip: It is metres from the Rhumerie: do this one while the grown-ups stay at the tasting. Charge your phone, you will take a hundred photos.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 19 min on foot
Featured in: curiouscornerofchamarel.com · OSM
Show on mapRhumerie de Chamarel · Chamarel
A rhum agricole distillery — made from fresh cane juice, not molasses — in the middle of its own mountain cane fields. The visit ends with a tasting of six rums.
Tip: Ask them to explain the difference between rhum agricole and traditional molasses rum: it is the key to Mauritian rum and almost nobody spells it out. If you are driving, your companion does the tasting.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: rhumeriedechamarel.com · OSM
Show on mapBois Chéri · Grand Bois
The oldest tea plantation in Mauritius (1892) and the first real stop on the Route du Thé. A factory, a museum and a terrace above the lake looking over half the south.
Tip: Open daily 09:00-17:00, entry charged. The tasting ends with the vanilla tea, which is THE island drink and tastes like no tea you have had before. Go up to the chalet terrace, it is above the factory.
🚇 bus to Bois Chéri, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu (official site) · OSM
Show on mapDomaine des Aubineaux · Curepipe
An 1872 colonial house in Curepipe, the first on the island to have electricity, today the first stop on the Route du Thé. Giant camphor trees in the grounds and an essential-oil distillery.
Tip: It is the most urban of the three stops and the easiest to combine with Trou aux Cerfs. Keep Bois Chéri and Saint Aubin for the same day but later on.
🚇 Metro Express to Curepipe Central, then bus or taxi (1 km)
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapLe Domaine de Saint Aubin · Saint-Aubin
An 1819 colonial house in the south, the last stop on the Route du Thé: a cane museum, a rhum agricole distillery, a vanilla house and a Creole lunch on the wooden veranda.
Tip: This is where the Route du Thé circuit closes, and the only place where you see rum, sugar and vanilla together. Book lunch in the colonial house: it is some of the best Creole cooking on the island.
🚇 bus to Saint-Aubin, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapBiscuiterie Rault · Petit Bel Air, Mahébourg
A family factory from 1870 still making cassava biscuits by hand, drying them in the sun on metal trays, exactly as it did 150 years ago.
Tip: The guided visit lasts twenty minutes and ends with the tasting. Buy a packet of the coconut ones: you cannot get them off the island and they survive the journey.
🚇 bus to Petit Bel Air, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: local guides in Mahébourg · OSM
Show on mapLes Salines de Yemen-Tamarin · Tamarin
The last working salt pans in Mauritius: a grid of shallow basins where the western sun has been evaporating seawater since 1800. The women still carry the salt out in baskets on their heads.
Tip: Visits Monday to Friday 08:30-16:00 and Saturday 08:30-11:30. Come in the morning: the harvest is done early, and that is when you see people working rather than an empty landscape.
🚇 bus to Tamarin, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press in Tamarin
Show on mapBras d'Eau National Park · Poste Lafayette
The north-eastern forest, far less visited than Black River: flat trails between eucalyptus and native woodland, the Mare Sarah lake and the radio astronomy observatory hidden inside.
Tip: Free entry and flat trails: this is the national park anyone can do, children included. Bring repellent, there are mosquitoes. Bras d'Eau beach is five minutes away.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Roches Noires (2.8 km)
Featured in: National Parks and Conservation Service
Show on mapKestrel Valley · Anse Jonchée
A private valley in the south-east where the Mauritius kestrel was reintroduced, the bird that in 1974 was down to just four living individuals in the world. Today they fly over the valley.
Tip: The view from the lookout takes in the whole of Grand Port bay. Ask what time they put out food for the kestrels: that is the moment to see them.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Bambous Virieux (2.6 km)
Featured in: Mauritian Wildlife Foundation · OSM
Show on mapNotre-Dame Auxiliatrice · Cap Malheureux
The little red-roofed church facing the sea at the northern tip, looking out at Coin de Mire. It is the most repeated postcard of Mauritius and still does not disappoint.
Tip: Go inside: the ceiling is timber, framed like an upturned ship's hull. The sign reads 'Cap Malheureux' because this is where the English landed in 1810 to take the island.
🚇 bus to Cap Malheureux, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Diocese of Port Louis · OSM
Show on mapHeritage Spice House · Riambel
A spice garden in the south where they have you smell, touch and taste the vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and pepper the island has grown since Pierre Poivre.
Tip: Open daily 08:30-18:00, entry charged. It is the best way to understand why the French fought over this island: for the spice monopoly, not for the beaches.
🚇 bus to Surinam, then 16 min on foot
Featured in: heritagespicehouse.com · OSM
Show on mapTrou aux Biches Public Beach · Trou aux Biches
Three kilometres of fine sand with filao trees for shade and a lagoon so still that children walk out a hundred metres with the water at their waist. A public beach, and one of the best in the north.
Tip: Public beach: nobody can charge you or move you on. The northern stretch, near the marine cemetery, is the quietest. The sunset lands straight out over the sea.
🚇 bus to Morcellement Mascareignes, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapMont Choisy Public Beach · Mont Choisy
The longest arc-shaped bay in the north, with a row of filao trees and food stalls at weekends. This is the beach Mauritians go to, not the hotels.
Tip: On Sunday it fills up with families, barbecues and séga at full volume: if you want to see how Mauritius really enjoys itself, come that day. If you want quiet, come on a Tuesday.
🚇 bus to Domaine Palmy, then 13 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapFlic en Flac Public Beach · Flic en Flac
Eight kilometres of sand on the west coast, with the best sunset on the island and a wide, gentle lagoon. The long beach par excellence.
Tip: The west is the dry side of the island: if it is raining on the plateau, here it very likely is not. That is the reason to sleep on the west coast in the rainy season.
🚇 bus to Flic en Flac, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapLa Preneuse Beach · La Preneuse
A dark-sand beach in front of the Martello Tower, with Le Morne cut out against the horizon. The best postcard of the west coast, and almost always empty.
Tip: Come at sunset: the sun drops right beside Le Morne and the tower is left in silhouette. The sea is more open than at Flic en Flac, so keep an eye on the children.
🚇 bus to La Preneuse, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapTamarin Beach · Tamarin
The beach of Mauritian surfers, where the river meets the sea and breaks the only serious left-hander on the island. It is also where the dolphin-watching boats leave from.
Tip: ⚠️ Swimming with dolphins is legal but tightly regulated: licensed operators only, a window from 06:00 to 09:00, a maximum of three people in the water at a time, and 50 m from the animal. Since 9-Oct-2026 an Enforcement Squad has been patrolling at sea. Swimming with whales and sperm whales is FORBIDDEN.
🚇 bus to Tamarin, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Tourism Authority (Dolphin and Whale Watching) Regulations 2012 · Cabinet 9-Oct-2026
Show on mapBelle Mare Public Beach · Belle Mare
The whitest sand and the clearest lagoon on the east coast, several kilometres of public beach lined with filao trees. The east gets the sunrise first and the water is cooler.
Tip: The east is the windward side: more wind and more swell than the west, but also fewer people. Come at dawn: the sun rises straight out of the sea in front of you.
🚇 bus to Belle Mare, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapPereybère Public Beach · Pereybère
The small cove of the north between Grand Baie and Cap Malheureux, with clear water and rocks on either side. Perfect for snorkelling straight off the shore.
Tip: It is one of the very few beaches where snorkelling from the sand is worth it without a boat. The food stalls behind sell boulettes and mine frit at neighbourhood prices.
🚇 bus to Pereybere, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Beach Authority · OSM
Show on mapLe Morne Public Beach · Le Morne
The sand at the foot of the monolith, with the kitesurf lagoon, the 'underwater waterfall' you can only see from the air, and the UNESCO mountain towering over it all.
Tip: The strong kitesurf season runs from May/June to October and stretches into November in the south: right now the wind is unreliable. The underwater waterfall illusion is only visible by helicopter or from the air.
🚇 car or taxi; nearest bus stop is Le Morne (3.7 km)
Featured in: local kite schools · Beach Authority
Show on mapDewa & Sons · Bagatelle, Moka
The most famous dholl puri in Mauritius: two thin flatbreads of ground split peas and turmeric, made fresh on the griddle, filled with rougaille, butter-bean curry and mazavaroo.
Tip: In Mauritius it is spelled 'dholl puri' ('dhal puri' is the Trinidad spelling). You ALWAYS order them in twos, never one: a single one is half a portion and you will get a strange look. Ask for mazavaroo if you can take the heat.
🚇 Metro Express to Mahatma Gandhi, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapChez Vivi · Quatre Bornes
A neighbourhood stall in Quatre Bornes that appears on every local list of the best dholl puri. A queue of office workers at midday and no tourists at all.
Tip: Go between 11:30 and 13:00, which is when they come off the griddle. Turn up at three in the afternoon and there probably will not be any left.
🚇 Metro Express, St. Jean station, right next door
Featured in: local food lists 2026 · OSM
Show on mapTaaj Dholl Puri · Vacoas
Another of the names Mauritians bring up when they argue about the best dholl puri on the island. In Vacoas, on Ligne Berthaud.
Tip: Arguing about the best dholl puri is a national sport: Dewa, Chez Vivi, Taaj and Chez Bye are the four names that always come up. Try two and pick a side.
🚇 Metro Express to Sadally, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: local food lists 2026 · OSM
Show on mapMaraz · Vallée Pitot, Port Louis
A Port Louis stall that makes its farata (roti) by hand and the dholl puri from the same dough. The Maraz name is a guarantee in the capital.
Tip: Order the farata with potato curry: it is the real Port Louis breakfast, costs small change and keeps you full until the evening.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then bus or taxi (2 km)
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapSpéciale Dholl Puri & Farata · Beau Bassin
The Beau Bassin corner where a queue forms from seven in the morning for breakfast dholl puri and farata.
Tip: Dholl puri is not tourist food at lunchtime: it is breakfast. Come at 7:30 and eat standing up, like everyone else.
🚇 Metro Express, Beau Bassin station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapMine Bouillie · Rose Hill
The mine bouilli — egg noodles boiled in broth with vegetables and boulettes — which is the mild, everyday version of the Sino-Mauritian classic.
Tip: Mine FRIT is the wok-fried one; mine BOUILLI is the one in broth. If you just ask for 'mine' they will ask which: now you know the difference.
🚇 Metro Express to Rose Hill, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Sino-Mauritian cooking
Show on mapBoulette Town · Pointe aux Sables
A temple to boulettes: the Sino-Mauritian steamed dumplings of fish, pork and wonton, plus the legendary niouk yen made with chayote, served in broth with spring onion and mazavaroo.
Tip: Open Friday to Sunday from 10:00 to midnight. Order the mixed plate: the chayote niouk yen is the one you will not find outside Mauritius.
🚇 bus to Pointe aux Sables terminal, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Sino-Mauritian cooking
Show on mapBoulette Palace · Quatre Bornes
A boulettes house in Quatre Bornes, with a clear broth and the mazavaroo left on the table so you can dose it yourself.
Tip: Mazavaroo is Mauritian chilli paste and it is far stronger than it looks: start with the tip of the spoon.
🚇 Metro Express, St. Jean station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapBriani Deg · Port Louis
The Mauritian briani, which is not the Indian biryani: it has potato, less spice, and is cooked in the deg, the pot sealed with dough that is only opened at the table.
Tip: Mauritian briani is eaten with satini cotomili (coriander chutney) and sometimes a slice of hard-boiled egg. Order the chicken one if it is your first time.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Indo-Mauritian cooking
Show on mapTabagie Les Aigrettes · Mahébourg
A tabagie on the Mahébourg seafront: gâteaux piments, samoussas, farata and whatever came out of the fryer that morning. South-eastern street food in its purest form.
Tip: Gâteaux piments are split-pea fritters with chilli and they are THE national snack: eaten hot, with a slice of bread. Two or three and you are on your way.
🚇 bus to Mahebourg terminal, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press in Mahébourg
Show on mapMaison Farata · Mahébourg
The farata (Mauritian roti) made on the griddle in front of you, filled with butter-bean curry, tomato rougaille and satini.
Tip: Farata is the Mauritian roti, thicker and flakier than dholl puri. You eat it with your hands and nobody asks for cutlery.
🚇 bus to Mahebourg terminal, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapEscale Farata · Curepipe
A farata stop in Curepipe, right beside the Metro Express station. Genuine Mauritian fast food.
Tip: Curepipe is the rainiest point on the island: this covered spot beside the station saves you from a downpour with a hot farata.
🚇 Metro Express, Curepipe Central station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLa Bonne Marmite · Port Louis
A Creole restaurant in central Port Louis where you order the fish vindaye, the sausage rougaille and the cari poisson with no pretension and no mark-up.
Tip: Order the vindaye: fish or octopus marinated in mustard, turmeric, garlic and vinegar, eaten cold, and the most distinctive dish in Mauritian cooking.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapLai Min · Chinatown, Port Louis
A Cantonese institution in Chinatown going back decades: mine frit, bol renversé, roast duck and round tables with plastic cloths.
Tip: Order the bol renversé: rice, stir-fried meat and a fried egg pressed into a bowl and turned upside down on the plate. It is a 100 % Mauritian invention and does not exist in China.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapWorld of Feng Shui · Belle Rose
A Sino-Mauritian place in Belle Rose with a long menu and the classics done properly: mine frit, boulettes, niouk yen and steamed fish.
Tip: Open 11:30-14:30 and 18:30-22:30, with a long break in between: do not turn up at four in the afternoon.
🚇 Metro Express to Rose Hill, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapEightish · Rose Hill
A Chinese canteen in Rose Hill with a midday queue, a good wok and neighbourhood prices. One of the addresses Mauritians pass between themselves.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 11:45-22:00. It is two blocks from the Rose Hill Metro Express station: the obvious food stop if you are getting around by light rail.
🚇 Metro Express to Belle Rose, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLambic · Port Louis
A Creole townhouse turned bar-restaurant with the longest beer list in Mauritius and modern Creole cooking. This is where the capital goes out to dinner.
Tip: It is almost the only place in central Port Louis with any life after 19:00. Book on Thursdays and Fridays. Try the local Phoenix beer on tap.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapNamaste · Caudan, Port Louis
An Indian restaurant at Caudan with a terrace over the water: north Indian curries, a real tandoor and a long vegetarian menu.
Tip: The difference from Mauritian Indian food: here it is Indian cooking, out there it is Creole cooking with Indian roots. Try both and you will understand the country.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · Caudan Waterfront
Show on mapTy Breiz · Port Louis
A Breton crêperie in Port Louis, with buckwheat galettes and cider. The Franco-Mauritian legacy served on a plate.
Tip: Open daily from 09:30 to midnight, which in central Port Louis is extremely rare. A safe bet for a night out when everything else has closed.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLe Fangourin · L'Aventure du Sucre, Beau Plan
The sugar museum's restaurant, inside the old factory, with contemporary Creole cooking and desserts made from the house speciality sugars.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 10:00-16:30. Book if you are going at the weekend. The desserts use the unrefined sugars sold in the shop: muscovado, demerara, golden granulated.
🚇 bus to Beau Plan, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: aventuredusucre.com · OSM
Show on mapLa Table du Château · Domaine de Labourdonnais, Mapou
A chef's table on the Labourdonnais estate, with the orchard and kitchen garden of the park feeding straight into the menu.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Saturday 09:00-23:00 and Sunday 09:00-17:00; closed Monday. Order whatever has estate fruit in it: mango, lychee or starfruit depending on the month.
🚇 bus to Mapou, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: tableduchateau.com · OSM
Show on mapLe Domaine de Saint Aubin · Saint-Aubin
A Creole lunch served on the wooden veranda of an 1819 house, with the estate's own produce: rum, vanilla, heart of palm and the house curries.
Tip: Book ahead: the house has few tables and fills up with the Route du Thé groups. The estate's heart of palm is the dish you will not repeat anywhere else.
🚇 bus to Saint-Aubin, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapLe Chamarel · Chamarel
A terrace hanging off the Chamarel mountain with a view over the south-west lagoon and Le Morne. Refined Creole cooking with local produce.
Tip: Ask for a table on the terrace and come at midday on a clear day: from here you get the lagoon, Le Morne and Île aux Bénitiers in a single frame.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: le-chamarel.restaurant.mu · OSM
Show on mapChez Ruben · Chamarel
A table d'hôte in Chamarel: home-style Creole cooking served at one long table, with the house deciding the menu according to what came in that day.
Tip: The table d'hôte is the best way to eat genuinely Mauritian: you book the day before, you do not choose the menu, and you are seated with other guests. Say so when booking if you are vegetarian.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Chamarel guides
Show on mapEscale Créole · Moka
A historic table d'hôte in Moka, run by a mother and daughter, with the cari, the satini and the achards made in their own home kitchen.
Tip: Booking is compulsory, a day in advance. It is the benchmark table d'hôte in the centre of the island and sits ten minutes from Bagatelle.
🚇 Metro Express to Mahatma Gandhi, then bus or taxi (2 km)
Featured in: Mauritian food press · OSM
Show on mapKot Nou · Calodyne
A small table on the north coast, with the catch of the day and Creole cooking without tricks. One of those addresses passed on by word of mouth that appear in no guide.
Tip: 'Kot nou' is Creole for 'at our place'. It has very few tables, so book. Ask what they landed that day before you look at the menu.
🚇 bus to Calodyne, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · traveller reviews
Show on mapLa Rougaille Créole · Grand Baie
A Grand Baie classic devoted to the dish it is named after: rougaille, the sauce of tomato, onion, garlic, ginger and thyme that goes over fish, sausages or eggs.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 12:00-22:30 and Sunday until 22:00. Order the salted-fish rougaille (saucisse or poisson salé): it is the oldest version and the tastiest.
🚇 bus to Grand Baie, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapTi Kouloir · Grand Baie
A narrow bistro in Grand Baie — 'ti kouloir' is Creole for 'little corridor' — with a short produce-led menu and one of the nicest rooms in the north.
Tip: Few tables, so you have to book. It is metres from the public beach: eat here and walk down to the bay afterwards.
🚇 bus to Grand Baie, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local food press
Show on mapLe Capitaine · Grand Baie
A fishmonger-restaurant over Grand Baie bay: you pick your whole fish out of the chiller and they grill it or turn it into cari.
Tip: Ask the price per kilo BEFORE you pick the fish: it is charged by weight, and that is where the surprise lives. The capitaine (parrotfish) gives the house its name.
🚇 bus to La Croisette, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapLe Pescatore · Mont Choisy
A white-tablecloth table facing the Mont Choisy lagoon, one of the longest-standing fine addresses in the north. Fish and shellfish.
Tip: Book a terrace table for sunset: the sun drops straight in front of you over the lagoon. It is expensive by island standards.
🚇 bus to Domaine Palmy, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapRuisseau Créole Restaurant · Black River
Inside the open-air shopping complex at Black River, with a jacaranda courtyard and Creole cooking designed for staying all afternoon.
Tip: The whole complex is the best stop on the west coast for eating and buying crafts in one place, with shade and parking.
🚇 bus to Rivière Noire terminal, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Ruisseau Créole
Show on mapAH Youn · Flic en Flac
A long-standing Sino-Mauritian place in Flic en Flac, with the mine frit and the garlic prawns the west coast has been ordering for decades.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Sunday 11:30-15:30 and 18:00-22:00. Closed Monday. Order the seafood mine frit: it is the house dish.
🚇 bus to Flic en Flac, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapThe Beach Shack · Flic en Flac
A beach grill in Flic en Flac: fish, shellfish and cuts over coals with your feet almost in the sand and the best sunset on the island in front of you.
Tip: Book a table for sunset: on the west coast the sun drops into the sea and the place fills up for exactly that.
🚇 bus to Flic en Flac, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapJerk House · Flic en Flac
A Jamaican kitchen in Flic en Flac, odd and good: jerk chicken, rum and reggae on an island where everything else is Creole, Indian or Chinese.
Tip: Open Wednesday to Sunday 17:00-21:00 and nothing more. It is small and fills up: get there at seven or book.
🚇 bus to Flic en Flac, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapBeach Rouge · Belle Mare
The beach restaurant of LUX* Belle Mare, feet in the sand of the east coast and a Mediterranean menu. The LUX* group was among the winners at the World Culinary Awards 2026.
Tip: It is open to outside diners, but book and confirm that they are taking non-guests that day: in Mauritian resorts the policy shifts with occupancy.
🚇 bus to Belle Mare, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: World Culinary Awards 2026 · OSM
Show on mapKuanfu Tea · Cascavelle, Bambous
A Sino-Mauritian tea house in Cascavelle: bubble tea, iced teas and the Chinese sweets the Sino-Mauritian community has always eaten.
Tip: The Chinese community reached Mauritius in the nineteenth century from Canton and Fujian: tea, boulettes and mine are their direct legacy on the Mauritian table.
🚇 Metro Express to Quatre Bornes Central, then bus or taxi (8 km)
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapCafé des Aubineaux · Curepipe
The café of the 1872 colonial house where the Route du Thé begins: you drink the Bois Chéri vanilla tea on the veranda, with the camphor trees outside.
Tip: Vanilla tea is THE national drink: black leaf from Bois Chéri scented with island vanilla, drunk very sweet and with milk. Order it here instead of a flat white.
🚇 Metro Express to Curepipe Central, then bus or taxi (1 km)
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapChalet de Bois Chéri · Grand Bois
The chalet terrace above the plantation lake, with the tasting of the house teas and a view of the south of the island all the way to the sea.
Tip: The tasting is included in the museum ticket (09:00-17:00). Go up to the chalet: it sits above the factory, a few minutes by car from the museum, and plenty of people miss it.
🚇 bus to Bois Chéri, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapRhumerie Saint-Aubin · Saint-Aubin
The rhum agricole distillery on the Saint Aubin estate, with a tasting and the shop selling the local vanilla, tea and rum.
Tip: Mauritius makes two different rums: the agricole, from fresh cane juice, and the traditional one, from molasses. Here you taste the agricole, which is the one with its own identity.
🚇 bus to Saint-Aubin, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapChamarel Coffee · Chamarel
Yes: Mauritius grows its own coffee, on the slope at Chamarel. A small coffee up the mountain with beans from the plantation next door.
Tip: Chamarel coffee is micro-production: do not expect Brazilian volume or supermarket prices. It is one of the very few places where you drink genuinely Mauritian coffee.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Chamarel growers
Show on mapCoffee Shore · Tamarin
Real specialty coffee on Tamarin bay, brewing beans from Jiva, the Mauritian roaster in La Preneuse. The third-wave corner of the west coast.
Tip: It opens early, Monday to Saturday from 06:00: the perfect breakfast before heading out to see dolphins, which is only allowed between 06:00 and 09:00.
🚇 bus to Tamarin, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: specialty press · OSM
Show on mapCafé du Vieux Conseil · Port Louis
A cobbled courtyard on the oldest street in the capital, next to the Photo Museum. Coffee, vanilla tea and a light Creole lunch under the arcades.
Tip: It is the only corner of historic Port Louis with shade, tables and quiet. An obligatory stop between the market and the Blue Penny.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local guides
Show on mapPaul Toureau · Sainte Croix, Port Louis
A bakery and patisserie open 24 hours in Port Louis: French bread, croissants and napolitaines from nightfall through to dawn.
Tip: The napolitaine is the pink biscuit made of two shortbread layers with guava jam and fuchsia icing: it is the most Mauritian sweet there is, and it goes with vanilla tea.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then bus or taxi (3 km)
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapJane Samy · Pointe aux Sables
A neighbourhood patisserie open 24 hours west of Port Louis, with the usual gâteries: napolitaines, gato coco, gato patate.
Tip: Order gato coco (grated coconut with sugar) and gato patate (sweet potato and coconut, fried): they are the two gâteries you will miss most once you leave.
🚇 Metro Express to Coromandel, then bus or taxi (3 km)
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapBombay Sweets Mart · Port Louis
The Indian sweet shop of Port Louis: barfi, gulab jamun, jalebi and the trays of sweets families buy by the kilo for Divali.
Tip: 🪔 Divali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026 and is a public holiday. The week before, these counters are mayhem: buying a box of sweets and giving it away is exactly what everyone does.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: bombaysweetsmart.com · official 2026 calendar
Show on mapChez Médar · Cap Malheureux
A bakery at the far north, steps from the red-roofed church. Bread, croissants and the day's gâteaux in the most photographed village in Mauritius.
Tip: Buy breakfast here and eat it on the low wall in front of the church, looking at Coin de Mire. It costs small change and it is the best table in the north.
🚇 bus to Camp Pavé, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLa Kaz à Pain · Flic en Flac
A boulangerie in Flic en Flac open from 07:00 to 13:00: baguette, pain maison and the morning gâteries.
Tip: Open 07:00-13:00 and that is that: Mauritian bread is a morning affair. The 'pain maison', the little round roll, is what gets eaten with everything here.
🚇 bus to Flic en Flac, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLe Fournil · Grand Baie
A French bakery in the north, with proper butter croissants and pain au chocolat. The Franco-Mauritian legacy in a shop window.
Tip: Mauritius was French from 1715 to 1810 and the bakery never left. In the north this is the best pastry counter there is.
🚇 bus to Grand Baie, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapLa Boîte à Gâteaux · Vacoas
A patisserie in Vacoas with the cakes and gâteries of the plateau, Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 18:00.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Saturday 11:00-18:00. It is a ten-minute walk from the Vacoas Central Metro Express station.
🚇 Metro Express, Vacoas Central station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapArtisan Coffee · Rue du Vieux Conseil, Port Louis
Specialty coffee in the historic quarter: a decent espresso, air conditioning and wifi in a city where all three are scarce.
Tip: If you come from third-wave cities, this is where your espresso lives. But try the vanilla tea first: that is what the island drinks.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapArtisan Coffee · Grand Baie
The northern branch of the Mauritian specialty chain, at Grand Baie La Croisette.
Tip: It is inside the La Croisette shopping centre: handy if the weather turns and you want air conditioning and coffee in the same place.
🚇 bus to La Croisette, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapArtisan Coffee · Cascavelle, Bambous
The western branch, in the open-air Cascavelle shopping centre, on the way to Casela and Flic en Flac.
Tip: A natural stop between Casela and Flic en Flac if you are driving with children: shade, toilets and ice cream.
🚇 Metro Express to Quatre Bornes Central, then bus or taxi (8 km)
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapCoffee Nut Café · Grand Baie
A small café in Grand Baie with long breakfasts, Tuesday to Saturday 08:00-16:00 and Sunday until 15:00.
Tip: Closed Mondays. The Mauritian hotel breakfast is an international buffet: here at least you can order something cooked to order.
🚇 bus to Grand Baie, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapC Sixteen · Rose Hill
A café in Rose Hill on the Royal Road, steps from the Metro Express station. The plateau drinking its coffee.
Tip: Rose Hill is the Metro Express junction: the branch to Ébène and Réduit leaves from here. A good spot to wait for a connection.
🚇 Metro Express to Rose Hill, then 9 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapPâtisserie Notre Dame des Victoires · Rose Hill
A Rose Hill patisserie with the usual gâteries and the counter of pink napolitaines that defines the Mauritian sweet.
Tip: The napolitaine is pink because of the icing, not the filling: inside there is guava jam. Buy three, not one.
🚇 Metro Express, Rose Hill station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapShree Mahalakshmee Vegetarian Snacks · Port Louis
A stall of vegetarian sweets and snacks beside a Port Louis temple: samoussas, gâteaux piments and Hindu mithai.
Tip: Everything is vegetarian and egg-free: the safe option if you keep a strict diet. It is right against the temple, so respect the comings and goings of worshippers.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapNevada Coffee Bar · Curepipe
A café right in the centre of Curepipe, the highest and rainiest point on the island. A roof over your head and hot coffee.
Tip: Curepipe gets roughly twice the rainfall of the west coast: always keep an indoor plan up on the plateau.
🚇 Metro Express, Curepipe Central station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapBagatelle Mall · Moka
The island's big mall, in Moka, with the international brands, the large supermarket and the shops selling Mauritian products.
Tip: Open Monday to Thursday 09:30-20:30, Friday and Saturday until 22:00 and Sunday 09:30-15:00. It is the best place to buy rum, tea and vanilla without the tourist mark-up.
🚇 Metro Express to Mahatma Gandhi, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · Bagatelle Mall
Show on mapLe Caudan Waterfront · Port Louis
The harbour's shopping promenade: crafts, ship models, rum, tea, jewellery and brands, all in a single walk over the water.
Tip: Caudan prices are tourist-zone prices: treat it as a window to see what exists, then buy at the market or at Bagatelle. The exception is limited-edition rum, which is worth buying here.
🚇 Metro Express, Port Louis Victoria station, right next door
Featured in: caudan.com
Show on mapCentral Market (épices) · Port Louis
The spice section of the market: Mauritian curry, masala, turmeric, vanilla and the herbalists' tisanes on the upper floor.
Tip: 🚨 There are two price lists, the Mauritian one and the tourist one, and neither is written down. Ask the price per 100 g before they weigh anything, and compare it at two stalls. Haggling is accepted here, but not in shops with a window display.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Port Louis City Council · local press
Show on mapLe Souk · Rue du Vieux Conseil, Port Louis
A small craft market in the courtyard of the capital's oldest street: textiles, basketry, ceramics and objects by local makers.
Tip: Smaller and far calmer than the Caudan Craft Market. Ask who made each piece: the sellers who answer with a name and a village are the ones worth buying from.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local guides
Show on mapCraft Market · Rue du Vieux Conseil, Port Louis
A makers' fair in the historic quarter: carvings, textiles, handmade jewellery and souvenirs, Thursdays and Fridays from 08:00 to 15:00.
Tip: It opens on Thursdays and Fridays only, 08:00-15:00: pass through Port Louis on any other day and you will find nothing. Plan accordingly.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapbobato · Curepipe
A workshop-shop of scale ship models, the most Mauritian craft there is: teak and mahogany hulls built by hand, rib by rib.
Tip: 🚨 There is NO official quality mark for Mauritian ship models, so the checking is on you: ask to see the workshop, look at whether the cannons and pulleys are separate pieces or moulded in, and whether the wood is solid or veneered. And ask for a certificate of origin and a shipping box.
🚇 Metro Express to Curepipe North, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · bobatoshipmodels.com
Show on mapChilli Arts · Port Louis
A contemporary Mauritian art and design shop in Port Louis: illustration, screen prints and objects by island makers.
Tip: A real alternative to the plastic dodo souvenir: here you buy signed work by living Mauritian illustrators.
🚇 Metro Express to Port Louis Victoria, then 13 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapBoutique Saint-Aubin · Saint-Aubin
The estate shop: rhums agricoles, whole vanilla pods, the house tea and the distillery's liqueurs.
Tip: Mauritian vanilla is sold as whole vacuum-packed pods: that is what travels best and what you miss most afterwards. Check the packing date.
🚇 bus to Saint-Aubin, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapBoutique Chamarel · Chamarel
The rums of the Chamarel distillery, including the barrel-aged ones and those infused with island spices.
Tip: The 'rhums arrangés' — steeped with vanilla, coffee or spices — are the Mauritian gift par excellence. Check your flight's alcohol allowance before loading up three bottles.
🚇 bus to Chamarel, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: rhumeriedechamarel.com · OSM
Show on mapVillage Boutik · Beau Plan
The sugar museum's shop: the Mauritian speciality sugars — muscovado, demerara, golden caster — which are an export product in their own right.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 09:00-17:00. Mauritius sells premium unrefined sugars to Europe: buy a small selection, it weighs little and does not break.
🚇 bus to Beau Plan, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: aventuredusucre.com
Show on mapBoutique Bois Chéri · Grand Bois
The tea of the oldest plantation on the island, including the black tea with vanilla that is the national drink.
Tip: Buy the 'vanilla tea' in a tin, not a cardboard box: it stands up better to the damp in your luggage and the aroma does not escape.
🚇 bus to Bois Chéri, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: saintaubin.mu · OSM
Show on mapGrand Baie Bazar · Grand Baie
The craft and clothing market of the north, the most touristy on the island and also the one with the most haggling.
Tip: Here haggling is part of the game: the first price is usually well above the mark. Start low, smile, and if they will not close, walk away: they will call you back.
🚇 bus to Grand Baie, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapQuatre Bornes Market · Quatre Bornes
The 'cloth market': on Thursdays and Sundays it fills with clothing, fabric and textiles, a legacy of when Mauritius was a world textile power.
Tip: The big days are Thursday and Sunday. Mauritius manufactured for European brands for decades: real factory surplus still turns up here, mixed in with knock-offs. Look at the labels and the stitching.
🚇 Metro Express, Quatre Bornes Central station, right next door
Featured in: local press · OSM
Show on mapVacoas Market · Vacoas
A Tuesday and Friday fair up on the plateau, with fruit, vegetables, spices and clothing. A Mauritians' market, with not a tourist in sight.
Tip: Open Tuesday and Friday 07:00-17:00. It is steps from Vacoas Central station: the easiest local market to reach by Metro Express.
🚇 Metro Express, Vacoas Central station, right next door
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapCentral Flacq Market Fair · Centre de Flacq
The biggest market in Mauritius, over in the east. On Sundays it turns into an enormous fair of food, clothing and household goods.
Tip: The big day is Sunday morning. Park far out and walk: central Flacq gets buried in cars.
🚇 bus to Central Flacq terminal, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapPamplemousses Market · Pamplemousses
A small market opposite the botanical garden, with tropical fruit, spices and food stalls.
Tip: Come out of the botanical garden, cross over and buy fruit: lychee in December-January, mango from October to February, starfruit almost all year.
🚇 bus to Canton Nancy, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapBazar de Mahébourg · Mahébourg
Among the food stalls of the south-eastern market there is vacoas basketry, textiles and wooden objects made locally.
Tip: The 'vacoas' is the palm whose leaf is plaited into baskets: it is the traditional Mauritian basketry. On Mondays there is far more on offer.
🚇 bus to Mahebourg terminal, then 3 min on foot
Featured in: OSM · local press
Show on mapCascavelle Shopping Village · Cascavelle, Bambous
The open-air shopping centre of the west, on the way to Casela: brands, a supermarket, a café and shops selling local produce.
Tip: An obligatory stop if you are staying in Flic en Flac and need a big supermarket: it is the most complete on the whole west coast.
🚇 Metro Express to Quatre Bornes Central, then bus or taxi (8 km)
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapRuisseau Créole · Black River
An open-air arcade in Black River with Mauritian design boutiques, art galleries, jewellery and cafés, under jacaranda trees.
Tip: It is the best place on the island to buy Mauritian design and art without the souvenir noise: less quantity, far more quality.
🚇 bus to Rivière Noire terminal, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapPhoenix Mall · Phoenix
A plateau mall with its own Metro Express stop at the door: the station is called Phoenix Mall.
Tip: Open Monday to Thursday 09:00-20:30, Friday and Saturday until 22:00, Sunday 09:00-15:00. It is the only shopping centre in Mauritius with a Metro Express station named after it.
🚇 Metro Express, Phoenix Mall station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · Metro Express
Show on mapFloreal Square · Floréal
The shopping arcade of Floréal, the district that was the heart of Mauritian textiles when the island knitted for half of Europe.
Tip: Floréal was once a byword for Mauritian cashmere knitwear. The industry has shrunk enormously since: if something says 'made in Mauritius' and the stitching is good, it is a genuine find, not a cliché.
🚇 Metro Express, Floreal station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · local business press
Show on mapLa Croisette · La Croisette, Grand Baie
The shopping centre of the north, with international brands, a cinema and a food court, minutes from the bay.
Tip: It is the obvious plan B in the north if the day starts badly: cinema, air conditioning and supermarket under one roof.
🚇 bus to La Croisette, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapSuper U · Tamarin
The big supermarket of the west coast, where Mauritians buy the rum, tea and spices that cost three times as much in the tourist shops.
Tip: This is where the real price lives: the same bottle of rum from the Caudan boutique costs a fraction here. Buy the rum and tea you are taking home in a supermarket, not in a souvenir shop.
🚇 bus to Tamarin, then 11 min on foot
Featured in: OSM
Show on mapAdamas · Floréal
A diamond-cutting workshop and showroom in Floréal: Mauritius is a cutting and polishing hub with the advantage of its free zone.
Tip: Mauritius cuts imported stone under a tax exemption: that is what explains the prices. Always ask for the gemmological certificate and the export invoice, no exceptions.
🚇 Metro Express, Floreal station, right next door
Featured in: OSM · local business press
Show on map