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Mauritius Blog @Mauritius101.com.

Features information that is relevant to travellers who are thinking about and actively planning a visit to Mauritus.

Places to stay, hotels @Port Louis

2009 - Mar - 26 | , , , ,

Mauritius is a country which has a rich choice of top end holiday resorts and hotels.

It’s surprising then that it’s capital is relatively bare of accommodation – possibly because most holiday makers to Mauritius stay in one of the beach regions and typically travel to Mauritius for a day trip.

Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel – It’s possibly more suited to business travel but the Labourdonnais has 109 rooms and is situated along Caudan waterfront. It’s officially a five star hotel with 109 rooms and has the elegance and facilities that you would expect from a top end resort. The rooms themselves come in five varieties from standard to presidential suites, all immaculately decorated.

Hotel guests can enjoy a wide range of restaurants offering a lovely range of cuisines including Thai, Indian and European.

Le St George’s Hotel – A reasonable hotel which has business meeting rooms, located on St Georges St, and within a stone’s throw of the main heart of Port Louis. It’s relatively small compared to many of the other resorts in holiday Mauritius but the 21 rooms that this resort has are well designed and offer good quality furnishing and some wonderful sea views out into the Indian ocean.

Hotel Le Grand Carnot – Certainly a choice for the budget conscious, the Carnot is situated on Dr Edouard Laurent St. Rooms available for as little as 350 Rs.

Bourbon Tourist Hotel – With rooms available from a little over 600 Rs, this is another budget choice.

Le Suffren Hotel – Situated right on the Cauden Waterfront, Le Suffren is a fair 3 star hotel. It has 100 rooms and access to a pleasant white sandy beach area.

Villa Jorico – You can pick up rooms at the Jorico for a very reasonable rate. It’s a pleasant guest house but it’s situated a little outside Port Louis.

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Port Louis – The vibrant capital of Mauritius

2009 - Mar - 23 | , , ,

Port Louis is the London of Mauritius. It’s the economic nerve centre of Mauritius and along with the tall sky scrapers of the business district, it boasts some fabulous shopping, restaurants that rank among the top in the country and some wonderful museums and colonial type architecture to boot.

In short, no holiday to Mauritius is complete without visiting Port Louis. As you can imagine, Port Louis is a highly popular tourist destination, with the majority of points of interest located along the waterfront.

Major Points Of Interest In Port Louis

If you have a couple of days to spare, you can do and see a lot of the things that Port Louis is famous for.

Port Louis Casino – located along Caudan waterfront is the interestingly crafted Casino. It’s shaped like a ship and is quite popular with tourists and locals alike. You wont be able to get in with your baggy shorts and flip flops though – a smart casual dress code is in place.

Museums In Port Louis – There are two major museums within Port Louis. The Natural History Museum (Chaussee St) is free to enter and offers a collection of mostly extinct birds including the Dodo (by far the most notable). The other museum is the Blue Penny Museum located along the Caudan waterfront. Admission is not free here, but it’s worthwhile going as it displays the history of Mauritius from it’s earliest days to the present – and includes various photos, maps and other artefacts from the different era’s.

There is also a Photography Museum (Old Council St) and the small Mauritius Postal Museum (Pl du Quai) to keep museum enthusiasts interested.

Central Market – One of the must see attractions of Port Louis is the often frenetic Central Market. There’s a lot here from little stalls selling T shirts to vegetables, spices, meat and fish. Some stalls also sell a variety of Ayurvedic (ancient Indian) medicines. Tourists also enjoy the variety of different handicrafts and souvenirs that are sold along some of the stalls – if you’re planning to buy, you can bargain your way to a better price. A word of warning – beware of pickpockets that operate in the Port Louis Central Market – keep your wallets and purses secured and don’t leave your bags open.

You should also note that a lot of the designer gear you may buy is fake, and as you walk along you’ll often be approached by stall vendors quoting you special prices and deals.

There are also other shopping options within Port Louis – there’s a Craft Market along Caudan Waterfront and there are book and music shops within the city too.

If bartering and markets is not your thing, and you want to pick up some souvenirs without the stress of bartering then you can often find similar ones in the larger supermarkets for a fixed price.

Chinatown – Interestingly, Chinatown is home to the Jummah Mosque which was built in 1853. As you might expect, there are not only a selection of Chinese shops selling provisions, vegetables, fruits and more – but the best Chinese food available in Port Louis (and in fact Mauritius) can be found here. You’ll also find the Pere Laval shrine within Chinatown – many tourists come here to pay respect and investigate the supposed healing powers of the shrine.

Champ de Mars Racecourse – The Mauritius racing season begins in May and goes on to November. You can find races on most Saturdays during this season – the racecourse is packed on this day every week, and gambling on the races is big business in Mauritius.

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Quaint places to visit in the South of Mauritius.

2009 - Mar - 21 | , , ,

The southern coast of Mauritius is known for it’s natural beauty – many holiday makers to Mauritius choose to do a scenic drive from Mahebourg down to Baie du Cap, simply because the scenery is unrivalled even in most places within Mauritius (let alone the world).

There’s a remarkably diverse range of scenery here – sugar canes and mountains meet picturesque harbour villages – there’s even waterfalls and forests to keep your camcorder more than busy.

There’s also a rather incredible wildlife reserve island on lle aux Aigrettes – it’s possible to book a boat to visit the island (tours are available – you can request more information from the resort you stay it to book).

Along the North/South border is Bambous Virieux, with a small population of under 3,000 – there really aren’t many places to stay here but it’s known for the Vieux Grand Port which some visitors to Mauritius decide to tour – the Frederik Hendrik Museum is here (admission is free) which showcases the Dutch influences of Mauritius.

There’s not too much in the way of developments, or even points of interests along the rest of Southern Mauritius – some of the destinations you’ll come over include Riviere des Anguilles, Souillac, Pointe aux Roches and Bel Ombre.

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Mahebourg – South Mauritius’s most popular destination

2009 - Mar - 19 | , ,

With a population well over 15,000, Mahebourg is one of the main places that tourists visit in Southern Mauritius. It’s also very close to the airport so many people call on it just before leaving (or just after arrival).

Aside from a very pleasant beach area and a developing waterfront, there isn’t exactly a wealth of tourist hotspots in Mahebourg. A couple of banks and post office mean that tourists have enough amenities to get by.

Accommodation – Hotels, Guest Houses & Resorts In Mahebourg

You’re not going to find a Hilton type luxury resort here, but there are a couple of reasonably nice places to stay if you’re not looking for the lap of luxury. Coco Villa is a popular resort, as is Auberge Aquarella and both are located on the seafront. The former is set along a spacious estate crowded with swaying palms.

Also, three miles away from Mahebourg is Blue Lagoon Beach Resort which is a neat three star resort with 72 guest rooms. There’s a bar by the pool and reasonable buffet food and entertainment is served nightly.

Other resorts and guesthouses in Mahebourg (and the surrounding Bluebay/Pointe d’Esny areas) include:

  • Le Preskil Beach Resort
  • Nice Place Guesthouse
  • Shandrani
  • Noix de Coco
  • Chantemer
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Places to see & Things to do @Mahebourg.

2009 - Mar - 14 | , , ,

Mahebourg is very well known for one of Mauritius’ most popular museums – the National History Museum is located very close to Pointe d’Esny.

There are many artefacts and displays, many with a distinct sea flavour – such as Spanish coins rescued from a sunken wreck from the seventeenth century. Many tourists to Mauritius enjoy visiting the museum – other artefacts include pistols and weaponry, maps and paintings from various stages of Mauritius history and it’s different rulers. Well worth a look, happily the admission is free so it wont break the bank.

Also worth a quick look near to Mahebourg are the quaint Rault Biscuit Factory and Notre Dame Des Anges tower. Mahebourg is also your best chance for water sports along the south of Mauritius – holiday makers to south Mauritius tend to visit the Bluebay area which has several places to dive and snorkey – Coral Diving is the major business here for diving and you can find it at Le Preskil hotel at Pointe d’Esny. You can also enjoy glass bottomed boat trips, and day trips to nearby islands from this area.

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Mahebourg, places to eat.

2009 - Mar - 12 | , ,

Featured Image : Photo by A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) – Own work, FAL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66732816

There are some very nice places to relax and enjoy good food and drink in Mahebourg. Le Jardin Creole offers a very nice menu which includes pizza and Creole dishes – very good value and located very close to Blue Bay. Les Copains D’abord is another good choice – the live music offered in the evenings really adds to the ambience and there are some very good sea food dishes available.

The interestingly titled Monte Carlo serves up a decent mix of Creole, French and Chinese cuisine – you may think that with a name like that, a meal would be difficult on the purse strings but in fact it’s very reasonably priced.

One of the most popular restaurants in all of Mahebourg is Chez Patrick, again offering a wide range of mostly Creole dishes. Other choices within Mahebourg include Le Phare (seafood) and La Colombe (various including burgers, Chinese and Creole).

Finally, along the stretch of beach at Blue Bay is La Bougainville – which serves a wide variety of dishes including pizza.

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South Mauritius – Unrivalled Beauty, Waterfalls & Scenic Sensations.

2009 - Mar - 9 | ,

Featured Image : Photo by Joi Ito – https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/2086020608/, CC BY 2.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36016613

Southern Mauritius offers some truly breathtaking panorama coupled with some cosy and quiet beach areas. Here, mountains and forest merge – the pinnacle of which can be witnessed from Lion Mountain (which also offers stunning views out to sea too).

Tourists to Mauritius may find the Southern region of Mauritius is rather devoid of holiday resorts, the main area for tourism being in Mahebourg. There are sprinklings of resorts and villas in other places, but it’s no Flic En Flac!

There are opportunities for water based sports and activities in South Mauritius, mainly in and around Blue Bay where you can partake in diving, snorkelling and cruising.

However, where the south truly comes into its own is in the rugged beauty on show.

The Southern parts of Mauritius include some spectacular scenery that you simply have to enjoy on your holiday to Mauritius.

This includes panomaric views of the coastline from Black Gorges, and unique seven coloured earth and waterfalls in Chamarel.

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