# Mauritius: map, what to do and when to go

A volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, ringed by reef and lagoons, where slavery and indentured immigration from India shaped a society of Hindus, Creoles, Muslims and Sino-Mauritians. Port Louis holds the immigration depot, a World Heritage site; the southwest has Le Morne, Chamarel and the forest of the Black River Gorges.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Mauritius: how do you get out of the airport?** The airport (MRU) is in Plaine Magnien, in the southeast, about 48 km from Port Louis, and there is no Uber on the island.
- **Mauritius: what do I need to fill out before arriving?** Before boarding, fill out the online Mauritius All in One form and bring the QR code printed, along with proof of onward ticket.
- **Mauritius: how many days should I stay?** I'd stay five days, not counting the arrival day, split between two bases, because the southwest, with Le Morne and Chamarel, is more than an hour from the north.

## Port Louis: the port, the market and the immigrant depot
Start at 9 a.m. at the Aapravasi Ghat, on the quay: the interpretation center opens Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays until 12 p.m., and the visit takes about an hour.
- Aapravasi Ghat
- Intercontinental Slavery Museum
- Central Market
- Blue Penny Museum
- Grand Baie

## The Pamplemousses garden and the north coast
Leave Grand Baie at 8:30 a.m. for the Pamplemousses botanical garden, about 14 km away, which opens at 8:30 a.m. Hire an accredited guide at the gate.
- Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden

## Plateau, Grand Bassin, Gorges and Chamarel
Leave the north early for the south; skirt Port Louis before the rush or expect traffic.
- Le Morne Brabant
- Seven Coloured Earths of Chamarel
- Black River Gorges National Park
- Ganga Talao

## The south coast to Mahébourg and Blue Bay
Head east along the south coast road, stopping at the Maconde viewpoint, near Baie du Cap, and at Gris Gris beach, in Souillac, about 35 minutes by car from Le Morne.
- Île aux Aigrettes

## Aapravasi Ghat
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-aapravasi-ghat
Port Louis · Up to half an hour
The immigration depot built in 1849 on the quay of Port Louis, through which about half a million indentured workers from India passed until 1923. What remains are the 14 stone steps of the quay, the 1865 gateway and parts of the hospital and the sheds; it has been a World Heritage site since 2006. The Beekrumsing Ramlallah interpretation center, opened in 2014, explains the system with free admission, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The visit takes about an hour.
Check access

## Intercontinental Slavery Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-intercontinental-slavery-museum
Port Louis · One to two hours
Museum of slavery and indenture, opened on September 4, 2023 in the former military hospital of 1736–1740, the oldest building on the island, built by enslaved people from Mozambique, Madagascar and West Africa and by Indian craftsmen from Pondicherry and Karikal. Among the pieces are everyday objects used by enslaved people and the 63 plaster busts modeled by Eugène de Froberville in 1846, on loan from the château de Blois. Opening hours are not published on the official website; call ahead (214 3608).
Check access

## Central Market
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-central-market
Up to half an hour
Port Louis's covered market, between Rue Farquhar and Rue William Newton, sells fruit, vegetables, spices, herbs and snacks such as dholl puri and gato pima. It is the cheapest place in the capital to eat standing up and where you find shoppers from all over the island. Very crowded, it calls for care with bags and phones.
Check access

## Blue Penny Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-blue-penny-museum
Port Louis · Up to half an hour
Museum of Mauritian art and history at the Caudan Waterfront, with rooms on navigation, Paul et Virginie, colonization and the Port Louis of the 18th and 19th centuries. It holds the Post Office stamps, among the first produced outside Great Britain, which are lit for only 10 minutes per hour, starting at quarter past, and cannot be photographed. Open Monday to Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission for nonresidents costs Rs 325 (checked in October 2026).
Check access

## Fort Adelaide
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-fort-adelaide
Port Louis · Up to half an hour
Basalt fortress built by the British in 1840 on the hill above the Champ de Mars, the only one of Port Louis's four that survives. Admission is free and the view takes in the city, the port and the racecourse; the place has a reputation as not very safe for those who climb alone.
Check access

## Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-sir-seewoosagur-ramgoolam
Pamplemousses · One to two hours
The botanical garden at Pamplemousses, about 12 km from Port Louis, traces back to the estate of Mahé de La Bourdonnais, from 1735, and took its present design under Pierre Poivre from 1770. The pond of giant water lilies (Victoria amazonica), the palms and the iron gate of 1868 are the highlights. Open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; noncitizens pay Rs 300, and accredited guides charge Rs 50 to Rs 100 per person, depending on group size (checked in October 2026).
Check access

## Le Morne Brabant
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-le-morne-brabant
Black River · Half a day or more
A 556 m basalt monolith at the southwest tip of the island, ringed by lagoon. Oral tradition says that escaped enslaved people sheltered at the top threw themselves off the cliff when a police expedition arrived, in 1835, to tell them they were free; the story is treated as legend, and University of Mauritius research in 2003 did not confirm it. The cultural landscape has been a World Heritage site since 2008. The trail to the summit is about 3.5 km, can be done with or without a guide, and Wikivoyage estimates 3 to 4 hours, without saying whether the figure includes the descent: set aside the whole morning. The final stretch is steep and rocky, and it is not safe in the rain.
Check access

## Seven Coloured Earths of Chamarel
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-seven-coloured-earths-de
One to two hours
Volcanic clay dunes, bare of vegetation, in bands of red, brown, violet and yellow, high in the southwest. The geopark ticket includes the two viewpoints of the Chamarel waterfall, the island's tallest, at about 100 m, and a park of Aldabra giant tortoises. Nonresidents pay Rs 800 per adult, in rupees or by card only; it opens from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from October to May and until 5 p.m. from June to September (checked in October 2026). The dunes are 3 km from the entrance, and the visit takes from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Check access

## Black River Gorges National Park
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-black-river-gorges-national-park
Half a day or more
The island's largest national park, created in 1994, with 67.54 km² of high-altitude rainforest, dry forest and heath, and about 60 km of trails. It holds most of the native forest that remains and the endemic birds, such as the pink pigeon and the Mauritius kestrel. From the Plaine Champagne road you reach the Gorges viewpoint and Alexandra Falls; the island's highest point, Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire, 828 m, is in the same mountain region.
Check access

## Ganga Talao
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-ganga-talao
Up to half an hour
A crater lake at about 550 m, in the south of the plateau, also called Grand Bassin, sacred to Mauritian Hindus since the first recorded pilgrimage, in 1898. At Maha Shivaratri close to half a million people go there, many on foot from home. At the entrance stand the statues of Shiva (Mangal Mahadev) and Durga, 33 m each; the Shiva statue dates from 2007.
Check access

## Île aux Aigrettes
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-ile-aux-aigrettes
Grand Port · One to two hours
A 26 ha islet of coral limestone in Mahébourg bay, about 850 m from the coast, a nature reserve since 1965. The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation restored the island's last dry coastal forest there and reintroduced species such as the pink pigeon, Telfair's skink and Aldabra giant tortoises. It can only be visited on a guided tour by the foundation, 1.5 to 2 hours, with a short boat crossing, booked on its website.
Check access

## Blue Bay Marine Park
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-blue-bay-marine-park
One to two hours
A 353 ha marine park in the southeast, near Mahébourg, protected since 1997 and a Ramsar site since 2008. The shallow lagoon over the coral is a few minutes from Mahébourg and the airport. The 2020 grounding of the Wakashio happened off Pointe d'Esny, next to the park.
Check access

## Grand Baie
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mauricio/#g-lugar-grand-baie
Maurícia · Up to half an hour
A village on the north coast that became the island's busiest base, with the bay, La Cuvette beach, used for water sports, a shopping mall, shops and bars. Pereybère, with a small lagoon beach, is about 2 km away, and the red-roofed church of Cap Malheureux, Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, is 6 km away.
Check access

**Mauritius: how do you get out of the airport?**
The airport (MRU) is in Plaine Magnien, in the southeast, about 48 km from Port Louis, and there is no Uber on the island. There are rental cars at the airport counter, a taxi arranged with the hotel or through the Yugo app, at a fixed price, and the transfer many hotels sell.

**Mauritius: what do I need to fill out before arriving?**
Before boarding, fill out the online Mauritius All in One form and bring the QR code printed, along with proof of onward ticket. The QR code is checked at the airport, and without it immigration takes longer.

**Mauritius: how many days should I stay?**
I'd stay five days, not counting the arrival day, split between two bases, because the southwest, with Le Morne and Chamarel, is more than an hour from the north. With a sixth day, I'd go to Île aux Cerfs, leaving from Trou d'Eau Douce.

**Mauritius: do I need cash?**
The Seven Coloured Earths of Chamarel charge Rs 800 per nonresident adult and accept only rupees in cash or by card, never foreign currency. Buses and the market ask for exact change, and at the airport car park the exit for a rental car is paid in cash.

**Mauritius: where is it safe to swim?**
Swim inside the lagoons that the reef protects. Where the reef is missing, as at Gris Gris, near Souillac, big waves hit the cliff directly, and that is a viewpoint, not a swimming beach.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 5 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/mauricio/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/mauricio/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/mauricio.md