The lagoon is the postcard. The inside of the island is the surprise.
Which catamaran to Ile aux Cerfs stops long enough to swim. What a guided sunrise on Le Morne costs, and how early it really starts. Reviews of every tour you can book in Mauritius.
A catamaran day, a sunrise climb, dolphins off Tamarin, lunch in Port Louis.
The four bookings a first week in Mauritius is built around. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The lagoon dayIle Aux Cerfs Catamaran Trip w/ Lunch & TransferOut of Trou d’Eau Douce to Ile aux Cerfs, lunch grilled on the back of the boat. Most weeks here get planned around this one.
02Before the sunLe Morne Mountain Guided Sunrise Hike and ClimbUp Le Morne in the dark and onto the shoulder as the light crosses the lagoon. Past the halfway point a guide is not optional.
03The west coast morningDolphin Swim and Whale Watching by SpeedboatLeaves Black River while the water is still flat and the dolphins are feeding. Humpbacks pass the same coast from July.
04Lunchtime in the capitalStreet Food & City TourDholl puri from a street cart, the Chinatown lanes, and the Central Market at the end of it.
Catamaran, snorkel boat, island-hopper or a kayak on the Tamarin River.
The reef holds the swell off almost the whole island, so the water inside it is flat by nine. Four kinds of day out on it, what it costs to board each one, and which coast it leaves from.
Six corners of an island you can drive across in two hours.
A lagoon island the boats all head for, a harbour town in the north, the capital’s market halls, the coloured dunes of the south-west, the monolith at the corner, and the river bay where the dolphins come in.
The days out more travellers book than anything else in Mauritius.
Every Mauritian tour we have reviewed →Where the island’s demand actually sits, and what earns each of these its slot.
1
Ile Aux Cerfs Catamaran Trip w/ Lunch & Transfer
Spend seven hours aboard a 42-foot catamaran from Trou d’Eau Douce, with a speedboat visit to Grand River South East waterfall, snorkeling, a three-course halal BBQ lunch, drinks, and time on Ile aux Cerfs. English, French, and Hindi guides are available, with hotel pickup across Mauritius.
From · $110
Read our review →
2
Full-Day Catamaran Cruise to the Northern Isles
from $82
3
Snorkeling w/Dolphins Boat Tour & Lunch
from $115
4
Private Southwest Chamarel Highlights Tour
5
Private South-West Nature & Viewpoints with Lunch
6
5 Island Adventure with BBQ & Snorkeling
from $100
7
Private South Tour with Pickup
8
Catamaran Cruise to Ile Aux Cerfs with BBQ Lunch
from $64
Everything green happens on the side of the island nobody flies into.
Chamarel’s dunes came out of weathered basalt and they still shift colour with the light. Behind them the Black River gorges hold the last of the native forest, and seven waterfalls drop off the Tamarind river in a single afternoon’s walk. This is the half of Mauritius with no hotels on it.
- 1Private Southwest Chamarel Highlights Tour
- 2Private South-West Nature & Viewpoints with Lunch
- 3Private South Tour with Pickup
What a day out in Mauritius actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A fair number of the best days here come in under the cost of a hotel lunch.
Reserve entries, glass-bottom boats, a kayak on the river and the street-food walks in Port Louis.
The standards: catamaran days to Ile aux Cerfs, guided climbs, the south-west loop by car.
Private drivers for the whole island, deep-sea boats, and the flight over the underwater waterfall.
Three things that happen in Mauritius and nowhere else.
Lagoons and beach clubs run all the way round the Indian Ocean. Dunes in seven colours, a mountain that hid runaway slaves, and a resident pod of spinner dolphins do not.
The Seven Coloured Earths
Basalt weathered down to clay here at different rates, and the iron and aluminium in it settled into bands that never mix back together. Rain rearranges the dunes and they separate out again within days. The light does most of the work: at eight in the morning the reds are dull, and by four they have gone copper.
- 1South Tour w/ Crocodile Park & Seven Colored Earth★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 204 reviews
- 2Entrance Ticket To Curious Corner of Chamarel★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 96 reviews
- 3Southern Tales: Full-day incl Crocodile Park & 23 Colored Earth★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 74 reviews
Le Morne Brabant
The basalt head at the end of the peninsula was a refuge for escaped slaves, who lived on the summit plateau out of reach of the estates below. It is a UNESCO site for that, not for the view. The path is walkable to the halfway col alone; the scramble above it is guides only, and everyone starts in the dark to be off the rock before the heat.
- 1Le Morne Mountain Guided Sunrise Hike and Climb★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 839 reviews
- 2Hiking Le Morne Brabant★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 661 reviews
- 3Le Morne Mountain UNESCO Eco Hike★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 483 reviews
The spinner dolphins
A resident pod comes into the calm water off Tamarin and Black River to rest through the morning after feeding offshore all night. Boats leave around six because the wind comes up by ten and the lagoon turns. From July to October humpbacks are on the same stretch of coast on their way north.
- 1Snorkeling w/Dolphins Boat Tour & Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,635 reviews
- 2Dolphin Swim and Whale Watching by Speedboat★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 595 reviews
- 3Dolphin Snorkel, CrystalRock, ile o Benitiers Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 511 reviews
Mauritius eats Indian, Chinese and French on the same street.
Dholl puri handed over folded in paper, gateaux piments by the bag, boulettes in a Chinatown doorway and a vindaye that owes something to all three kitchens. The market halls in Port Louis are where it is densest, and the cheapest morning on the island.
Four Mauritian bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of this island can be sorted from a hotel desk the night before. These four run on boat capacity, guide ratios and a season that does not care when your flight gets in.
- 01Le Morne Mountain Guided Sunrise Hike and ClimbGuides are required above the col and they take small groups. The sunrise climbs are the ones that fill.
- 02Dolphin Swim and Whale Watching by SpeedboatHumpbacks are on this coast roughly July to October and not otherwise. Outside that window the trip is dolphins only.
- 03Ile Aux Cerfs Catamaran Trip w/ Lunch & TransferThe catamarans run to a set departure out of Trou d’Eau Douce and each boat has a fixed number of seats.
- 04Scenic Helicopter Flight with Hotel TransfersTwo or three aircraft serve the whole island and the flights go up only in settled weather, so cancellations rebook forward.
January to March the rain arrives sideways. The island has an answer.
The austral summer brings the heat, the downpours and the odd cyclone warning, and the south-east trade winds chop up the windward coast for much of the winter. Both point the same way: inland and westward. The gorges and waterfalls are at their fullest exactly when the boats are not running, the rum distillery and the tea estate have roofs, and the west-coast lagoon stays flat when the east is unusable.
By place — coasts, capital and the interior
By kind of day — deck, summit, kitchen or trail
North coast, capital, the wild south, then the lagoon. The week most people end up doing.
Le MorneThe newest Mauritius tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Unveiling the Ancient and Modern Port Louis – city tour
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Mauritian Culinary Experience – Full Day with Lunch
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Photoshoot at Mont Choisy Beach with Pro Photographer
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Private Cooking Class Experience with Farmers Market Visit
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Private Cooking Class of Local Cuisine in Bel Air
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South: Gorges, Waterfalls, Lakes, Trails, 23 Coloured Earth
Read our review →
Ile aux Cerf: Speed boat with Parasailing & Tube Riding and Lunch
Read our review →
Wild South West Tour : SAFARI & TULAWAKA CASELA PARK & LE MORNE
Read our review →