Generously Mauritius

Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and heaven was copied after it

This blog post is about our 7D/6N trip to the island of Mauritius around Christmas and New year eve 2023. I am trying a different style of writing in this post where rather than covering day wise itinerary, I will cover it place wise. I feel there is no particular order or connectedness in these places and hence they can be covered likewise in any order.

We wanted to visit a destination where we wont have to shift between places and still be able to do activities and have some new sightseeing every day. Mauritius is perfect in this aspect and offers a very different flavour compared to Maldives , where you mostly stay in a resort island or Seychelles, where a significant amount of island hopping is involved. Mauritius largely being a single connected island, you can see large parts of it with much ease.

We took a red-eye flight to Mauritius via Mumbai. There are plenty of car rental options available on the airport itself. Driving in Mauritius is as safe as it can get and rules are strictly followed. We rented a car from the airport to roam around the island freely and plan our day as we wanted. Voile Bleue Boutique Hotel was our abode was the coming week but despite being a high rated property, our experience was somewhat mediocre and I will not recommend it to readers.

Mauritius island has multiple regions/parts with Mont Choisy and Grand Baie the most commercial ones. Port Louis has lots of food options and southern island has most sites for geoparks.

Trou Aux Biches and Mont Choisy

Trou aux Biches near Month Choisy has arguably one of the most beautiful beach in Mauritius. The area also is more secluded and less commercialised than Grand Baie. There are plenty of options to try street food or do water activities in this area. As this was closer to our stay, we took multiple halts here to just sit on the bench by the ocean or watch the Sun setting in or sit on the white beaches.

Mauritius has a large population of generational Indians who were brought by Britishers to work in Sugarcane fields as indentured labourers. This reflects in the island’s culture everywhere and more so in their cuisine, which in a way sounds like a close sister to its Indian counterpart. Few examples are Dhol Puri (Indian version Daal Puri) or Alouda (Indian version Faluda). We tried lots of street food in this area and among them all, liked Dhol Puri, Chilli fritters and Roti Chaud the best.

We narrowed down on Blue Safari operators for a Submarine dive which was a new experience for all of us. They have a small 10 seater submarine in which they took us to the ocean bed where we were able to spot a large turtle among corals! After an initial crying episode of entering the submarine through a narrow hatch, kids got glued to the window for the entire next 2 hr dive.

We dined at Coolen Chez Rama, a nice small restaurant serving Indian food and also having a supermarket next door.

La Vanille Nature Park and Port Louis

La Vanillle Nature Park was 1.5 hrs drive from where we had stayed. Its a great place to visit for a day outing and kids enjoyed every bit of it. We had live encounters with baby crocodiles and large Aldabra tortoises among various other exotic animals. They also had a crocodile themed restaurant where they serve crocodile dishes from their own farm!

On our way back, we decided to visit the capital city of Port Louis, which has a nice waterfront and lots of eating options. We roamed around the city to get some Christmas vibes before heading to a Lebanese joint for a nice Mediterranean treat.

SSR Botanic Garden

SSR Garden boasts to be the largest botanical garden in Southern hemisphere and is famous for its giant water lilies. Starting from its name, this garden has several ties to India and one can see trees planted here by many of Indian prime ministers.

Before we headed back to our stay, we visited Grand Baie area, specifically Super U to have some local food.

Grand Baie

Grand Baie is a highly commercialised area bursting with tourists, restaurants, live bars and of course beaches. We roamed around the area taking sip from our cocktails and watching ships, catamarans and boats of all kinds dock and undock.

We had a booking for a luxury Catamaran Ride for northern islands, combined with an onboard bbq lunch. The vast expanse of blue-turquoise water of Indian ocean presented a breath taking view of what we had dreamed Mauritius is famous for.

7 Colored and 23 Colored Earth Geopark

Chamarel – seven colored earth and La Vallee Des Couleurs – twenty three colored earth are two geo parks in Mauritius which offers a unique characteristic and a great sight to behold. The sand particles are magnetised in such a way that even mixed together, they will separate out to spread these hue of colors.

While they can be a short or long trip, depending on which part of island are you staying, for us it was a good one day trip to each of the parks.

Our trip was coming to an end and as we were driving back to Mauritius airport to catch our flight back home, we couldn’t help but think how beautiful the drive is! You get to see sugarcane plants lined up next to the road, vast green fields having flowers, hillocks, ocean water down the horizon and blue sky covering atop – all in single frame!

GB Hacks

• Usually one day is enough for each of these subparts of Mauritius, however, if you are pressed on time, you can cover it in half a day as well.
• Mauritian Rupee is not traded in India and as Airport rates are almost always lossy, it is advised to trade currency in the city itself.
• Driving in Mauritius is on left side of the road, which is same as India, and Indian driving license can be used for Car rentals. There is no requirement for International permits.
• Mauritius Visa is on arrival for Indians.