Things to Do in Mauritius: What We Loved After a Month
Published 30 October 2026
Some of my favourite Mauritius days started before sunrise. Others were a coffee, a swim and absolutely no ambitious plan. We had a month here, splitting our time between Grand Baie, Tamarin and Blue Bay, and that mix was what made the island feel so lovely!
Quick answer: what would I plan again?
I'd make time for the northern islands, Chamarel, Le Morne beach and a few genuinely slow days on the coast. Our private Vitamin Sea sunrise with wild dolphins was the biggest highlight of the whole month, for both of us. Tamarin was my favourite everyday base, while Blue Bay was a lovely quieter finish. You don't need to book something for every day to have a brilliant trip here.
A private sunrise with Vitamin Sea
It was almost 5:30 in the morning and still dark when we set off, and honestly, it was worth every minute of lost sleep. It was just the two of us on a private boat with a skipper and a photographer. We found a pod of spinner dolphins really quickly and got to swim with them three times before any other boats turned up. There were even babies in the pod, and they were the most playful of all!
Afterwards we had coffee, tea and banana bread on board, snorkelled in the Le Morne lagoon (so many curious fish) and stopped at Crystal Rock, a funny little volcanic and coral formation sitting on its own in the clearest water. The whole morning took about three hours. Our photographer filmed in the water on a GoPro, which is how we came home with those underwater shots.
Vitamin Sea hosted this experience for us, so we didn't pay for it, and I'd still book it myself in a heartbeat. These are wild animals, so ask how they run the swim and what happens if the sea isn't suitable when you enquire.
Use the Vitamin Sea sunrise page to ask about the private experience. Our full morning write-up explains it in more detail. This was a completely different outing from the bigger northern catamaran day below.
The northern islands by catamaran
From Grand Baie, we took a catamaran to Flat Island and Îlot Gabriel. We walked to the harbour for an 8:20 check-in and were away at about 8:40, with roughly 25 to 30 people on our boat (some of the neighbouring boats were much fuller). On the way out we passed a protected island that nobody is allowed to set foot on, and I was a little obsessed with it.
The crew cooked lunch and set it up for us on Flat Island: chicken, sausages, fish, pasta, rice, salad and bread, plus a homemade rum cocktail they called jungle juice. Then a dinghy took us across to Gabriel for a few hours of swimming in that crystal clear water. Dan rated the whole day 9 out of 10. Back on the mainland, we grabbed a vegetable roti from a street food stall near where the boats come in. It was sloppy, hard to eat and so good!
The crossing took roughly an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half each way, and the swell was big. If you get seasick, take something beforehand and plan an easy evening afterwards. Our booking came through a brochure at our accommodation. When you compare trips, look at the islands actually listed, because a northern-islands cruise and an Île aux Cerfs outing are different days. Read our Grand Baie catamaran experience for the route and the questions I'd ask.
Chamarel waterfall and Seven Coloured Earth
Chamarel gave us a completely different morning from the coast. My top tip: get there a little before it opens. It opened at 8:30 when we went, we were the first ones in, and having the waterfall viewpoints to ourselves was so worth the early start! There are two viewpoints, and the second only needs a few stairs, no hike. The Seven Coloured Earth is about a kilometre further up the road, so we just drove up and parked again.
We paid MUR800 each (MUR1,600 for the two of us) at the gate in September 2026, and buying the tickets took about two seconds. The ticket also covered the tortoises, which we skipped because we'd seen so many recently. Check the official ticket information before you go. From Tamarin it was around 30 minutes' drive, and the last 20 minutes or so are very winding, so keep that in mind if you get car sick.
On a different day, driving back through Chamarel on our way to Blue Bay, we had a family-style lunch at Palais de Barbizon. Our photographer from the dolphin morning recommended it when I asked where locals like to eat. It's a set menu of rice, a spread of vegetable dishes (the pumpkin and lentils were elite) and chicken or fish, and the chicken was falling off the bone. Dan gave it 8 out of 10. Our Chamarel day guide keeps the visit, lunch and ticket details together.
Le Morne beach and the mountain backdrop
Le Morne was my favourite beach in Mauritius. We came down for an early morning walk, used the free parking and turned right, then walked along the white sand in front of the Paradis resort for about 20 minutes. The water was super flat, there were little hammocks along the beach and the mountain sat right behind it all. We'd seen that exact stretch from the boat the morning before, and it was just as stunning from the sand!
We'd planned to hike Le Morne too, and that's where we got caught out. We left it until our last day in the area, drove up on a sunny morning, and the wind picked up so quickly that the gates were closed by the time we arrived. There were no signs on the road on the way up, either. So we didn't reach the summit, and my lesson is simple: if the hike matters to you, give yourself a couple of spare days for it.
Slow down in Tamarin
Tamarin wasn't somewhere we needed a big itinerary every morning. We'd walk down to Coffee Shore by about 7 or 7:30, where the owner (he's from Turkey) soon knew our order: an Americano for Dan and a hot matcha for me. Then lunch somewhere good, some work, the gym and cooking at home. Watching the sun set straight over the water at the main beach became part of the routine.
For food, The Break's tuna poke bowls and carrot cake, KOKO's cinnamon rolls (I'll always call them scrolls) and Baz Lokal's one-plate-a-day lunch all gave us reasons to go out. Baz Lokal serves a single local dish that changes daily. Ours was tuna with rice, lentils and papaya, and I'm very fussy with fish, so trust me when I say it was a 10 out of 10 from us. Bring cash. Read our Tamarin food guide for the places we'd return to and the small disappointments too.
Try a hotel experience without building the whole holiday around a resort
We visited LUX Grand Baie for rooftop drinks and tapas, The Bay for a beach-and-pool day, and Legend Hill for sunset drinks. We didn't stay overnight at any of them, and that was a lovely way to enjoy a special setting while keeping our apartment and kitchen.
At LUX, my cocktail of the day arrived blue and covered in smoke, and the bartender kept making me new rum cocktails that weren't even on the menu yet. There was a MUR2,000 per-person minimum spend when we went, which is only two or three cocktails at their prices, and I still think it was worth it for that sunset. At The Bay, we paid MUR2,000 each for a day pass we could spend on food and drinks, then had the pool, sunbeds and beach for the afternoon. Their Mauritian mojito uses curry leaves instead of mint, and it was so refreshing! Legend Hill had incredible views over the coast as the sun went down.
Minimum spends and day-pass terms do change, so check the current arrangement before you go.
Tea tasting at Bois Chéri
We stopped at Bois Chéri on the drive from Tamarin to Blue Bay. For MUR250 each, we sat overlooking the plantation and lake with a whole box of teas to try, as many cups as we liked and tea biscuits on the side. My favourite was the caramel black, then the lemongrass and the jasmine green. Dan's pick was the coconut black, which I loved too!
The weather had turned cold and overcast by then and I had to get my jumper out, so bring a layer. We just did the tasting, not a factory tour, and it made a lovely slow stop on a travel day.
Learn to dive only if you want to give it the time
We did our open-water course over three days with Exploration Sous Marine in Flic en Flac. We picked it after a lot of research, for its reviews and price, because we had a dive trip coming up in Indonesia. It started with lagoon practice, then four open-water dives. I'd never even worn a wetsuit before! I was nervous about the skills, especially flooding and clearing my mask and taking my regulator out at around 12 metres down, but it was so much easier than I expected! Equalising my ears wasn't a problem at all. My main feedback was that I used my arms too much.
We saw lionfish, an eel, puffers, triggerfish and porcupine fish, and turtles and a shark over the course too. Our instructor made us feel completely safe the whole way through.
It's a much bigger commitment than a single introductory dive, so leave proper room for it if learning really matters to you. Our course cost A$578.77 per person in our trip records, which also makes a noticeable difference to the month's budget.
Finish with a few quiet days in Blue Bay
Blue Bay was our final four-night base. We stayed at Blue Paradise, about a minute's walk from the beach, cooked in the apartment and slowed right down. We bought pineapple and mango from a vendor on the sand, tossed in chilli salt, and a friend had told me to dip the pineapple in the ocean, so of course I did. It was delicious!
My tip: from the public section of the beach, walk all the way to the right-hand end. We found a quieter corner there with some old netting boats you could lie on, still sunny and not busy at all. Our Blue Bay guide explains what we actually did and who I think the base suits.
How I'd choose rather than book everything
Start with your bases, then choose the experiences that fit them. Grand Baie makes sense for the northern-islands departure. Tamarin worked for ordinary life and southwest outings. Blue Bay suited a quiet finish. We hired a car for the whole month through our first Airbnb, and it gave us so much freedom, especially in quieter areas like Blue Bay.
For a shorter holiday, use our ten-day itinerary as a starting route, then remove anything that doesn't excite you. Leave a couple of loose days, too. August and September are technically winter here, and our weather was more hit and miss than it had been in Zanzibar or the Seychelles. I'd rather have time to enjoy Le Morne and a good lunch than rush through several stops for the sake of a longer list.
Watch our Mauritius trip
Watch our Mauritius vlog on YouTube, 45m21s. This is also our newest public full-length video, verified for this article.
FAQs about things to do in Mauritius
How long did you spend in Mauritius?
We had 31 booked nights from 13 August to 13 September 2026. That included work, cooking, gym sessions and ordinary days as well as outings, so it wasn't a month of sightseeing every day.
What was your favourite base?
Tamarin was my favourite base within Mauritius for the everyday routine, with great cafés, restaurants, a really good gym and good supermarkets. Grand Baie was ideal for the northern-islands catamaran and Blue Bay for a quieter finish.
Did you hike Le Morne?
No. The wind picked up on the morning we went and the trail was closed, and we'd left it until our last day in the area. We loved Le Morne for the beach and lagoon instead, and next time I'd stay a night or two there.
Is every experience in this article a paid booking?
No. Vitamin Sea hosted our private sunrise, while we paid for experiences such as the catamaran, the Chamarel tickets and the diving course. Beach walks, café visits and days cooking at home were also part of the trip.
