Mauritius is a tropical paradise island known for its perfect beaches with crystal clear, turquoise water and palm trees. It is located next to Madagascar and Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
In this Mauritius travel itinerary, we share our tips for an amazing 1-week stay on Mauritius. Before visiting Mauritius, we spent two adventurous weeks on Reunion Island (check out our Reunion Island Travel Itinerary!), so we used the week on Mauritius mostly to relax. Of course, you can easily spend more than one week on Mauritius if you want to spend more time to explore the nature and culture.
Preparation
- When to travel: May to December. We went in October and it was great.
- How long to stay: 1-2 weeks.
- Language: English.
- How to get around: Rental car.
- We can recommend the local Pingouin Car Rental, which worked smoothly and did not require a credit card.
- They also sell local SIM cards, which is very useful for mobile Internet.
- Note that cars drive on the left side on Mauritius, which takes some getting used to.
- Plan enough time to return the car at the airport. We spent 30min+ driving in circles to figure out how to get to the car rental return point. The signs and streets are quite confusing.
- What to bring:
- Clothes for warm weather and swimwear including snorkeling gear.
- Clothes for hiking if you want to explore the nature.
- A credit/debit card that lets you withdraw Mauritian Rupee, so you do not need to exchange money.
We focused on Mauritius’ west coast, which is supposedly calmer and warmer than the east coast. We split this Mauritius travel itinerary into two parts: First, a few days in the north, then a few in the south. Both were great!
Here is a map covering our recommended hotels, beaches, and more on Mauritius:
Mauritius Northwest
🛏️ Stay at Voile Bleue Boutique Hotel: A charming 3-star hotel, right at the waterfront and walking distance to multiple nice beaches. It has its own pool, a restaurant and breakfast, but the rooms also have a kitchen so you can make food yourself.
🏖️ Our Favorite Beaches
- Trou aux Biches Beach: Our favorite beach in the north and walking distance from the hotel (30min).
- Mon Choisy Public Beach & Mont Choisy Beach: Very nice beaches a bit further up north. It’s a nice but a bit longer walk from the hotel. Good street food vans nearby.
🏝️ Activities
- Sun bathing and swimming obviously.
- Snorkeling is nice even though there are not a lot of fish at the public beaches. At Trou aux Biches, boat agencies try to attract turtles by throwing food into the water. They are usually close to the beach and I saw turtles swimming/snorkeling towards the boats.
- Rent a pedal boat and enjoy the turquoise water. There are rental services at some of the beaches.
- Get a massage. The convenience store next to the hotel is not just useful for snacks and buying sunscreen, they also offer massages. We recommend it!
- Drive up to one of the most northern spots of Mauritius, Cap Malheureux, to take some beautiful pictures. (Note: We did not have the time to go and preferred to stay at the beach.)
Mauritius Southwest
🛏️ Stay at The Bay. Beautiful beachfront hotel with very nice restaurant and a picturesque small pool surrounded by palm trees.
🏖️ Our Favorite Beaches
- There is a beach right at the hotel that is great for swimming.
- Tamarin Public Beach is not too far from the hotel and has nice views onto Mauritius’ mountain peaks in the background.
- Flic en Flac Beach is worth a visit. It is really large but also a bit too busy for our taste.
- Le Morne Public Beach is our favorite beach on Mauritius. From the hotel, you need to take the car, but it is absolutely worth it! The water and sand are amazing, there are fish for snorkeling, not too many people, and the Le Morne Brabant mountain in the background. The fruit vendors at the parking lot sell fresh coconut and pineapple – perfect snacks for the beach.
🏝️ Activities
- Again, swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling 🙂 The Bay also offers massages.
- Hike up to the peak of Le Morne Brabant to enjoy a beautiful view over Mauritius. The area is a UNESCO world heritage and is an important historical site for Mauritius. We did a guided sunrise hike up to the top in the early morning and can highly recommend it. The tour guide was super friendly, helpful with the challenging passages at the top, and also told us lots about Mauritius and Le Morne.
- Flight over the lagoon and the “underwater waterfall” (it’s an optical illusion) next to Le Morne with lagoonFLIGHT. Make sure to reserve up front – unfortunately, we were too late, but the pictures look amazing.
- Visit the Chamarel Waterfall and Chamarel Seven Colored Earth. Both were on our wish list but did not make it in the end due to limited time.
Whale watching and dolphin swimming. We did a tour but would not do it again. It seemed quite stressful for the beautiful animals.
🍴 Restaurants
- Our favorite restaurant was actually The Bay‘s own restaurant with beautiful views over the lagoon. The food was great and the prices good. Some evenings they also had live music.
- For something more authentic, local, and low-key, do check out Chez BB. At first, we almost did not find it – it’s a small kitchen next to a convenience store. There are not many options, but they taste great, are home-cooked, and are really cheap (we had two meals with drinks for less than 5€).
With more time, there is a lot more to discover, e.g., the Grand Bassin Temple, and the small islands around Mauritius’ main island. If you like hiking and the outdoors, consider visiting the neighboring Reunion Island, too. We really loved it!
Either way, we hope you found this Mauritius travel itinerary helpful and enjoy your stay on the island!