Updated August 2026 · Written on the island
Every beach, viewpoint and boat trip on this page has been visited in person. Real costs, the right month to go, and honest notes on which places are worth your morning and which are worth skipping.
Explore All Activities →Why this guide
Most lists of things to do in Mauritius are assembled from press releases. This one is not. Every place below has been driven to, walked, swum or climbed, and the notes tell you the thing a brochure will not — that Ile aux Cerfs is transformed by arriving on the first boat, that La Cambuse is spectacular and not swimmable, that the Chamarel viewing platform is a two-minute walk from the car park.
The island is small enough to see properly in a week and varied enough to reward two. Along the north and east you get the calm, shallow lagoons that make Mauritius beaches famous. The south-west is volcanic and dramatic, with the waterfalls, the coloured earth and the best hiking. The reef holds the country's snorkelling — Blue Bay Marine Park is the reliable one — and the activities worth booking ahead are almost all the ones involving a boat.
We have grouped everything into four sections so you can plan by what you actually want to do rather than by geography: the places worth building a day around, the beaches worth choosing a hotel for, the snorkelling spots that justify the boat fare, and the fifteen activities most visitors book.
Chamarel Waterfall, the Seven Coloured Earth, Chamarel village and Le Morne all sit within twenty minutes of one another. Leave the coast by 8 a.m., do the waterfall and the coloured earth before the coaches arrive at ten, have lunch in Chamarel, and be at Le Morne for the afternoon light. That single loop covers four of the fifteen things on this page and gets you back to your hotel before dark.
Section one
Nine places that justify building a day around them, from a UNESCO World Heritage mountain to a crater lake that draws half the island on foot every February.
UNESCO siteA basalt monolith rising 556 m straight out of the lagoon, and the most photographed silhouette in the Indian Ocean. The guided climb takes about four hours return and the last section is exposed rock, not a walk.
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Must visitVolcanic dunes striped in seven distinct shades that never erode into one another, however hard the rain falls. Go early — by ten the light flattens and the coaches arrive.
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Must visitThe island's tallest single-drop fall, plunging 100 m into a forested gorge. The viewing platform is a two-minute walk from the car park, which makes it the easiest big view in Mauritius.
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Sacred siteA crater lake held sacred by Mauritius's Hindu community, watched over by a 33 m statue of Shiva. During Maha Shivaratree in February or March, hundreds of thousands walk here on foot.
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NatureSixty-seven square kilometres of the last native forest left on the island, with marked trails from twenty minutes to a full day. The Macchabee viewpoint is the one to aim for if you only have an hour.
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Day tripAn offshore island of white sand and shallow turquoise water, reached by speedboat or catamaran from Trou d'Eau Douce. Busy by midday — the first boats out have the beach to themselves.
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Local lifeThe capital's covered market, loudest and best before nine in the morning. Come for vanilla, chilli cakes and dholl puri rather than souvenirs, and bring small notes.
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Hidden gemA dormant volcanic crater 350 m across, ringed by a shaded walking path with the clearest panorama of the central plateau. Ten minutes from Curepipe and almost always empty.
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Must visitFounded in 1770 and home to the giant Amazon water lilies, a talipot palm that flowers once a century, and a collection of endemic species you will not see anywhere else.
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Eight beaches chosen for what they are actually good at. Not every beautiful beach in Mauritius is swimmable, and the difference matters more than the photographs suggest.
Best for sunsetsThree kilometres of west-coast sand with calm lagoon water and casuarina shade behind it. The sunsets here are the reason half the island drives over on a Sunday.
Best for long walksThe east coast's longest stretch of white sand, backed by filao trees and rarely crowded outside weekends. Shallow and clear a long way out, which makes it excellent for children.
Best for snorkellingA gentle north-coast lagoon with a reef close enough to swim to from the sand. Consistently rated among the best beaches in the Indian Ocean, and it earns it.
Best for watersportsWhite sand under the mountain, with the kitesurfing lagoon at one end and quiet swimming at the other. Trade winds are steady from June to September.
Best for familiesA protected marine park in the south-east with coral visible from the surface and water so clear it looks shallow when it is not. Glass-bottom boats leave from the beach.
Best for facilitiesA compact north-coast beach with real facilities on the doorstep — restaurants, shops and shade — which makes it the easiest beach on the island to spend a whole day at.
Best for spaceA wide crescent of sand in the north that absorbs a crowd without ever feeling full. Popular with local families at weekends and near-empty midweek.
Best for wild beautyA rugged south-east beach ten minutes from the airport, with the open ocean rather than a lagoon in front of it. Beautiful, windswept, and not the place for a gentle swim.
Section three
Six spots graded by how much swimming confidence they genuinely need. Visibility is good year-round; what changes with the season is the wind and the swell.
The most reliable snorkelling on the island: a protected reserve with living coral in three to five metres of water, and boats that will drop you directly on the best patch.
Book Snorkelling Tour →Swim out from the beach and the reef starts within a hundred metres. Calm, shallow and busy with parrotfish — the easiest self-guided snorkel in Mauritius.
Book Snorkelling Tour →Reached only by boat off the west coast, with Crystal Rock rising out of the lagoon nearby. Deeper water and some current, so go with an operator rather than alone.
Book Snorkelling Tour →The northern islands, an hour out by catamaran. Visibility is the best you will find anywhere around Mauritius and the sandbank between them is worth the trip on its own.
Book Snorkelling Tour →Shallow, warm and forgiving, with plenty of fish close to the sand. The best option if you are snorkelling with children for the first time.
Book Snorkelling Tour →Deeper coral shelves off the south-west with better structure and bigger fish, but real exposure to wind and swell. For confident swimmers with a guide.
Book Snorkelling Tour →Section four
The fifteen activities visitors book most, with the honest note on each. Anything involving a boat and a fixed departure should be booked before you arrive.
Kayak, paddleboard, waterski and windsurf across the calmest lagoons in the Indian Ocean.
View & Book →Full-day catamaran runs to Ile aux Cerfs, the northern islands or the west-coast lagoon.
View & Book →Le Morne, Le Pouce, Black River Gorges and the Seven Cascades, from one hour to a full day.
View & Book →Port Louis, the temples of the north and the sugar-estate houses of the south.
View & Book →Spinner and bottlenose pods off Tamarin at first light, when the sea is flat.
View & Book →Forest canopy lines and Nepalese bridges above the Bel Ombre nature reserve.
View & Book →Walk the seabed in a helmet with air piped down. No swimming ability needed.
View & Book →Two hundred feet above the lagoon, with the reef line laid out beneath you.
View & Book →South-coast trails through sugar cane to Pont Naturel and the cliffs beyond.
View & Book →Champagne on the water as the light goes over Le Morne. Book the earlier slot.
View & Book →Championship courses at Bel Ombre, Anahita and Paradis, several right on the sea.
View & Book →Ayurvedic and Balinese treatments in resorts that take wellness genuinely seriously.
View & Book →Street food in Port Louis, rum at Chamarel, tea at Bois Cheri, vanilla in the south.
View & Book →Fifteen minutes over the underwater waterfall illusion at Le Morne, and the whole south coast.
View & Book →Blue marlin and yellowfin in the drop-off west of Black River. Season peaks October to March.
View & Book →Why trust this guide?
Resident travel writer, Mauritius Explored
Traveller reviews
★★★★★
We planned six of our eleven days straight off this page. The note about getting to Ile aux Cerfs on the first boat saved our whole day - we had the sandbank to ourselves for an hour.
Hannah Weir
Family trip, October 2026
★★★★★
Finally a Mauritius guide that tells you which beaches are actually swimmable and which just photograph well. La Cambuse is stunning and we would have wasted a morning there expecting a lagoon.
Daniel Okonkwo
First visit, May 2026
★★★★★
Booked the south-west loop exactly as described - Chamarel, Seven Coloured Earth, Le Morne in one day. It worked perfectly and we were back at the hotel by four.
Emilie Rousseau
Honeymoon, September 2026
Before you go
The three most rewarding are climbing Le Morne Brabant, taking a catamaran to Île aux Cerfs or the northern islands, and snorkelling Blue Bay Marine Park. Beyond those, the Seven Coloured Earth at Chamarel, Grand Bassin and Black River Gorges cover the island's geology, culture and forest in a single southern loop. If you only have one day, drive the south-west: Chamarel, Le Morne and the Seven Coloured Earth sit within twenty minutes of each other.
Seven to ten nights. Five is enough for one coast and a couple of excursions but you will spend the trip rushing. Ten lets you split between two coasts — north or west for the lagoon, south for the wild coastline and waterfalls — and still keep genuine rest days. The island is only 65 km long, but the roads are slower than the map suggests and nothing takes as little time as you plan for.
May and September to November are the strongest all-round months: warm, dry, low cyclone risk and outside the two price peaks. Hiking and kitesurfing are best from June to September when it is cooler and the trade winds are steady. Diving and lagoon swimming are best from October to April when the sea reaches 27–28 °C. Humpback whales pass between June and November with peak sightings in August and September.
Catamaran trips, dolphin excursions, helicopter flights and the guided Le Morne climb should be booked at least a few days ahead, and further in December, July and August. Beaches, viewpoints, Black River Gorges and the botanical garden need no booking at all. Anything involving a boat and a fixed departure time is worth securing before you arrive.
Very. The lagoon is shallow, calm and warm almost everywhere on the north and east coasts, which removes most of the anxiety of a beach holiday with small children. Belle Mare, Trou aux Biches, Blue Bay and Pereybere are the four to aim for. Undersea walks take children from about seven, and the glass-bottom boats at Blue Bay work for any age.
As a rough guide: a shared catamaran day trip runs around Rs 2,500–4,000 per person, a dolphin excursion Rs 1,500–2,500, quad biking Rs 3,000–4,500, and a fifteen-minute helicopter flight Rs 12,000–18,000. Beaches, hikes and viewpoints are free. Prices are consistently lower booked locally than through a resort concierge, and lower again outside July, August and December.
For anything beyond your own beach, yes. Public buses are cheap and cover the main towns but are slow and stop running early. Most of the best places on this page — Chamarel, Black River Gorges, the south coast, Grand Bassin — are impractical without your own transport or a private driver. Driving is on the left, and the roads are narrower and busier than they look.
Keep planning
The four things most people work out next: when to come, where to stay, how to get around, and what the practical side actually involves.
Best Time to Visit Mauritius
Month-by-month weather, sea temperatures and cyclone risk.
Beaches
All 45 beaches compared by swimming, snorkelling and facilities.
Itineraries
Day-by-day driving routes for 3, 5, 7 and 10 nights.
Transport
What it costs, what to book and how driving here really works.
Where to Stay
Coast-by-coast guide to choosing the right base for your trip.
Practical
Visas, currency, safety, language, plugs and everything practical.
Start here
Ninety-five activities, forty-five beaches and ninety-seven places, all in one place - with the honest notes you have just read applied to every single one.
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