THE NORTH – All year ocean hot spot

Accommodation:

• Canonnier Beachcomber Golf Resort & Spa. This 4* hotel has an extraordinary setting at the tip of the Northern coast. It has beaches facing three sides and is set in a beautiful relaxing garden with palms and pools. Its enchanting spa bungalows are built into old Banyan trees. Water sport activities, a PADI diving school, three restaurants and two bars add to a great experience. Rooms tend to be a bit noisy but the ocean-view category is cosy, clean and bright. You can book it here.

Tips:

• For around 17 Rp. you can take a bus (busstop in front of Momo store close to hotel) over to Grand Baie, the little town with shops, restaurants, shopping center + huge supermarket Super U, ATM machines etc.
• Watch the night sky to get a view on the Milky Way. The app Sternatlas is quite helpful to localize stars.
• Snorkeling and diving is a lot of fun in this area. We swam around many colorful fish and saw sea turtles on the Crater dive as well as the wreck of Stella Maru. Here a map of the Northern dive sites.
• If you have time, you can also visit the Botanical gardens of Pamplemousse and the capital Port Louis. (We enjoyed the water too much to take time for that though.)

THE WEST – Cinematic surf setting

Accommodation:

• Veranda Tamarin Hotel & Spa. The 3* hotel just re-opened end of 2018 after a big renovation and is right across Tamarin public beach. It has playful rooms, 1 common pool, 1 small privilege roof-top pool with ocean-view and restaurants, a surf shop and spa. Their boat house organizes many activities, like diving, surfing (best in Tamarin!) and dolphin tours. Their take-away booth and bar are open to public and feature live gigs throughout the week. You can book it here.

Tips:

• Just a short taxi or bus ride away (no sidewalks), there are a Super U supermarket, restaurants, shops and ATM.
• Around the hotel you will find small shops and can eat Chinese at Les Salines or Italian at Cosa Nostra (was closed at our time). A post office is also nearby. Look out for some graffiti art along the walls.
• Tamarin beach is very picturesque with its backdrop of the spiky Montagne du Rempart, which was featured in the movie Serenity with Mathew McCaunaghey and Anne Hathaway.
• Dolphin tours: Tamarin bay is famous for the dolphins that come to visit nearly every morning. Standard tours start at 6.30 or 8.30 in the morning and take you to watch them and even swim with them in the ocean (though that seemed crowded with all the boats and people in the water). After that they take you out for snorkeling and a barbecue lunch on Ile aux Benitiers and a ride around the famous crystal rock. We spent a very relaxed half day with the tour operator from the hotel‘s boat house for 2000 Rp. p. pax.

CHAMAREL & BLACK RIVER – Surrounded by nature

Accommodation:

• Chalets Chamarel. The 11 chalets lie inside the Chamarel park area. Their unique setting up on a ridge is quite unknown even to taxi drivers. It is the place to experience the quiet pleasure of nature from the very top. The chalets are modern and spacious, featuring two large terraces facing East (into the forest) and West (onto the ocean). The whole team was very friendly, attentive and helpful, and the food at the Seaforest restaurant with its view on Le Morne mountain is really good. We loved the roasted chicken and dry curry with sea bream. Also the rum from the bar was tasty. You can book it here.

Sights:

• Chamarel Seven-coloured Earth Ecopark is one of the most famous sights of Mauritius. You will find the multicolored dunes and some tortoise as well as a shop and cafe. Also the twin waterfalls lie within this park.
• The Rhumerie de Chamarel is the place where you can discover the story of rum production. They offer guided tours though the distillery and have a souvenir shop as well as restaurant inside the estate.
• Lavilleon Natural Forest. Here you can experience some little adventures above the trees when signing up for the zip-lining and balancing over a high Nepalese bridge. An optional photographer will be coming with you for 500Rp. 
• Ebony Forest Reserve. Discover the forest history of Mauritius and watch the endemic flycatcher birds from close. This reserve has a souvenir shop and restaurant serving exotic pizza creations.
• The Black River Gorges National Park is the biggest national park of Mauritius and perfect for hiking. A hike on the main path Macchabee Trail takes around 4 hours. It starts at Petrin visitor center, goes along a broad path for 5 km until the Macchabee viewpoint and then goes down quite adventurously through the forest, ending at the Black River Gorges visitor center. Be prepared for muddy paths at rainy times. If you are lucky, you might even spot some monkeys jumping around.

BLUE BAY – Marine life before departure

Accommodation:

• Here Paradise. This rather hidden space in the curve of Rue de las Bonites has a great location to explore the bay. The owner Dave provides affordable B&B holiday apartments, a pool and terrace. You can book it here.

Tips:

• Blue Bay is perfect to visit before your departure because it is close to the airport and you can still enjoy the beach until the last hours. It was recommended to us to do a glass bottom boat trip through the UNESCO Marine Park (but we were short on time unfortunately).
• Just across the beach you can eat at food stands or at the popular Le Bougainville. Blue Bamboo is known to be a great pizza place further East (closed on Mondays).