Seven days in the north

The north is the liveliest part of Mauritius, the part that lives by night as much as by day. Grand Baie is its centre: beach clubs, bars, more than fifty restaurants, and the Grand Bazar for souvenirs. Yet a week in the north is not spent in Grand Baie. It is spent around it, in a country of sugar estates, fishing villages and islands set out at sea, which answer one another from one day to the next.

The first day follows the rhythm of the town. Grand Baie’s public beach was put together piece by piece, four sections opened between 1991 and 2021, making 710 metres of shoreline in all. For lunch, Le Capitaine, on the coast road, serves seafood and Creole cooking seven days a week, from 11am to 11pm, without closing in the afternoon, when so many tables in the north stop between lunch and dinner. In the evening, a catamaran leaves the bay at sunset, cocktail included.

The second day belongs to the sea. Off the northern tip lies a line of islands, reached by catamaran or speedboat. Coin de Mire, some eight kilometres off the coast, is a nature reserve where no one lands: boats run along its rust-orange cliffs, circled by tropicbirds and shearwaters, and then you slip into the water with mask and snorkel, over seabeds counted among the best on the island. Gabriel Island is known for its pure white sandbank. Flat Island, five minutes away, served as a quarantine station from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1930s: what remains are buildings overrun by vegetation, a cemetery and a white lighthouse.

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Days three and four: plants and sugar

Pamplemousses, about ten kilometres north-east of Port Louis, calls for an entire morning. The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden opens every day, public holidays included, from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Its thirty-three hectares bring together 823 species, among them 80 palms and 60 endemic species. The Château Mon Plaisir, built in 1823, is its headquarters, and the great entrance gate won a first prize at the International Exhibition of 1862, at the Crystal Palace. In the afternoon, the old Beau Plan sugar mill next to the garden houses L’Aventure du Sucre, whose tour traces the history of sugar in Mauritius and ends with a rum tasting. Its restaurant, Le Fangourin, looks out over the Beau Plan lake and Pieter Both, and its desserts are made with the estate’s own brown sugars.

The fourth day leads to Mapou and the Château de Labourdonnais. Christian Wiehe began building it in 1856; the house was completed in 1859, at the heart of a 500-hectare estate. You walk through the restored drawing rooms, past the old sugar mill chimney and its underground passage, through the collection orchards, and then taste the house rums, blind for anyone who wants to put their palate to the test. Last admission is at 3.45pm: it is better to come in the morning and have lunch on site, at La Table du Château, which cooks the estate’s fruit and the local catch, or at La Terrasse, its open-air bistro. Late in the day, the road heads back up to Cap Malheureux. Its church, Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, raises a red roof against Coin de Mire, and its holy-water stoup is carved from the shell of a giant clam.

The fifth day begins in Triolet, at the Maheswarnath Mandir, the largest Hindu temple on the island, founded in 1888 by Pandit Sanjbunlall Ramsoondur and dedicated to Shiva. White columns, floral decoration, painted sculptures: the compound gathers several small temples around the main sanctuary. It is a working place of worship, to be visited with discretion. The afternoon is spent on the north-west coast, at Trou aux Biches, whose public beach stretches in three sections over almost a kilometre. In the evening, Le Pescatore serves chef Pramod Gobin’s seafood beneath its Creole veranda, facing the sea, from Tuesday to Saturday. On other days, La Plage Beach Club, on the same coast road, sets its tables on the sand, under coconut palms and Indian almond trees, from 9am to 9.30pm.

The sixth day changes shore. In the north-east, the mangroves of Île d’Ambre are explored by kayak, with a guide, among the mangrove trees, with neither engine nor noise. On the way back, stop at Pereybère or Bain Boeuf, two neighbouring beaches of opposite shapes: the first, very busy, meets the sea along just 108 metres; the second, long and narrow, stretches for 727 metres.

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Day seven: under the sea or under the trees

The last day is decided by the mood of the moment. At Trou aux Biches, a submarine takes its passengers down to the wreck of the Star Hope. For those who prefer dry land, the Powder Mills nature trail, in Pamplemousses, introduces the island’s native and endemic flora, and forest officers lead guided walks along it. For a last dinner facing the northern islands, Kot Nou at Zilwa Attitude, in Calodyne, serves reinvented Mauritian specialities from 6.30pm, as small plates to share.

A single base is enough for the week. Grand Baie keeps everything within reach, Grand Gaube and Calodyne look out to the islands, Pointe aux Piments looks out over Balaclava Marine Park. And from anywhere, arranging a boat or catamaran trip is easy: it is what this coast is for.