Mauritius

Getting Around By Air

Air Mauritius (website: www.airmauritius.com) operates daily flights connecting Plaisance Airport and Rodrigues (flight time - 1 hour 15 minutes). Air Mauritius Helicopter offers transfers and sightseeing tours (tel: 603 3754; e-mail: helicopter@airmauritius.com).

Getting Around by Water

Coraline sails once a week to Rodrigues Island from Port Louis (tel: 210 5944 or 6120; website: www.mauritiusshipping.intnet.mu).

Getting Around by Road

One major highway runs north to south, otherwise a good network of paved, if sometimes narrow, roads cover the island. Traffic drives, erratically, on the left.

Coach/bus: Excellent and numerous bus services ply the island, The main three companies are the National Transport Corporation (NBC) (tel: 426 2938), United Bus Service (UBS) (tel: 212 2026) and Mauritius Bus Transport (MTB) (tel: 245 2539).

Taxi: These are regulated and metered and linked to provinces or hotels, printed on a yellow panel on the drivers’ door. Tips are not customary for taxi drivers, but appreciated.

Car hire: Numerous car hire firms include major international and independent firms.

Regulations: Drivers are required to be over 23 years old. Speed limits are 80kph (50mph) on the motorway and 50kph (31mph) in built-up areas. Seat belts must be worn.

Documentation: A foreign licence is accepted.

Getting Around Towns and Cities

Bus and taxi services are best used in urban areas. Bicycles and motorbikes are also available for hire.

Journey Times

The following chart gives approximate journey times (in hours and minutes) from Port Louis to other major cities/towns/resorts in Mauritius.

Main Airports

Mauritius (MRU) (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam), commonly referred to as Plaisance Airport (website: http://mauritius-airport.intnet.mu), is 48km (30 miles) southeast of Port Louis. To/from the airport: Taxis are available to the city (journey time - 45 minutes). Facilities: Duty-free shops, banks/bureaux de change, snack bar, post office, shops and car hire.

Getting There by Water

Main ports: Port Louis is primarily commercial but there is a limited passenger service to Madagascar, Réunion and Rodrigues Island; contact Mauritius Shipping Corporation (tel: 210 5994; website: www.mauritiusshipping.intnet.mu).

Cruise ships occasionally call at the island.

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Mauritius has a tropical maritime climate, with relatively little seasonal variation in temperatures, and generally pleasant and sunny on the coast year round. Winter, from May to October is warm and dry. Summer from November to April is hot, humid and rainy. Cyclones occur between January and March. Sea breezes blow all year, especially on the east coast, and the inland central plateau around Curepipe is cooler and rainy year round.

Required Clothing

Tropical lightweights, with warmer wear for evenings and winter months. Rainwear advisable all year round. In the summer months, sun-care products and a hat are advisable and long sleeves and trousers to help prevent insect bites.

Hotels

There is an abundance of hotels throughout the island, most of them hugging the coast. Mauritius standards and service are known to be the best in the Indian Ocean. The newest area to be developed, in 2004, was the less tamed southwest coast which saw a cluster of hotels go up. The top end of the market has seen an expansion in the villa living concept as well as smaller hotels, with the first boutique hotel opening in 2005.

From June to September, and during the Christmas and Easter holidays, reservations should be made in advance. A 10% tax is added to all hotel bills.

Grading: Although there is no official grading system away from the international chains, many of whom have hotels on the island, Mauritius has a higher density of 5-star hotels than anywhere else in the world. Most of Mauritius’ hotel inventory is 4 and 5 star; even 3-star hotels provide a 5-star welcome.

Budget

There are also plenty of budget options, increasing with the trend for visitors to book over the Internet. These include family-run chambre d’hôtes, self-catering campements or weekend houses, beach bungalows and villas and lodges or even rental of colonial outhouses in the interior. They can be found throughout the island, although mainly in tourist centres - in the north around Grand Baie and in the west around Flic-en-Flac.

Accommodation Information

Association des Hôteliers et Restaurateurs de l’Ile Maurice (AHRIM)

5th Floor, Barkly Wharf, Caudan Waterfront, Port Louis, Mauritius

Tel: 211 4758 or 5630.

Website: www.mauritiustourism.org

Passport Note

All visitors must hold valid tickets and documents for their onward or return journey and adequate funds for their intended length of stay.

Passports

Passport valid for at least six months from date of entry required by all nationals referred to in the chart above.

Visas

Not required by all nationals referred to in the chart above for stays of up to three months except:

1. nationals of Bulgaria and Romania who should obtain a two-week visa on arrival.

Note: Nationals not referred to in the chart above are advised to contact the embassy to check visa requirements (see Contact Addresses).

Types of Visa and Cost

On arrival: free of charge.

Health Care

Public medical facilities are numerous and of a high standard and there are several inexpensive private clinics, mostly staffed by doctors educated in the west. There is no reciprocal health agreement with the UK; foreign visitors have to pay at state-run clinics and hospitals. Emergency evacuation health insurance is advised for those at serious risk. Note: For travellers applying for a working visa or permanent residence, an HIV test will be required.

Note

* A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required of travellers over one year of age arriving from infected areas.

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Food and Drink

Standards of cuisine, whether French, Creole, Indian, Chinese or English, are generally very high, but fruit, meat, vegetables and even fresh seafood are often imported.

Things to know: Waiter service is normal in restaurants and bars.

National specialities:

• Venison (in season).

•Camarons (freshwater prawns) in hot sauces.

• Octopus.

•Dholl purri (a wheat pancake stuffed with ground peasand served with curry).

•Gateaux piments (chilli cakes).

National drinks:

• Rum.

• Beer.

•Alouda (almond-flavoured ice milk drink). 

• Fresh coconut milk.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: 10% is usual in most hotels and restaurants.

Nightlife

Grand Baie is the centre of the island’s nightlife, with bars with live music, restaurants and nightclubs. Port Louis has mainly restaurants and bars. Rivière Noire is a Creole fishermen’s district where segadancing is especially lively on Saturday nights. Sega troupes give performances at most hotels. Gamblers are lavishly catered for; casinos are among the island’s attractions.

Shopping

This ranges from sophisticated shopping for designer clothing, jewellery and handicrafts in Port Louis’ Caudan Waterfront to rooting around for T-shirts and souvenirs upstairs in the capital’s bustling Central Market, while locals bargain hard over tea and other essentials while catching up on the gossip. Island crafts, found at the craft market at The Caudan include jewellery, Chinese and Indian jade, silks, basketry, glass and model ships. Cashmere is a particularly good buy.

Duty-free shopping is popular here with around a 40% saving on textiles, jewellery, perfume and electrical goods. Mauritius is to be turned into a tax-free shopping haven by 2010, with 80% tax taken off around 2,000 goods. Tourist shopping centres are located around the island, with a good selection of designer shops at Grand Baie, but the locals shop at Curepipe, Quatre-Bornes and Rose-Hill.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0930-1800. Some shops are open until 1200 on Sundays and public holidays. Markets usually close around 1600. Shops in Rose-Hill, Curepipe and Quatre-Bornes close on Thursday afternoons.

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• For a spectacular 360-degree view of Port Louis and the north, climb Le Pouce or ‘the thumb’, at 812m (2,664ft). It is an easy two-hour climb from the village of La Laura, and takes another two hours to walk into Port Louis. 

• Tour the Moka mountains by quad bike, horse or 4-wheel drive at the accessible 1,500-hectare (3,700-acre) nature park of Domaine Les Pailles (website: www.domainelespailles.net). Travel to the sugar mill and rum distillery by train or horse-drawn carriage before dining in one of four restaurants.  

• Head to Grand Baie, for watersports such as parasailing, an underwater walk, submarine and semi-submersible scooters, or to La Cuvette, along silky beach with clear water between Grand Baie and Cap Malheureux, for sailing, windsurfing and waterskiing.  

• Go for a swim at the northern beaches such as Trou aux Biches, shaded by casuarinas, Mont Choisy, a 2km (1.2-mile) narrow white stretch of sand curving north from there, and Péreybère, a little cove between Grand Baie and Cap Malheureux.  

• Go diving on the west coast around Flic-en-Flac or in the north, at Trou aux Biches or the Northern Islands from November to April. The Mauritius Scuba Diving Association (MSDA) can provide further information (website: www.msda-cmas.org). 

• Take a speedboat from Trou d’eau Douce to the popular island playground of Ile aux Cerfs for beaches, golf and watersports. Or, for a quieter day, a catamaran to the Northern Islands - Gabriel Island, Flat Island and Gunner’s Quoin. 

•Hike in the Black River Gorges National Park,a6,794-hectare (16,788-acre) forest,to see indigenous plants, birds and wildlife. Black River Peak trail goes to Mauritius’ highest mountain, while the Maccabee Trail starts nearby and plunges into the gorge to Black River.

• For an adventurous lunch of roasted wild boar, duck or deer curry with one of the best island views, try Domaine du Chasseur’salfresco Panoramour Restaurant. This domaine is the best place to glimpse the Mauritius kestrel in the wild. 

•La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes (website: www.lavanille-reserve.com) is commonly referred to as ‘The Crocodile Park’, for its thousands of Nile crocodiles. It is the only place worldwide to breed aldabra tortoises and also has deer, monkeys, boar and an insectarium.

• Tiny, rugged, volcanic Rodrigues Island (website: www.rodrigues-island.org) lies 550km (340 miles) northeast of Mauritius and is known as the ‘anti-stress’ island. The capital, Port Mathurin, is only seven streets wide, with a Creole population. Rodrigues offers walking, diving, kitesurfing and deep sea fishing. 

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

• Walk around the capital, Port Louis, to see fine colonial architecture such as Government House atop the palm-lined Place d’Armes. Gaze at one of the world’s rarest stamps at the Blue Penny Museum (website: www.bluepennymuseum.com) or gawk at dodo skeletons in the Natural History Museum(website: www.mauritiusmuseums.org). 

• Go souvenir shopping at Port Louis’ bustling Central Market,the craft market at The Caudan Waterfront (website: www.caudan.com) or shopping centres around the island. Bargain hunt in Chinese and Indian shops in the inland towns.

• Families should head to Casela Bird Park(website: www.caselayemen.mu) in the west. With 90 aviaries on 25 hectares (61 acres), it has more than 140 bird varieties, from five continents. The main attraction is the pink pigeon, one of the world’s rarest birds. 

• Stroll around Pamplemousses Gardens(e-mail: ssrbg@intnet.mu), the third oldest botanical gardens in the world, created in the 18th century. Its international collection of plants includes giant Amazon lilies and the talipot palm, which flowers once every 60 years, then dies.  

• Visit Mauritius Aquarium (website: www.mauritiusaquarium.com) in the north, populated by 200 species of fish, invertebrates, live coral and sponges originating from the waters around the island. It also has a touch pool for children.

• Follow the pilgrimage route to Grand Bassin, a natural crater lake and sacred Hindu site up on Plaine Champagne. A new 33m- (108ft-) high Shiva statue heralds the entrance to the few temples heaving with colour, incense and people at festival time.

• Visit the National History Museum (website: www.mauritiusmuseums.org) in Mahébourg in the southeast to see the bell from the shipwreck of Le San Geran that inspired Mauritius’ most famous romantic legend, Paul & Virginie, and rooms dedicated to the Dutch, French and British periods. 

• Visit the most characterful town on the island, Mahébourg, and head to its new waterfront for gajaks (snacks) and a view across the bay of Grand Port, the site of the famous 1810 naval battle, to Lion Mountain.  

• Snorkel or take a glass bottom boat out to see the fish and coral in Blue Bay, Mauritius’ only marine park. Or better still, take a luxury excursion to the private island just off the coast, Iles des Deux Cocos (e-mail: individual.CRO@naiade.com), to explore it from there. 

• Head to the untamed south coast to see unusual rock formations such as the blowhole at Le Souffleur, a natural rock bridge at Pont Naturel and at the wild clifftop of Gris Gris, near Souillac, a rock shaped like a witch. 

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

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