"L'île Maurice - very interesting indeed " a Mauritius Travel Page by ZenLady34

Mauritius was a really interesting country to visit. As I booked only flights I needed to arrange the accommodation myself. This was perhaps the most difficult part of the journey as I wanted to find the best value for money. Also the location is important for me.

After weeks of research on the Net I ended up with the Northern part of the island. It is said that in the Southern part of the island it rains much more than in the North. So, I had to choose between the sunny-expensive-touristy North and pluvial-cheaper-not spoiled by tourists -South! A hard decision?

We chose to be based in the north part of island in Grand Baie, which is considered the tourist mecca of the island. Contrary to what the tourist guides will tell you, Grand Baie is not really a busting tourist mecca.. But Grand Baie does provide all the basic services important for tourists on extended stays such as day excursions, trips, shops, restaurants, banks, and street bars.

Before the trip I actually wondered how little information there is on the Net, VT and books about Mauritius! All I found was the same points of interests again and again: like the church with red roof at Cap Malheureuse. Now I know why - because thats all there is.

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Mont Choisy beach

hotels and excursions...

Mauritius does not have neither a peak or a low season. Therefore (?) the hotels does not give good reduction on their prices. The hotels are extremly expensive and mostly they are situated in the middle of sugarcanes. Outside the hotel area there is practically nothing.

The cheapest hotel room we found was 50 euros / night with breakfast! Mainly the hotels seemed to charge between 150-250 euros/night.
Luckily there are plenty of apartments and you dont need to book in advance.

Major industries are sugar, (you'll see sugarcanes everywhere), textiles ( cheap shopping? Dream on!), tea (tasty tea!), tobacco and tourism.

I can imagine that Mauritius could be a scuba divers paradise. The island is totally surrounded by coral reefs. A good thing about the corals is also that they keep sharks away and reduce the risk of big Tsunami waves!
Sun is very strong in Mauritius. I've never burned myself and I've never before used sun blocking lotion but here I both used the lotion and burned my skin. A relief to sunburns was Vinaigre Medine and Biafine emulsion.

We did few day excursions from Grand Baie. Sometimes the quality of the day excursions was really poor. Sometimes it was better. Thanks for the Lonely Planet Mauritius guide we could study the resorts where we were going beforehand. This was really good as the drivers who took us to the excursions did not guide at all. They were just drivers and normally guides were not provided on the trips. I hope to share some closer information about the excursions on my Travel Tips pages. Also I will not add any other town except Grand Baie on my travel pages as we were based in GB. I will add the few points of interests and some towns/villages under Mauritius Tips. You might find Port Louis, Pereybere and Cap Malheureuse in my tipps here below...

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Sunday - Grand Baie church at the back

local life

Inhabitants on Mauritius are Indo-Mauritian (68%), Créole (27%), Sino-Mauritian (3%), Franco-Mauritian (2%). On the surface a tourist could not spot a thing but I was told by a local that they dont mix with each other. Also I was told that they have three different price levels: one is for Créoles, one for residents and one for tourists. Indeed a tourist eats in a restaurant a beef for 230 Rupees as a local eats from starter, main dish, desert with drinks included with 50 Rupees! It is possible I was told. We found some places where we could eat cheaper than in restaurants. One place in Grand Baie is actually at the Super U's (supermarket) fast food places, 50 Rs for fried rice with shrimps and egg. Not bad?

How one will experience the country depends on many things. This statement includes travellers interests and the place (s)he is staying in and what expectation the traveller has. In my opinion the nature and beaches are the best what Mauritius has to offer for a traveller. Traveller who likes visiting cultural sites, does not have dozens of places to visit.

I found Mauritius very interesting. I liked how the local people greeted when walking on the alleys (bonjour, bonsoir) and I felt Grand Baie was rather safe place. I did not be afraid when walking on the alleys when it was dark.

I liked the country and the people. I loved the different shades of green in the nature. I loved the color of the sea. I enjoyed to local food very much.
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