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The North of Mauritius, with the village of Grand Bay as the cheerleader, is the most tourist-orientated region of the island. The North of Mauritius counts approximately thirty hotels, as many guesthouses, tens of restaurants in addition to several bars and discotheques, and many shops.

The wind being generally offshore, the beaches and lagoons are sheltered making the northern region recommendable for the windy winter months.

Even so, a sweatshirt or something warmer is necessary for the winter evenings of June to September.

In summer, (November to March) the North and especially Grand Bay can get very hot and humid where a T-Shirt is the only thing you can wear.

The Northern region is known as the "Northern Plains" for it is generally as flat as Belgium. Its beauty and interest definitely being the seaside as the open sea off the coast is wonderful and is attractive all year round.

Apart from the Grand bay area itself, the seaside of the North is rich in colours and variety. The sea surface inside the lagoons is often smooth as in swimming pools, with an unmatched transparency. The view of the lagoons fading from green to blue, delimited by the white surf of the coral reefs, topped by the deep blue of the open sea is simply breathtaking.

The generally good sea conditions are best, making the North / Northwest region the ideal place for nautical activities.

Access to the sea being quite restricted by the presence of hotels and private bungalows, the interesting features of the north are its several fishermen's villages found along the coast. Taking half a day for a sightseeing drive along the coast, taking time to stop in villages like Pointe-aux-Piments, Grand Gaube and Poudre d'Or is the right thing to do when you have had enough of the beach. The North also has at least two inland places of interest, which are "La Nicoliere" drive and the Pamplemousses botanical Garden.

La Nicoliere is on the way to the East and can be a country road access to the centre of Mauritius. La Nicoliere is a small lake / reservoir, surrounded by nature preserved hillsides where the vegetation is totally different to the one along the coast, just a few kilometres away. Wild monkeys and bats can be spotted while driving uphill in late afternoon and it is possible to stop at two or three viewpoints along the road and enjoy the view and fresh air and why not take a short walk in the bush.

The Pamplemousses garden was created under the initiative of former French Governor Francois Mahe de Labourdonnais (1699-1753) as his residence, after he had decided to develop Port Louis as main port in 1735. Labourdonnais, had decided to grow in this garden, the widest variety of trees, plants and spices collected from several French counters along the spice route.

"Pierre Poivre" (Peter Pepper if literally translated) who dedicated part of his life to spices, settled in Mauritius after the departure of Labourdonnais and further developed this project, which finally turned up to be a financial fiasco for the "Compagnie des Indes." What's left today is only a small portion of the whole garden, but remains a pleasant break especially if called at on the way back from Port Louis.

Opposite the garden is the welcoming village of Pamplemousses and one of the oldest church of the country, with a few restaurants.

Mauritius is generally not a busy place (except for road traffic) but the village of Grand Bay with its amount of restaurants and, to a lesser extent, its bars and discotheques is probably the only place, together with Flic-en-Flac and Black River on the West Coast, giving the impression of nightlife. Depending on the period, it can get busy if not “buzzy” in peak seasons, especially in December / January.

Since most restaurants stop serving food as from 10.00 p.m. it is advisable to keep the drinks short prior to dinner and find out about the few late night bars for a night cap. For the most zealous night owls, these bars would be your waiting area until activity in the night clubs pick up, generally around midnight.

Due to the fact that it was the first coastal village to be frequently visited by tourists, some aspects of Grand Bay are typical of all the tourist destinations. Grand Bay has also attracted several people from the other villages and regions to a point where it is difficult to identify today who are the true people of Grand Bay. Commerce and tourist attraction is the common denominator.

Grand Bay has nonetheless maintained a lot of its typicality, just like the rest of Mauritius. You can still see in Grand Bay some typical grocery shops, more than 40 years old, acting as the fishermen's pub, the roadside Indian pastry merchants, and sometimes oxcarts.

Grand Bay is far from being a night only place. Packed with the finest shops of Mauritius, and situated in the north where the sea is most attractive, it is the ideal landing place for the tourists wishing to carry a variety of activities.

Therefore Grand Bay remains a good destination as it only takes half a day, on foot or by car to discover a minimum of Mauritius while taking advantage of the shopping opportunities and of the restaurants.



Due to favourable sea conditions, Grand Bay offers the best opportunities of Nautical activities and nearly all excursions proposed in Mauritius can be booked from the numerous local tour-operators on the street side. Some of them may not be reliable and we advise contacting agencies from licensed receptive agents working with foreign tour-operators.