Mauritius is a modern country and it is recommended to get your own rental car while visiting. We found the prices to be reasonable, even including insurance, at Ola Rental Car. They were in contact with us before our arrival and waiting with a quick pickup when we arrived. Most cars here are small and we recommend not trying to oversize, as many of the roads are narrow.

The airport is on the Southeast side of the island and in the evening, we were able to make it to the far Northwest of the island in just about an hour. This makes a trip to Mauritius easy to explore the entire island in a short time. We opted to stay in the Northwest of the island for our first half and then on the Southwest for the second half. During the time we visited (mid-August), the Eastern side of the island was not recommended as the trade winds and rain were more common.

O'Biches by Horizon Holidays - Trou aux Biches

We knew we wanted to stay in the North for part of our trip as there are plentiful beaches and this is where the scuba diving is based out of. Booking very last minute, it was hard to choose as many of the resorts seemed to have a small beach. We came across O'Biches by Horizon Holidays, which has 2-3 bedroom units, some facing the beach. Our check-in was extremely smooth with excellent contact via Whatsapp before we arrived. We were able to arrive late and use the code to get our key without any fuss. The units are situated on a popular beach with a small pool and some chairs to relax in. We found the unit to be very comfortable, with AC in our bedroom, a large kitchen, and indoor and outdoor sitting areas.

Hilton Mauritius Resort

The Hilton Mauritius Resort is a typical large resort on the Southwestern side of Mauritius. While expensive, we decided to splurge for our last three nights of vacation. The rooms were comfortable and we enjoyed our ground floor room with access directly out to the pool area and beach. They have several restaurants and bars onsite but we actually didn't dine at any of them, as they required advanced reservations for their Thai and Indian restaurants. We opted for using our rental car to go for a short drive into town for a more local experience. The resort is quite large with two pools and plentiful beach chairs. We had breakfast included at the buffet each morning which was satisfactory, although not our best buffet ever. There were quite a few resorts to choose from in this area, so recommend looking around.

Trou-aux-Biches (North)

Trou-aux-Biches is a small town on the Northwestern side of Mauritius. It has everything you would need such as grocery stores, many restaurants within walking distance, ATM and places to stay. We stayed here for our first three nights and found it to be a convenient location to reach everything on the north side of the island within a 20 minute drive. The beach itself is a white powdery sand and clear water, although many boats are moored nearby making it less accomodating for swimming.

L'Aventure du Sucre (North)

L'Aventure du Sucre is a popular tourist attraction where you can learn about the history and processing of sugarcane. All along the nearby land you can see sugarcane being grown. We stopped here to visit their rum tasting room, which you can do separately from puchasing their museum ticket. The tickets to the museum seemed a bit pricey at roughly 25 USD per person. For the tasting, you can purchase a ticket for only $3 pp to be redeemed at their bar counter where they will pour you 7 different small tastings of rum from 3 distilleries.

Litchquor, Gold of Mauritius (North)

We found this small rum tasting room on Google maps, with many good reviews. We checked out Litchour and were the only customers there nearing the end of their day. Our bartender was extremely knowledgeable about the many varieties of the Gold of Mauritius rum. She proceeded to explain them all and then we were given a small sample of each, one by one. In all, we sampled close to 12 different varieties! Rum is big business here and similar to the way wine is made, each is aged for different amounts of time in oak or bourbon casks, leftover and sent from South Africa's wine region. We liked several of them enough to buy and will have to fit them in our luggage to bring home.

Mont Choisy Beach (North)

Mont Choisy beach is a popular local beach with a long half moon of powdery sand set in a scenic bay. It is lined with pine and palm trees and not developed except for a few food trucks in the park. We were originally looking for a hotel along this area, but it is not developed by homes or hotels, making it a peaceful place to visit. The beach has abundant free parking and we enjoyed our time here while watching the sunset. Definitely don't miss this beach when visiting the north of Mauritius.

Bigorno Diving Centre (North)

We knew that the better diving was supposedly on the North side of Mauritius, so decided to sign up for a 2 dive trip on our second day. The cost was reasonable, at about $60 per dive including all equipment. The Bigorno Diving Centre had very good reviews and was literally across the street from where we were staying, so seemed like the obvious choice! We arrived to fill our paperwork and after a short walk to the beach, they had our equipment waiting in the boat. We went out only a 10 min boat ride where there are plentiful dive sites. The water was 25 degrees Celcius, so a wet suit made it more comfortable.

We met our dive master, who was paired with just us. We had 3 others on our boat with 2 more dive masters. He let us choose where to go and the boat dropped people off at individual sites. Our first dive was to the Tawariq-2 wreck, sunk deliberately about 10 years ago. It is an advanced dive due to its depth of roughly 29 meters. We explored around and on the top of the ship and then made our way over towards another smaller wreck, the Stella Maru before coming to the surface. Our 2nd dive took us to Poison Reef, with patches of reef on a sandy bottom. We happened to be very impressed with the amount of variety we saw on this dive, including about 5 different eels (yellow edge moray, ribbon, garden and spotted), really cool paper thin leaf fish, several stone fish, extra large lionfish and more.

We were extremely impressed with this dive center overall for their professionalism, quality of equipment, friendliness and willingness to trust an advanced diver. We would recommend this shop when traveling to Mauritius!

Island Ayurveda Spa (North)

This little spa happened to be right across the street from us, and since we didn't get to try the Ayurvedic massage in Sri Lanka, we contacted them and were able to get a last minute appointment after our diving. We showed up at 3pm for our massages at Island Ayurvedic Spa and were welcomed in by an Indian woman and man. We each had separate rooms and the massage was very unique. We wouldn't call it relaxing, but started with oil application on each part of the body from scalp to toe. The massage could be described as wild fast rubbing and spreading of oil, and I assume it was cleansing and renewing everything.

After the 60 minute massage, we took turns sitting in the sweat box, where you are fully enclosed in a wooden box except for your head, which is surrounded by a towel. There is steam being pumped in the bottom and the towel is to prevent steam from escaping. It was extremely hot but good for a short time. Afterwards, we were served what we were told was a very healthy soup. It had some sort of grains and other spices plus some coconut flakes. It was definitely an interesting experience and worth the $40pp price. We left feeling full and renewed, although very oily!

Black River National Park (South)

Moving on to the more Southern part of the island, we had a cloudy day and a bit rainy, so decided to head into the forest, since it would most likely be raining there anyway! We drove about 40 minutes to the western entrance of Black River Gorges National Park. Entrance was free, and there is a parking lot with a small information center and signs pointing you on many different hikes. We decided to do the Mare Aux Joncs waterfall hike, which stated 3.4km (each way).

We set out on the hike which got increasingly rocky and muddy. There were multiple river crossings, at least 7, and we were glad we had worn our hiking sandals as opposed to shoes. There was no way to cross without getting in the water. The trail kept going on through dense jungle with many vines, roots, rocks and mud. We kept wondering when we would ever get to the waterfall but finally made it and it was worth the hike! A multi-tiered waterfall coming from towering cliffs. When we flew the drone, there was another entire waterfall above it with amzaing views of the gorge we had just hiked through. The hike ended up being just under 5 miles round trip and took about 3 hours, as it was slow going.

Le Morne Brabant hike (South)

Le Morne Brabant is a basaltic mountain rising out the sea on a small peninsula on the Southwest of Mauritius. It is a popular place to hike and is famous for a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the "underwater waterfall". The waterfall is a place where, because of the way the sand and reef meets, forms an illusion of water flowing out towards the sea. We had heard mixed reports about a gate, guard, and required guide beyond the bottom portion. We set out from the car to find out.

The bottom is a steady incline up through some forest with a dirt / rock trail. After nearly making it to the base of the steep section, we encountered a locked gate and a guard. He spoke some English and told us and the other few hikers around us that it was closed and to turn back. No mention about having a guide, or any way to pass. Disappointed, we waited around with about 6 other hikers, trying to figure out what to do. We were confused because we could see people hiking above both going up and coming down. We didn't want to give up, but the guard seemed very adamant about the situation. We had also signed a waiver at the entrance stating that the 2nd section was closed due to safety concerns.

After waiting around for at least 15 minutes, all of a sudden the guard started letting people through a side path that went around the gate. He seemed totally fine with it and was actually smiling. We were utterly confused, but decided to go with it. We went around and through the brush and started the climb up. The final climb is extremely steep, requiring you to use both hands and navigate carefully up the rock. The reward at the top was worth it, with a metal cross, Mauritian flag, and views over the ocean and underwater waterfall. We stayed at the top for a long time soaking in the view and taking pictures. Unfortunately, no drone flying, as many helicopters are passing by very low to see the view also. In all, the hike was around 4 miles and 1,600 elevation gain. It was quite popular, despite the guard situation, and one of the top experiences we had on the island.

Rhumerie de Chamarel Restaurant & Rum Distillery (South)

The Rhumerie de Chamarel distillery is one of the most popular on the island to visit. Up a winding road but not too far from the town of Black River or Morne, this single estate produces rum from its own sugarcane fields. It has only been around for about 15 years but has an impressive distillery where you can join a group tour to learn about the process. Tickets cost 800 MUR or about $17 USD per person but includes the tour and a generous rum tasting at the end.

We joined the English speaking tour and were able to see loads of sugarcane being crushed and squeezed to make the sugarcane juice. After which, it was sent through an extensive distilling process and then some is sent to various barrels to age. Other is mixed with spices or made into a large variety of flavored rum liqours. We were able to sample small amounts of each and you can pay extra to tasted the aged rums. Afterward, we had a few appetizers and a dessert at their restaurant L’Alchimiste.

Food options in Mauritius are plentiful with a wide variety of influences from seafood, Indian food, Italian, as well as burgers, fried chicken and a few food trucks serving stir fried noodles or dumplings. Being in the Indian Ocean and a major destination for Europeans, this makes sense, although we were wishing for some authentic thai or other Asian food. It was nice to be in a location where you didn't necessarily need to be too worried, maybe just slightly cautious, about food quality and safety. We still chose to brush our teeth with and drink bottled water, just to be safe.

Here are a few of the places we dined at over our week stay:

La Voglia Matta - Dinner - An authentic Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed their house made pasta and delicious pizza. A bonus was that we were able to walk here from Trou Aus Biches. Situated next to the grocery store that we had already shopped at earlier, the GSR Supermarket, where you can find anything you need.

Masali, The Indian Food Story - Dinner - There is a large Indian influence here and so we decided to seek out an Indian restaurant for dinner. We chose Masali based on their Google reviews and it did not disappoint. We tried two different dishes with rice, garlic naan, two beers, and a dessert for only $23. The food was excellent and some of the best we have had outside of India.

King Snack Seafood - Dinner - We opted not to have dinner at the Hilton, instead taking the car into town about a 10 minute drive. We wanted seafood and this place has it all. You have to pick your dinner from their display of seafood at the entrance, anywhere from squid, octopus, large prawns, many different fish and even lobster. We chose a fish and some of the large prawns, which they promptly grilled up. Everything was tasty and comes with a variety of sides (fries, salad, rice) plus an appetizer of your choosing.

Super U - Supermarket - If you happen to have a rental house or apartment, or just want to stock up on drinks or snacks, the Super U has it all! It was a large Walmart size store with a lot more than just food. They have multiple locations around the island and had very large aisles of everything you would need and also a large selection of beverages.

Flavor's of India - Dinner - We opted for eating out in town again as the Hilton was hard to get a reservation and we figured the food is probably better elsewhere anyway. We had a delicious meal at this Indian restaurant with excellent service. We had an appetizer of paneer tikka, followed by chicken korma and a shrimp curry with garlic naan and jeera rice. Plus a few beers on draft and a dessert of Carrot Halawa for $50. Overall, very good and we are assuming better than our resort!