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| Mauritius
Information: General
| South | East
| West | Center
| Capital |
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Mauritius
North
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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.
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Climate |
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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. |
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| Topography |
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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. |
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| 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. |
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La
Nicoliere |
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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. |
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| The
Pamplemousses Garden |
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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 |
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| village of Pamplemousses
and one of the oldest church of the country, with a
few restaurants. |
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Grand
Bay |
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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 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
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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. |
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| In
and around Grand Bay and the North |
Restaurants
There are so many of them that recommendations are difficult
as their quality keeps oscillating. Grand Bay nonetheless
counts several good addresses proposing cuisines of
very different origins. |
Activities
Spending days out at sea is the thing to do when staying
in the North. It is of course possible to step on board
one of the numerous catamarans for a day trip
around the isles of the North; rates being affordable,
it is an easy way to enjoy a minimum of the sun and
sea; undoubtedly the main reason for coming all the
way to Mauritius. However, being on board with
20 persons to moor next to 10 other boats is the not
best way to enjoy the pleasures of the sea, calm, peacefulness
and the feeling of total freedom. We thus strongly recommend
to rent one of these boats on an exclusive basis, even
if it represents an important financial effort, and
to choose a mooring away form the other boats. Boats
can be rented for a full day or a sunset cruise.
For real intense enjoyment in real Mauritian
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style, we
would suggest an overnight trip on board a Sailing
catamaran or on board a Power catamaran.
Outside sailing, there are
several good dive sites and diving centres along the
North coast. There are also some other original ways
to dip into the blue, by making undersea walks, dive
with a "Subscooter" or on board a submarine.
On land side, one can go for a horse-riding trip inside
the Mont Choisy park, with Horse Riding Delights or
at the Maritim Hotel (Balaclava.)
Yemaya Adventures proposes trekking or mountain biking
at La Nicoliere (and kayak trips among the mangroves
of Ile d'Ambre). |
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| Accommodation |
There is no doubt that Grand
Bay is the area offering the largest choice of accommodation
of all types; including the rooms to let in various
houses which, by the way, we would not recommend as
they are often below acceptable standards.
For budget accommodation we recommend the apartments
and studios. If you are with a group or family, the
rental of private
beach villas is an excellent way of |
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| "living
in Mauritius" and are often very affordable when rented
for 6 to 8 persons. |
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| Updated:
June 2006 |
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| Accommodation: |
| Lodges
& Guesthouses,
Bungalows
110-150 Euro, Villas
180-360 Euro, Luxury
Villas |
| Hotel
Promotions, Golf
Hotels Mauritius, Honeymoon
Packages, Early Booking Offers, Spa
Hotels |
| 2
& 3 star Mauritius Hotels, 4
Star Hotel Mauritius, 5
Star Mauritius Hotels |
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Mauritius
for Two:
Culture
/ Sightseeing,
Holidays
in Spas, Honeymoon
in Mauritius, Weddings |
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Active
Holidays:
Golf Holidays,
Hiking
Holidays, Horse
Riding Holidays, Kite
Surfing Holidays, Mountain
Biking Holidays, Nautical
Holidays |
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Vehicles:
Car
Rentals, Vehicle
hire services, Airport
Transfers |
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