Mauritius beach week, the seven-night shape.

Day by day.

One base for the whole week, which is the point of this shape. You unpack once, the resort becomes familiar, and the driving is limited to two half days and one long day. Couples who want two different coasts can split the week north and east, and that is quoted as its own shape. This page describes the single-base week.

1. Day 1

   Land, transfer, and nothing else.

   The airport is at Plaine Magnien on the south-east of the island, so the road to a resort on the west or north coast runs an hour and a quarter to ninety minutes. Both coasts are on the same side of the island as far as the airport is concerned, so neither is the longer transfer. You land in the afternoon, you are at the resort before dark, and dinner is the only item on the list.

   If there is a stop worth making on the way in it is Mahebourg, ten minutes from the airport, which is where the Blue Bay marine park sits. It is a snorkelling stop rather than a town stop, so it belongs at the back end of the week or after you have settled, not on arrival day with luggage in the car.

2. Day 2

   The first full day, and the point of the week.

   Nothing is scheduled. This is the day resorts are built for: the beach, the pool, the kids club if you are travelling with children, and a long lunch. On the west coast the water is calm and the sunsets are the reason people pay for that side. On the north coast you get more restaurants within walking distance and a busier, shorter beach. That trade is the main choice in this week.

   If you want to move at all, the beach walk at Flic en Flac runs for kilometres in both directions and costs nothing. Take it before the sun is high.

3. Day 3

   The one long day out: the south-west in a loop.

   This is the day to hire a car and a driver and leave after breakfast. Black River Gorges National Park is the island's largest protected area and the last place where the native forest still stands in any quantity, and the viewpoints on the ridge road look down the gorges to the coast. From there the road runs to Chamarel for the seven coloured earths and the Chamarel waterfall, which are two paid sites minutes apart.

   Le Morne Brabant is the basalt mountain on the south-west tip and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed for its history as a refuge for escaped slaves in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The walk to the viewpoint at the base is open to anyone and takes about an hour. The last push to the summit is a rough scramble with rope sections and most people take a local guide for it.

   On the way back the road crosses the central plateau. Ganga Talao, also called Grand Bassin, is a crater lake and one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites outside India, and Trou aux Cerfs at Curepipe is a dormant volcanic crater you can drive to and walk around in twenty minutes.

4. Day 4

   A half day on the water, then back to the lounger.

   The catamaran days from Grand Baie in the north head out to the northern islets, Coin de Mire, Ile Plate and Ile Gabriel, and they leave in the morning and return early afternoon. On the east coast the same kind of day runs from Trou d'Eau Douce across to Ile aux Cerfs. Both are half days, several operators include lunch on board, and both are the easiest way to see the island from the water.

   Book the catamaran on the island rather than from South Africa if you can, because the weather decides whether the day runs at all and there is usually a second sailing the next morning. Lizanne holds the resort end of the week and leaves the water days open for exactly that reason.

5. Day 5

   Port Louis half a day, or the north.

   Port Louis is the capital and a working city rather than a resort town. Aapravasi Ghat on the waterfront is the second UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island, the arrival point for indentured labourers from 1849 onwards, and the small museum there takes about an hour. The central market is a short walk from it and the Champ de Mars racecourse on the edge of town dates from 1812.

   The other half day is the north: Cap Malheureux with its red-roofed church and the view back to Coin de Mire, lunch in Grand Baie, and the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden at Pamplemousses, laid out in the eighteenth century and known for its giant water lilies and its spice beds. Half a day covers the garden and Cap Malheureux comfortably.

6. Day 6

   Nothing at all.

   Put this day in on purpose. Two activity days in a row is what turns a beach week into a schedule, and the whole reason for choosing one base is that you do not have to move. Most resorts will hold a day bed for you, and the spa on the island is cheaper than the spa at home.

   If you would rather use the day, the dolphin swim out of Tamarin Bay on the west coast runs at first light and the boats are back by eleven. It is a real marine outing and it is also a busy one in season, so it is worth asking what the operator's boat limit is before you book.

7. Day 7

   A slow last full day.

   Nothing that involves a car. Swim, eat, and do the packing in the afternoon rather than on the morning of the flight. If the south-east was skipped on arrival day, this is the day to drive to Blue Bay and back, which is a two hour return from the west coast and closer to an hour from the east.

   Dinner off the resort is the other option for this night, and Grand Baie or Flic en Flac is where most people go. It is the one meal of the week that is not in the package, and it is worth deciding early because the good tables do take bookings.

8. The last morning

   Breakfast, transfer, flight home.

   Check-out times are late on most of the island, and the resorts hold luggage and a changing room for guests on a late flight. The transfer back to Plaine Magnien is the same hour to ninety minutes, and it is worth leaving the margin, because the road through Curepipe and Moka carries real traffic in the morning.

   The return flight lands in Johannesburg the same evening South African time. Add the two hours back to the clock when you plan the drive home from the airport.

9. The add-on

   Two extra nights, the east coast, or a safari on the way home.

   The obvious extension is two more nights on the same beach, which turns this into a nine night trip and is what most people choose once they have seen the resort. The second option is to split the week, four nights on the north or west coast and three on the east at Belle Mare or Trou d'Eau Douce, which is quieter and windier and has the better beach.

   The third option pairs badly with nothing: a Kruger safari on the way home, because the flight lands in Johannesburg anyway. Read the Kruger safari page for the three-night shape, or the Garden Route page if you would rather put the beach at the end of a South African drive.

   The window from April to November is the drier, cooler half of the year. December to March is hot and humid and it is also the cyclone season, which is why the bands move and why the insurance position is worth a conversation for those months.

Indicative planning bands.

Includes the return flight from Johannesburg, the airport transfers both ways, the seven nights with the meal plan stated, and the resort's own facilities. Excludes travel insurance, the south-west day out and the water days unless the row names them, spa treatments, meals taken off the resort, and gratuities. A child sharing with two adults is quoted separately and the family-suite row above is the shape it starts from. South African school holidays and December run well above these bands, and Lizanne flags the difference in the indicative options before you choose anything.

Plan this trip.

One tap opens WhatsApp with the destination, the nights and the pace already on the message line. Add your dates and your name, send it, and Lizanne picks it up the same working day.

Plan the Mauritius week on WhatsApp