Mauritius 6 Day Itinerary
Six days covers most of Mauritius without the constant repacking that island-hopping the whole thing forces on you. Base in the north for the first stretch, then work outward: a west-coast day, an interior day, a south-and-central day, and an east-coast finish. It’s still not the full 7-10 days the island really rewards, but it’s close.
Day-by-day at a glance
| Day | Focus | Est. spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, transfer to Grand Baie | ~$50-70 |
| 2 | Trou aux Biches, Pereybère, Mont Choisy | ~$60-100 |
| 3 | Tamarin dolphins, Le Morne, Flic en Flac | ~$70-100 |
| 4 | Chamarel, Black River Gorges | ~$50-80 |
| 5 | Grand Bassin, Gris Gris | ~$40-60 |
| 6 | Belle Mare, Ile aux Cerfs | ~$90-140 |
Book these before you go
- Responsible Tamarin dolphin tour : small-group, licensed operators, no chasing.
- Ile aux Cerfs catamaran day : book a full-day version, not the bare ferry.
- Check hotel rates in Grand Baie : the base for the first three nights.
Day 1: Arrival and Grand Baie
SSR/MRU airport sits in the far southeast near Mahébourg, opposite the north coast, and the transfer to Grand Baie runs about 90 minutes. Fill out the free All-in-One Travel Digital Form at safemauritius.govmu.org 48 to 72 hours before you fly; it’s checked by QR code at arrival, never pay a fee for it. Most nationalities get 60 days visa-free, but confirm your own passport’s rule first.
A rental car runs $30-50 a day, drive on the left, and pays for itself on Days 4 and 5’s driving; otherwise agree taxi fares before getting in, since Uber’s coverage islandwide is still limited. Settle into Grand Baie for the evening.
Tip: pack repellent for dusk. Mauritius has an active 2026 chikungunya outbreak, a mosquito-borne illness, worth a sensible precaution without letting it dominate the trip.
Day 2: Trou aux Biches, Pereybère, and Mont Choisy
A full north-coast day: Trou aux Biches, often cited as the island’s best beach, Pereybère, calmer and family-friendly, and Mont Choisy, long and less crowded. All three sit inside the reef lagoon, the water that’s safe to swim in. Try dholl puri, the national street food, from a stall mid-morning, about 25-35 rupees a pair.
Day 3: Tamarin dolphins and Le Morne
An early boat out of Tamarin for dolphin-watching, choosing a licensed operator running small groups with no chasing, feeding, or touching; the pod here genuinely gets overcrowded by too many boats, so treat a “guaranteed encounter” pitch skeptically. In the afternoon, Le Morne Brabant, UNESCO-listed for the escaped slaves who sheltered there and the 1835 legend of those who leapt rather than be recaptured, not knowing abolition had just been declared. The lower trail, opened in 2016, is open solo; the summit needs a certified guide for the final technical scramble. Finish at Flic en Flac for sunset.
Day 4: Chamarel and Black River Gorges
Chamarel’s Seven Coloured Earths costs roughly MUR 250-550 (about $5-12) and pairs with the Chamarel Waterfall viewpoint; the Rhumerie de Chamarel next door runs tastings for around $15-20, and it’s worth knowing rum-making here is a modern revival, cane-rum distilling was banned islandwide until around 2006. Black River Gorges National Park, the island’s only national park, has short trails to the Alexandra Falls and Gorges viewpoints and real endemic wildlife, the Mauritius kestrel among them.
Day 5: Grand Bassin and the south coast
Grand Bassin, known locally as Ganga Talao, is a crater lake and a living Hindu pilgrimage site, home to a 33-meter Mangal Mahadev Shiva statue; during Maha Shivaratri in February or March it draws 250,000 to 400,000 pilgrims. Visit it with the respect you’d give any active place of worship. Continue south to Gris Gris, wild, cliff-lined, and genuinely scenic, but not a swimming beach; the open ocean here is rough, unlike the calm lagoons up north and east. It’s a real contrast worth seeing precisely because the water isn’t for wading into.
Read more: for the capital, Aapravasi Ghat, and Pamplemousses on top of this route, our Mauritius 7 Day Itinerary adds a full seventh day.
Day 6: Belle Mare and Ile aux Cerfs
Head to Trou d’Eau Douce for a boat to Ile aux Cerfs, white sand, watersports, and a golf course, on a full-day catamaran trip with lunch and a snorkeling stop for roughly $90-140 per person, sometimes routed via the Grande Rivière Sud-Est waterfall. Chez Tino, open in Trou d’Eau Douce since 1989, is one of the island’s more reliably documented seafood spots if you’d rather eat on the mainland. Belle Mare itself, further along the coast, is a longer, quieter beach.
Ending the trip on the east coast also shortens the drive to the airport for departure, genuinely faster than looping back north first.
Practical notes
Mauritius is US Level 2, crime-awareness rather than instability, one of Africa’s most stable democracies. The rupee (MUR) trades around 46-48 to the US dollar in 2026; check a live rate rather than a fixed one. Cards work at hotels and larger restaurants, cash matters for markets and boat operators. Same-sex relations were decriminalized in 2023, though the culture remains socially conservative, worth knowing if that affects how you travel.