Mauritius
Port Louis
The harbour capital where modern Mauritius began: the UNESCO depot where indentured labourers landed, a market loud with spice sellers, and dholl puri eaten standing up.
Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius and its largest city, a busy harbour town squeezed between the sea and a ring of jagged mountains. It is where the island's mix of peoples shows most plainly: the old Central Market piled with chillies and spices, a white mosque at the edge of Chinatown, pagodas, temples and a cathedral a few streets apart. Aapravasi Ghat, the UNESCO-listed depot where indentured labourers first landed, tells the story of most Mauritians' ancestors. By day the streets are packed with office workers and dholl puri hawkers; by evening, life moves to the waterfront.
Suggested stay
1–3 days
Language
English, French, Mauritian Creole
Currency
MUR
Timezone
UTC+4
Why you'll love Port Louis
Aapravasi Ghat the stone steps where indentured labourers from India came ashore, a UNESCO site that explains how Mauritius came to look the way it does
Street food dholl puri, chilli fritters and fried noodles eaten on the pavement around the Central Market, washed down with a glass of cold, sweet alouda
Many faiths, one grid a white mosque, Chinese pagodas, Hindu temples and a Catholic cathedral within a short walk of each other
Old port, new quays a French-era governor's residence and a British hilltop citadel above the harbourfront, where the city's evening life moves once the offices close
Best time to visit
Jun-Nov
25-28° days
20.163° S, 57.503° E
UTC+4 · Indian/Mauritius
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Weather & when to go to Port Louis
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Jun-Nov
Watch for Nov-Apr cyclones & hurricanes risk · Feb monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Port Louis
February is the month to avoid: the heart of the hot, humid cyclone season, when heavy rain can set in for days and a passing storm can shut the port and the roads. June to November is the easy stretch, drier and fresher. Whatever the month, the city is hotter than the plateau towns behind it, and the centre goes quiet on Sundays and after the offices close.
Top things to do in Port Louis
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Aapravasi Ghat - the indenture immigration depot
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedThe UNESCO-listed remains of the depot where indentured labourers, most of them from India, were landed, registered and housed from 1849 before being sent out to the sugar estates. The stone steps every arrival climbed from the quay survive with the gateway and parts of the old buildings, and the interpretation centre next door tells the story of the people whose descendants are now most of Mauritius.
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Central Market - spices, fruit and herbal remedies
food shopping 👍 PopularThe city's old covered market, a few streets back from the waterfront. Downstairs are stalls of tropical fruit, vegetables, chillies and spice mixes, with herbalists selling bundles of leaves and tonics for every ailment; upstairs and in the side halls, textiles, baskets and souvenirs. It is loud, crowded and at its best on a weekday morning. Keep a hand on your bag in the crush.
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Dholl puri and gateaux piments - the city's street food
foodPort Louis eats on the pavement. Dholl puri, a soft flatbread made with ground split peas and wrapped around bean curry, pickle and chilli, is the island's signature snack; add farata, fried gateaux piments, boulettes in broth and fried noodles from Chinatown, and wash it down with alouda, a cold, sweet milk drink with basil seeds and jelly. Lunchtime around the market is the moment.
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Caudan Waterfront - the harbourfront quays
shopping food 👍 PopularA shopping and leisure quarter built on the old harbour quays, with a craft market, shops, restaurants and a cinema, reached from the centre through underpasses beneath the motorway. It is the part of Port Louis that stays busy after the offices close, and the place for a harbourside drink as the sun goes down.
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Blue Penny Museum - the 1847 Post Office stamps
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedOn the Caudan Waterfront, this small museum holds the orange-red one-penny and deep blue two-pence stamps Mauritius issued in 1847, among the rarest and most valuable in the world, shown in dim light to protect them. The rest traces the island through old maps, engravings and paintings, and a marble Paul and Virginie from the romantic novel set on the island.
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Place d'Armes and Government House - the colonial axis
historyThe palm-lined avenue running up from the harbour to Government House, the French-era seat of government. A statue of Mahe de La Bourdonnais, the governor who made Port Louis the capital, looks out to sea at the waterfront end, and Queen Victoria stands outside the gates at the other.
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Fort Adelaide - the Citadel above the city
history scenicA stone fort built by the British around 1840 on a hill above the centre and named after William IV's queen. There is little inside, but the ramparts give one of the best views in town: the city grid, the harbour and the racecourse below, and behind them the jagged Moka range, with the thumb of Le Pouce and the balanced boulder on Pieter Both.
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Champ de Mars - race day at the old racecourse
culture arts historyA French parade ground turned racecourse in 1812, the oldest in the southern hemisphere, set in a bowl of mountains at the back of the city. Race days pull in crowds from every community, with food stalls, betting and a carnival mood. It is also where the Mauritian flag was first raised at independence in 1968.
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Natural History Museum - the dodo
nature wildlife historyIn the Mauritius Institute building beside the Company Gardens, the natural history museum is where to meet the dodo: a reconstructed skeleton and a life-size model of the flightless bird, gone within a century of the first ships arriving. Cases of other lost island species fill the rest, and the shady gardens outside, with their banyans and statues, make a good break.
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Jummah Mosque and Chinatown - the old trading streets
culture arts foodThe white-walled Jummah Mosque on Royal Street, built in the 1850s, mixes Indian, Creole and Islamic styles behind heavy carved doors; visitors can see the courtyard outside prayer times, dressed modestly. Beyond it runs Chinatown, a few blocks of Chinese grocers, herbalists, dumpling kitchens and faded shopfronts behind a ceremonial gate.
Best areas to stay in Port Louis
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Caudan Waterfront
City on foot $$$Harbourfront hotels, shops and restaurants
Explore hotels in Caudan Waterfront →
Balaclava and Turtle Bay
Resort and lagoon $$$Resort coast just north of the city
Explore hotels in Balaclava and Turtle Bay →
Albion
Quiet coast $$Quiet village on the west coast
Explore hotels in Albion →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Port Louis
Getting to & around Port Louis
Getting there
Fly into MRU in the south-east; Port Louis is about an hour's drive north-west across the island
Flight
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU)
Direct flights arrive from Europe, the Gulf, South Africa, India and Reunion. Most arrivals take a taxi or pre-booked transfer up the motorway through the plateau towns, around an hour, and longer at weekday rush hours when traffic into the city backs up.
Cruise
Port Louis cruise terminal
Cruise ships dock in the harbour, a short ride from the Caudan Waterfront and the centre
Ferry
Port Louis harbour
Passenger ships sail to Rodrigues and Reunion; the Rodrigues crossing takes more than a day
Getting around
Walking
The centre is compact and flat: the market, Aapravasi Ghat, Chinatown and Place d'Armes are all a short walk apart, with underpasses beneath the motorway to the waterfront
Free
Metro Express
The light rail runs from Port Louis up through Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes to Curepipe, the easy way to the plateau towns and past the rush-hour traffic
TBC
Bus
Buses for the north leave from Immigration Square and for the plateau and south from Victoria Square; frequent by day, thinning out in the evening
TBC
Taxi
Ranks at the waterfront and the bus stations; agree the fare before setting off, as meters are rarely used
TBC
Hire car
Driving is on the left; useful for day trips, but traffic into the city is heavy at rush hour and central parking is tight
TBC
Day trips from Port Louis
Pamplemousses Botanical Garden
Half dayHistoric botanic garden
The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, laid out in the 18th century: a pond of giant Victoria water lilies, talipot palms that flower once and die, spice trees and giant tortoises. Nearby, L'Aventure du Sucre tells the island's sugar story inside an old sugar mill.
Getting there
bus | car
About 30 minutes north by bus or taxi
Black River Gorges, Grand Bassin and Chamarel
Full dayRainforest and coloured earth
A loop through the island's green south-west: viewpoints over the forested gorges and waterfalls of the national park, Grand Bassin, the sacred crater lake watched over by a towering Shiva statue, and at Chamarel the rippled dunes of the Seven Coloured Earths and a tall ribbon of waterfall.
Getting there
car | tour
About 1.5 hours south-west by hire car or tour
Eureka, Moka
Half dayCreole planter's house
A colonial Creole mansion from the 1830s in the foothills behind the city, with wraparound verandas, more than a hundred doors and period furniture, set in gardens that drop to a river gorge with small waterfalls. A Creole lunch on the veranda is part of the visit.
Getting there
car
About 20 minutes by taxi or car
The north coast and Cap Malheureux
Full dayLagoon beaches
Up the coast road to the lagoon beaches of Trou aux Biches and Mont Choisy, the red-roofed church at Cap Malheureux looking out to the wedge of Coin de Mire, and the boats and bars of Grand Baie, which has its own guide.
Getting there
car | bus
Under an hour north by car, or by bus from Immigration Square
A little history of Port Louis
The Dutch named Mauritius after Prince Maurice of Nassau, settled in the south-east and abandoned the island in 1710. The French took it over as Ile de France, and in 1735 governor Mahe de La Bourdonnais made the sheltered north-west harbour the capital, naming it for Louis XV. Shipyards, warehouses and Government House followed, and in the wars with Britain the port became a base for French privateers such as Robert Surcouf. Britain took the island in 1810, restored its old name and left French law, language and property largely in place.
Slavery ended in 1835, and planters turned to indentured labour, mostly from India, landed at the depot now known as Aapravasi Ghat; their descendants are the majority of Mauritians today. Malaria in the late 1860s drove the well-off up to the cooler plateau towns, and the Suez Canal soon drew shipping away from the old route round Africa. Port Louis stayed the capital through independence in 1968 and the republic from 1992, and the harbour is still the island's commercial heart.
France claims the island and renames it Ile de France
Governor Mahe de La Bourdonnais makes Port Louis the capital and naval port
British forces take the island, and Port Louis becomes the capital of British Mauritius
Slavery is abolished in Mauritius
Mauritius issues its Post Office stamps, among the first in the British Empire
The immigration depot at Aapravasi Ghat opens, receiving indentured labourers until the 1920s
A malaria epidemic drives many residents up to the plateau towns
Mauritius becomes independent, with Port Louis as its capital
Aapravasi Ghat is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Everywhere
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / E / G
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+230
Cyclones & hurricanes risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Port Louis
▸ When is the best time to visit Port Louis?
June to November is the easiest stretch: drier, less humid and warm without being draining, which suits a day spent walking the market and the old streets. December to April is hot and humid, with heavy downpours and a cyclone risk that peaks after the new year, and February is the month to avoid. The city is always warmer than the plateau towns behind it.
▸ Should I stay in Port Louis or visit for the day?
Most visitors stay on the coast, at Grand Baie, Flic en Flac or the resorts just north of the city, and come in for a day, which covers the market, Aapravasi Ghat, the waterfront museums and the citadel. Staying in town suits a short stopover, and the waterfront hotels are the obvious base. Come on a weekday: the centre is quiet on Sundays.
▸ What should I eat in Port Louis?
Start with dholl puri, the island's signature street snack, then gateaux piments (split-pea and chilli fritters), farata with curry, briyani and boulettes. Chinatown adds fried noodles and dumplings, and market stalls sell fresh fruit with chilli and salt. Drink alouda, a cold, sweet milk drink with basil seeds and jelly. Lunchtime is the moment; many stalls pack up by late afternoon.
▸ Is Port Louis safe?
Most visits pass without trouble. The main thing is pickpockets in the crowds around the market and the bus stations, so keep valuables close. The centre empties once the offices close, so evenings are best spent at the waterfront, and a taxi is easier than walking back through quiet streets after dark. Check your own government's current advice before you go.
▸ Is there a beach in Port Louis?
Not one worth the trip: the city faces a working harbour. The nearest good swimming is up the coast to the north, at Balaclava and further on at Trou aux Biches and Mont Choisy, or south-west towards Albion and Flic en Flac. Buses from Immigration Square run up the north coast, but a taxi or car is quicker.
▸ Is Port Louis expensive?
Less so than most of a Mauritius trip. Street food, market lunches and buses are cheap, and the light rail makes the plateau towns easy without a car. The waterfront restaurants and hotels charge closer to resort prices, and imported goods are dear everywhere on the island.
▸ What language is spoken in Port Louis?
Mauritian Creole is what you hear on the street, and French is widely spoken, especially in shops, restaurants and the press. English is the language of government and official signs, so visitors with either English or French get by easily. Bhojpuri, Hindi, Tamil and Chinese are spoken within families and at temples.