Grand Baie
The north of the island: a bay of yachts, restaurants and bars within walking distance, and beaches ten minutes away — the one place on Mauritius where you leave the hotel in the evening
- When to go
- September 23° · 7 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€price 4 of 5
- How many days
- 5days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 47 km Mauritius
- Right now
Grand Baie is the coast for people for whom the hotel is not the whole holiday: a village around a bay with restaurants, bars, shops and catamarans that leave in the morning for the northern islets, with the Pereybère and La Cuvette beaches ten minutes away and a calm sea from May to October. The beach in the bay itself is not for swimming; everything else is.
The bay is a marina and a village: the main street along the water with restaurants from Creole to Italian, bars open late, banks, pharmacies and a supermarket — everything that needs a taxi on other coasts is on foot here. That also makes it the most densely settled part of the coast, with villas and flats to rent, and with the most people who do not see the island through a hotel gate. The beach in the bay is narrow and full of boats, so you swim at La Cuvette, a small cove behind the headland with the finest sand in the north, or at Pereybère two kilometres on, with deep water off the shore and bars on the sand.
The north has what the south lacks — the islets. Coin de Mire, Gabriel and Flat Island are an hour by catamaran, with the lagoon around Gabriel where you snorkel over coral and sand that is the whitest on Mauritius, and a barbecue lunch on deck; leave at nine, back at four, and that is the one full day not skipped here. Cap Malheureux at the northern tip, with the red church on the shore, and the Pamplemousses botanical garden half an hour away are afternoon trips; Port Louis is half an hour by a bus that runs every fifteen minutes.
The season here is milder than in the east, because the north and west are sheltered from the trade wind by the mountains: May to October it is 24 degrees with a calm sea, November to April 30 and humid, with rain in the afternoon. The bay faces north-west, so from the quay you can watch the sun go down over the water on most evenings. In the evening you go out on foot — the Banana Beach Club has been an institution since the 1990s, the restaurants on the main street fill after seven — and that is why Grand Baie is chosen: not for the finest beach, but for days that do not resemble one another.
What to see in Grand Baie
A catamaran to the northern islets
A full day to Gabriel and Flat Island, with snorkelling in the lagoon, a barbecue on deck and drinks included. Leave at nine from the bay, back at four; booked the day before, per person, on a smaller boat if it is crowded.
Pereybère
The beach two kilometres north with deep water off the shore, casuarina shade and food stalls. The best swimming in the north, and full at weekends when all of Port Louis comes. By bus or on foot along the shore.
La Cuvette
A small cove behind the headland, with white sand and calm water, ten minutes' walk from the main street. A morning beach; until noon there is full shade under the trees, after that everyone is there.
Cap Malheureux
The northern tip with the red church on the shore and the view of Coin de Mire, where the British landed the army that took the island from the French in 1810. In the afternoon, half an hour; fishermen sell the catch on the shore.
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The Pamplemousses botanical garden
Half an hour south, the oldest garden in the southern hemisphere with giant water lilies and palms that flower once in half a century. Two hours with a guide, in the morning; combined with Port Louis.
The bay quay at night
The main street along the water with restaurants on the quay and a view of the sunset over the bay most evenings. Rougail, Creole fish and estate rum; you sit here every evening, and that is what the north is chosen for.
Two things you probably did not know
Mauritius is ringed by a coral reef that breaks the ocean swell, so the water in the lagoons at Grand Baie is as calm as a pool. The reef is one of the longest unbroken ones in the world.
Grand Baie was a fishing village until the sixties. The name means great bay in French, and the resort grew only after the island became independent in 1968.
Ready for Grand Baie?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Grand Baie — day trips or weekends.
Mauritius
→An island where you do not choose a hotel but a coast — west for sunsets and calm sea, north for nightlife, east for wind, south for kitesurfing
Tanzania
→The Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in one country — and three different bills: the safari by the day, the mountain by the night, the island by an insurance paid at the door
South Africa
→A country of long distances and reversed seasons, driven on the left throughout
Thailand
→Two coasts the monsoon never reaches at the same time, and a north seen through smoke in March
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Port Louis, Île aux Cerfs and Flic-en-Flac
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Grand Baie if you have been.
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