Mauritius North City Tour

Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius. It is also the largest city of the country and main port, which borders the Indian Ocean. In 1735, under French government, it became the administrative center of Mauritius and a major re provisioning halt for French ships travelling around the Cape of Good Hope. The Port is named in honor of King Louis XV. The first Governor was Mahé de La Bourdonnais. Port Louis has conserved many historic and colonial buildings through the years. One of them is a fortification named Fort Adelaide or La Citadelle, built by the British in 1835. The latter dominates the city. From there, you can observe most of the city's architecture. Port Louis is surrounded by a mountain range, called the Moka Range. Among its most famous mountains are Le Pouce and Pieter Both which stand about 800 metres from sea level. The country's national derby called Champ de Mars, which is the oldest race course (1812) in the Indian Oce’an and the second oldest in the southern Hemisphere. Attractions include the Caudan Waterfron and Port Louis Market with sections devoted to fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, souvenirs, crafts, clothing and spices.

If you fancy shopping then the Port Louis central market is a fun place to visit and the ideal place to find many local made products, textiles, Mauritian spices, fruits and many souvenirs for very cheap prices. 

History of Pamplemousses

Pamplemousses - named after the grapefruit imported by the Dutch who first colonized Mauritius in the seventeenth century - has a rich past too. The places worth visiting there include: the old cemetery, the church of St Francis of Assisi which dates from the eighteenth century 

The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical, commonly known as the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden situated in the same village name, is a popular tourist attraction near and the oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere. The garden was first constructed by Pierre Poivre in 1770, and covers an area of around 37 hectares.

This garden ‘ranked third among all the gardens that could be admired over the surface of the globe’. The garden is most famous for its giant water lilies, the garden features spices, ebonies as well as 85 varieties of palms from Central America, Asia, Africa and the islands around the Indian Ocean. Many trees have been planted by world leaders and royalty, including Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Indira Gandhi, François Mitterrand and Robert Mugabe.