This is a summary of all our travel expenses for the 19 nights / 20 days we spent in Mauritius during July / August 2017. We chose Mauritius primarily as a kite surfing destination and with the short flight time from South Africa, it was the perfect escape from the Cape winter as well. For more about that, read our article on How to Travel with Kite Surfing Gear. Although Mauritius is known as a popular holiday resort island, we chose to put together our own DIY travel plan in order to both reduce costs and give us more flexibility. You can listen to our podcast Episode 27 for more on exactly how we did this and our recommendations should you want to do the same. This being said, there are some great package deals available if you keep an eye out.
Although considered their winter and off-peak season, we found the weather to be very pleasant most of the time with only a few days of light rain and mostly blue skies with fairly consistent wind for kiting most mornings. We also managed to take a few days to circumnavigate the entire island, checking out almost every single beach and attraction that Mauritius has to offer! Feel free to watch a few of our day trips of Mauritius on YouTube.
Mauritius is by far not a budget destination! Even though we did not eat out often and mostly prepared our own food from the supermarkets, this was a considerable percentage of our expenses, second only to accommodation. Having your own transportation is almost a necessity if you are visiting Mauritius to kite and also want to explore the island further. This was the third significant contribution to our total expenses but really did add to overall great experience and holiday. For more post, please visit our Mauritius page.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, thank you for supporting our blog by using these links.
(Note that the following spending does not include flights to and from Mauritius.)
ACCOMMODATION
Blue Bay 2 nights - Chantauvent Guesthouse
(Standard Double Room including breakfast)
This guesthouse is conveniently located very close to the airport and right on the water’s edge at Blue Bay. Our room was spacious, with a modern bathroom and kitchenette, resembling a small studio apartment. The small balcony overlooked the ocean and there was direct access from the property to the beach. We would definitely stay here again, hopefully for longer next time as Blue Bay is a really beautiful area of Mauritius. Find them on BOOKING.COM or AGODA.COM
La Gaulette 17 nights - Airbnb Studio Apartment
(Link to Airbnb Studio Apartment)
Our apartment was one of six apartments in a double-storey building where the hosts also live. The building has a wonderful rooftop terrace with loungers and BBQ facilities and an amazing sunset view out over the ocean for all to enjoy. The apartment itself was modern and fairly spacious with a small kitchen and basic cooking facilities (¾ fridge, microwave, 2 plate gas stove, kettle & toaster). There was a walk-in style closet area and a modern bathroom with separate shower. We really enjoyed the private outside terrace area each unit has with bench and table. Location was a 5-minute walk to the ocean, but this is not a beach. It is a great stop to enjoy the sunset at the water’s edge. From here it was about a 15-minute drive to Le Morne Kite Beach in one direction and about a 10-minute drive to the local supermarket. The place was perfectly suited to us for our long stay and with all our kite surfing gear and we would happily return!
Pereybere 3 nights - Casa Florida
(Standard Double Room including breakfast)
This resort-style development is on the budget end of the scale for Mauritius. Our unit was spacious and comfortable, with a small balcony and garden view. The location was walking distance to the beach and restaurants nearby and it was a good location to be able to explore the northern area of Mauritius by car. Not fancy by any means, but included everything such as a swimming pool and on-site restaurant for a comfortable stay.
FOOD
We generally try to eat like and with the locals. Having an Airbnb Apartment meant that we were able to cook for ourselves most of the time. For the 2 nights spent in Blue Bay and 3 nights in Pereybere, this was of course not possible. We purchased most of our supplies from a fairly well-stocked supermarket in La Gaulette and most of our fruit and vegetables from local street-side vendors. Although most western commodities are available in the supermarkets, they do come with a price premium.
Of the 19 nights, we ended up eating out for 7 dinners. These meals were at well priced local restaurants where we were able to spend on average $25 per dinner for 2. You can easily spend a whole lot more than this and we generally found western style restaurants to be rather expensive. There are plenty of small local street-side eateries that offer cheap and tasty local dishes. Fresh fish is also easily available if you enjoy preparing this yourself.
We only had the occasional beer as we found alcohol to generally be rather expensive. The local rum is pretty good and definitely worth trying.
TRANSPORT
Although there are many taxis available in Mauritius, they are not particularly cheap or convenient for long term transportation. For this reason, we opted to rent a car for 17 days from a local entrepreneur which worked out really well for us. Having your own transportation is almost essential if you want to be able to drive to a kite-surfing spot every day and also to explore the rest of the island in your own time.
CELLPHONE & DATA
Being very dependent on data for getting around and rather heavy data user generally, this is one of the first things we investigate when staying in a country for a period of time. We each got a local SIM card from Emtel (MUR200 each) and also spent another MUR200 each for additional data for our stay. All our accommodations also had free wifi included.
GENERAL
Our "General" category includes everyday expenses like toiletries, medical, laundry & small shopping items.
SIGHTSEEING
We generally try to stay away from very touristy places and prefer to explore independently. In Mauritius, there were a few “tourist activities” which we did spend money on. These included visiting the Aventure du Sucre for rum tasting, the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens, attending Horse Racing at the Champ de Mars in Port Louis, visiting the Seven Coloured Earth and Chamarel Waterfall and also going on a boat trip to swim with the Dolphins at Tamarin Bay. All beaches in Mauritius are free public beaches although access to some can be restricted by development. There are also usually very good and clean toilet facilities near all public places. be sure to check out some of our day trips of Mauritius on YouTube.
