The most beautiful viewpoints in Mauritius
The ocean-battered cliffs of Gris Gris, the Maconde bend hanging over the waves, the Black River Gorges lookouts: these viewpoints are all reachable by car and turn a simple drive into a highlight. Many are free and just minutes from the main roads.
Gris Gris Cliffs
Spectacular cliffs where the ocean pounds the coast with no lagoon to shield it. The wild beach below and the clifftop lawn offer one of the island's most dramatic panoramas.
Maconde Viewpoint
A legendary hairpin bend cut into the basalt, where a small lookout overhangs waves crashing on the rocks. Splendid view over the bay and the coastal road below.
Black River Gorges Viewpoint
The island's most spectacular viewpoint: an amphitheatre of primary forest plunging towards the west coast, with endemic birds and fruit bats soaring below. Unmissable on the Plaine Champagne road.
Trou aux Cerfs Crater
A dormant volcano crater 300 m across in the middle of Curepipe, ringed by a shady promenade. On a clear day the panorama spans the central plateau all the way to Coin de Mire.
The Crying Rock
A few hundred metres from Gris Gris, this rocky headland seems to weep as waves break and stream down it. Some see in it the profile of Mauritian poet Robert-Edward Hart.
Alexandra Falls
From a walkway at 700 m, the view takes in the waterfall tumbling down the wooded cliff and the whole southern plain to the ocean. A short but memorable national-park stop.
Fort Adelaide Citadel
A black-basalt British fortress completed in 1840, perched on a hill above Port Louis. Climb up for the 360° view of the city, harbour, Champ de Mars and the Moka range.
Albion Lighthouse
One of only two working lighthouses in Mauritius (1910), standing on a wave-battered volcanic cliff. A wild, quiet site with superb west-coast views and theatrical sunsets.