Jardins de la Compagnie is the city's most attractive garden, with its vast banyan trees, huge number of statues, quiet benches and fountains. During the day it's perfectly safe and even rather appealing, but avoid it at night, when it's a favoured hang-out for sex workers and drug addicts. In early colonial times, the garden was the vegetable patch of the French East India Company. Today, it's known for statues of local sculptor Prosper d'Épinay and much-loved musician Ti Frère.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
23.28 MILES
This popular ecotourism destination is a 26-hectare nature reserve on an island roughly 800m off the coast. It preserves very rare remnants of the coastal…
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens
6.25 MILES
After London's Kew Gardens, the SSR Gardens is one of the world's best botanical gardens. It's among the most popular tourist attractions in Mauritius and…
19.06 MILES
Protecting a 400-year-old forest, this reserve is an important habitat for the Mauritius kestrel, one of the world's most endangered raptors, and a visit…
0.32 MILES
Although dedicated to the world-famous Mauritian one-penny and two-pence stamps of 1847, the Blue Penny Museum is far more wide-ranging than its name…
3.79 MILES
If you're only going to visit one attraction related to Mauritius' rich colonial history, choose Eureka. This perfectly preserved Creole mansion was built…
2.07 MILES
The shrine of French Catholic priest and missionary Père Jacques-Désiré Laval is something of a Lourdes of the Indian Ocean, with many miracles attributed…
13.83 MILES
Locals like to wax nostalgic about Tamarin Beach and its surfing heyday, and in many ways this sandy cove still feels like a throwback to earlier times,…
21.44 MILES
Don't miss the central foire de Mahébourg, near the waterfront. The initial focus was silks and other textiles, but these days you'll find a busy produce…
Nearby Port Louis attractions
1. Natural History Museum & Mauritius Institute
0.04 MILES
The major attraction at this small museum – which was closed for much-needed renovations when we visited – used to be the famous reconstruction of a dodo…
0.09 MILES
Government House is a beautiful French-colonial structure dating from 1738, although it was added to in later years. Outside it stands a typically solemn…
0.1 MILES
The city's most imposing boulevard, Place d'Armes is lined with royal palms and leads up to Government House, a beautiful French-colonial structure dating…
0.12 MILES
This small but engaging museum, down a cobbled lane opposite the Municipal Theatre, is the labour of love of local photographer Tristan Bréville. He's…
5. Mahé de Labourdonnais Statue
0.16 MILES
At the quayside end of Place d'Armes, the best-loved statue in the city has become its emblem throughout Mauritius.
0.22 MILES
Port Louis' rightly famous Central Market, the centre of the local economy since Victorian times, is a good place to get a feel for local life, watch the…
0.24 MILES
This interesting museum beside the Central Post Office houses a mishmash of commemorative stamps and other postal paraphernalia from around the world. One…
0.31 MILES
The slightly austere St Louis Cathedral dates from 1932 and is popular with the Chinese community.