Things to do in Grand Baie

Grand Baie takes its name from the bay: a wide, sheltered anchorage where fishing boats, catamarans and yachts sit on turquoise water. The coast road follows it from end to end, with restaurants, cafés and shops on the land side and jetties on the other. Walk it in the late afternoon, then drive five minutes to Pointe aux Canonniers, the headland towards Mont Choisy, for the sunset over the sea.

Most catamarans of the north leave from Grand Baie in the morning for the northern islands: Gabriel Island and Flat Island for the beaches and the snorkelling, with Coin de Mire on the way. The day usually includes lunch on board and comes back in the afternoon. Shorter sunset cruises with drinks leave in the late afternoon. Our guide to catamaran trips to the northern islands has the detail and the prices.

The reef off Grand Baie is a short boat ride away. Snorkelling trips, glass-bottom boats, seabob rides and mini-submarine dives all leave from the bay, and the dive centres of Grand Baie and Trou aux Biches run courses for beginners and boat dives for divers. Our guide to snorkelling and diving in the north lists the best spots.

La Croisette is an open-air shopping centre with a supermarket, a cinema, a pharmacy, a bank and a food court: useful for the first shopping of the stay. Sunset Boulevard, on the bay, groups boutiques close to the seafood restaurants. The Grand Baie bazaar sells souvenirs, from pareos to wooden dodos; bargaining is expected. Our guide to the markets of the north covers Goodlands and Port Louis too.

The bay itself is more harbour than beach. For a swim, La Cuvette is a tiny public beach at the north end of the bay, Pereybere a small cove with deeper water a few minutes further north, and Mont Choisy one of the longest beaches of the island, a few minutes south. Our guide to the best beaches of the north compares them.

Grand Baie has the widest choice of restaurants in the north: seafood on the water, Mauritian, Indian, Chinese and European tables along the coast road, street food in the village. It is also the only place in the north with real nightlife, bars along the main road and a few clubs at the weekend. Our selection of restaurants in Grand Baie helps you choose.

Grand Baie is about an hour from the airport by motorway and seven minutes by car from the villa in Mont Choisy. There is parking along the coast road and at La Croisette, and taxis wait in the centre; a taxi back to Mont Choisy costs a few hundred rupees. Boats leave in the morning, the light is best at the end of the afternoon, and the village is liveliest in the evening.