Port Louis walking tour & city guide

Markets and old streets

The Central Market, in a 19th-century iron hall, is the place for fruit, spices, herbal remedies and the island's famous street food. Chinatown, just to the north, has small shops, a Chinese arch and the Jummah Mosque, a white mosque from the 19th century.

Place d'Armes, a palm-lined boulevard, leads from the harbour to the Government House, with the colonial Theatre and the Champ de Mars racecourse, one of the oldest in the southern hemisphere, nearby.

A classic walk

Start at Aapravasi Ghat, the immigration depot where nearly half a million indentured labourers, mostly from India, arrived in the 19th century, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk through the Central Market and Chinatown, then up to Fort Adelaide, the Citadel, for a view over the city and the harbour, and end at the Caudan Waterfront at sunset.

Good to know

Port Louis is busy on weekdays and quiet in the evenings and on Sundays, when most shops close. May to December is cooler and drier; January to March can bring cyclones. The Metro Express light rail links the capital with the towns of the central plateau.