The beaches on the west and south coasts are the best on the island. Le Morne peninsula in the southwest is a UNESCO World Heritage site — the beach here is as good as any in the Indian Ocean, and the mountain behind it is strikingly beautiful. On the east coast, Belle Mare and Ile aux Cerfs draw big crowds, but Ile aux Cerfs rewards those who walk 10 minutes beyond the boat landing to find near-empty stretches of sand.
The Seven Coloured Earths at Chamarel are genuinely strange — rolling dunes of volcanic soil in distinct layers of red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple, and yellow that refuse to mix even when stirred. The nearby Chamarel waterfall drops 100 metres into a forested gorge. Both are worth an hour.
The SSR Botanical Gardens at Pamplemousse are one of the finest botanical gardens in the southern hemisphere, famous for their giant water lilies and collection of palm species. Free to enter, and genuinely impressive even if you're not a plant person.
Grand Bassin is a crater lake high in the central plateau, considered the most sacred Hindu site on the island. During the Maha Shivaratri festival (February or March), tens of thousands of pilgrims make a barefoot journey here carrying ornate portable shrines called kanwar.
Swimming with spinner dolphins off the west coast near Le Morne and Tamarin is a popular excursion. Most boats go out at dawn — the dolphins are reliably present, and the experience is better than it sounds.
Port Louis is underrated as a city. Skip the Caudan Waterfront (tourist prices) and spend time instead in the central market, Chinatown, and the Aapravasi Ghat — the UNESCO-listed site where indentured labourers from India first landed in the 19th century.