South tour Mauritius: what the private days cover

The south-west corner of the island holds most of what people picture when they picture Mauritius inland: a plateau cut by rivers, a crater lake, a mountain that ends in the sea, and a hillside of Coloured Earths that has been photographed more than anything else on the island. None of it sits in one place. A south tour Mauritius day is therefore a driving day, and the two listings that sell it are both private tours with a guide and a vehicle rather than a seat on a coach.

That matters for the price. $122 and $110 buy seven and a half and seven hours respectively, which works out at roughly $16.27 and $15.71 an hour for a private vehicle and guide. The two half-day trips below them cost less in total and more per hour, because they are short walks in one valley rather than a day across the region.

The second thing to know is what the operators themselves list. The Chamarel day is described as the Seven Coloured Earths, waterfalls, volcanic mountains, scenic viewpoints and sacred temples with a private guide. The south-west day names Chamarel Waterfall, the Seven Coloured Earths, Alexandra Falls, the Black River Valley, Grand Bassin and Trou aux Cerfs. Those two lists overlap, and the difference between them is the subject of the comparison further down this page.

The two private days are twelve dollars and half an hour apart, so the choice is about what is named in each, not about money.

The Chamarel day spends its seven and a half hours in one corner: the Coloured Earths, the falls beside them, the volcanic mountains above and the temples in between. It carries 2,030 reviews at 4.8, more than any other listing on this site, which is the strongest evidence available anywhere in this niche. If the reason for the day is Chamarel itself, this is the longer and more concentrated version of it.

The south-west day trades some of that depth for range. Seven hours, 1,316 reviews at 4.8, lunch written into the listing, and six named places instead of one area: Chamarel Waterfall, the Seven Coloured Earths, Alexandra Falls, the Black River Valley, Grand Bassin and Trou aux Cerfs. For a first visit, that is the wider picture of the region, and it is the cheaper of the two at $110.

Verdict. Book the south-west day at $110 if this is your one inland day and you want the plateau, the crater and the lake as well as Chamarel. Book the Chamarel day at $122 if you would rather have the extra half-hour and a personalised route around one area, and if the review count is what settles it for you. A full day south tour Mauritius is what both of them are; the difference is how far the vehicle goes.

There is no season to plan around in these listings — what varies is how much of your day a south tour Mauritius takes, and all of it is published. A seven or seven-and-a-half-hour private day fills a day. Three or four hours does not, which is why the two walks sit well beside something else.

The order most people find comfortable is the long day first, early in the stay, because it is the one that shows you where everything is. The short trips make more sense afterwards, when you already know which part you want to go back to. The Le Morne climb at four hours and the Tamarind Falls walk at three can both sit in the same week as a full private day without repeating it: one is a summit, one is a river, and neither is a viewpoint stop on the driving day.

If a flight is also on the list, book it on a separate day from the long drive. The scenic flight is listed at three hours including the hotel transfers both ways, so it is not a half-hour errand you slot into an afternoon that already has seven hours of driving in it. A south east tour Mauritius day on the water, at $141 for seven hours, is the other full day people pair with the southern one.