Mauritius Tea Route: Bois Chéri & Colonial Estates Full Day

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Free cancellation

1/7

Duration6h–7h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · FR

PickupAt your hotel

Tea, Sugar & Cliffs: A Day Through Mauritius's Colonial Past

You visit four colonial-era sites across southern Mauritius in one day: a tea museum with tasting, Bois Chéri tea factory and museum, St. Aubin sugar estate, Gris Gris sea cliffs, and La Vanille Nature Park. A guide narrates the history at each stop, and transport, tastings, and lunch are included. The route takes you through the island's plantation past without arranging stops or timing yourself.

6h–7h

Step-by-step itinerary

The Experience

The road south from Trou d'Eau Douce winds through sugarcane fields and past colonial houses that have stood for two centuries. You're heading into the part of Mauritius most visitors skip — the southern coast, where the Mauritius tea route connects four stops that tell the island's real story: how tea, sugar, vanilla and rum built this place. The day starts at Domaine des Aubineaux, a mansion from 1872 that's now a museum. A guide walks you through the rooms, the photo archive of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the gardens called Le Parc Floral, then you sit down for tea tasting in the restaurant. It takes about an hour, and the tea is strong.

After that you drive to Bois Chéri, the first and largest tea producer in Mauritius, operating since 1892. The factory tour shows you how the leaves move through the machines — the sorting, the drying, the blending — and then you're in the museum learning why tea mattered so much to the colony. You taste the new range: flavored teas, green teas, herbal blends. The view from the tasting room looks south across the island, and on a clear day you can see the coast. The guide explains what you're tasting and why each blend tastes different, which is the kind of detail that sticks with you later.

Then comes St. Aubin House, a sugar estate built in 1819 from salvaged ship timber — the staircase was even built around a ship's mast. The owners moved the whole house in 1970 when the sugar factory got too loud. Walking through it, you get a sense of how the colonial families lived, separate from the noise and the work. After that the drive takes you to Gris Gris Cape, the southernmost point of Mauritius. The cliffs there are dramatic. Waves crash directly onto the rock face because there are no coral reefs to break them, and the spray shoots up high. There's a small garden with benches where you can sit and watch it, and a path down to a beach, though the currents are too strong to swim. Most people just stand there and stare.

The last stop is La Vanille Nature Park, a 5-hectare reserve created in 1985 where guides take you through the grounds. You'll see crocodiles, tortoises, and the vanilla vines the park is named after. The whole day is about 8 to 9 hours from pickup to drop-off. You're in an air-conditioned vehicle the whole time, and the guide is with you at each stop. Lunch and tastings are included, so you're not stopping to figure out where to eat.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and drop-off in an air-conditioned vehicle, a guide at each of the four main stops, entry to Domaine des Aubineaux with tea tasting, a guided tour of Bois Chéri tea factory and museum with tea tastings, entry to St. Aubin House & Sugar Estate, access to Gris Gris Cape, entry to La Vanille Nature Park, lunch, bottled water, and free WiFi in the vehicle.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by PACO TAXI & TOURS

Is this one for you?Choose this tour if you want to understand Mauritius beyond the beach resorts — the colonial history, the tea and sugar industries, and the southern coast — without arranging your own transport, timing each stop, or navigating between sites. The fixed itinerary and included guide handle all of that, leaving you to absorb the story.