Turtle Snorkelling & Scenic North Island Full-Day Experience
Port Louis, Mauritius
- 8 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Experience the natural beauty and historical sights of Mauritius when you book this full-day sightseeing excursion. Begin your day with a boat trip to an area known to be abundant with marine life for your chance to see these massive sea turtles as well as other animals. Then, join your private guide for a tour that includes a visit to the Red Church, Pamplemousse Gardens, and Port Louis.
- Visit a UNESCO-listed site in Port Louis: Aapravasi Ghat
- Learn about the history, culture, and biodiversity of Mauritius
- All necessary snorkeling equipment is provided
- This is a private tour, except for the snorkel excursion
What's Included
- Snorkeling with turtles
- Snorkeling gear (masks and tubes - fins ar enot allowed)
- Hotel pickup, dropoff and transportation in a private vehicle
- Services of a fully licensed, qualified driver
- Air-conditioned and insured taxi, minibus or coach
- Entrance fee - Pamplemousses Garden€6.00 per person
- Lunch or snacks
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
We pick up at all hotels, B&Bs, apartments on the island. Please let us know which hotel, B&B or apartment you're staying at. We will let you know your exact pickup time upon booking, but it will generally be at between 8:00am and 9:00am.
Start time.9:00 am
Itinerary
1
Plage de Trou aux Biches
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Notre Dame Auxiliatrice
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
SSR Botanic Garden
2 hours • Admission Ticket Not Included
4
Port Louis
3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Most travelers can participate
- The swimming with turtles portion of this outing is not recommended for pregnant women. All children under 12 years old should be accompanied.
- In most cases you will see turtles. However, if this is not the case, a second outing will be offered on the boat free of charge (transportation to and from your hotel are not included for the second outing). It’s important to note that there will be no refund once you have completed the activity.
- This tour lasts up to eight hours, and you will be able to choose how long you spend at each attraction (except for the turtles portion). Depending on your group’s speed you may not have time to see all the listed attractions. You will be able to stop for lunch but the price of the lunch is not included
- Bring swimwear and a towel for the swimming with turtles portion, and a change of clothes and comfortable walking shoes for the rest of the tour
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
3.9
based on 92 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
This was not a tour guide, he was a taxi driver looking to be as quick as possible!!
Car smelt of cigarettes! Insisted on driving with window wide open despite asking to close as blowing a gale in back. Radio crackled for majority of journey, no attempt to retune despite asking.
Did not point any attraction out on the way other than tram station and phoenix beer!
Tried to tell us the gardens were not included as part of trip, when I said we pay ourselves but itinary says we can go, then said we could go but you be very quick!
We didn’t want to go to market in Port Louis and asked to be taken into town to see the sights - he drove us along main road, pointed at market and said that’s it and off we drove! Couldn’t tell you what the capital has to offer but we certainly weren’t offered what was on the itinary for there!!
The red church and the surrounding beach is lovely. The glass bottomed boat was good, we only seen one turtle but didn’t swim as it was nervous. Ethically I understand this but please don’t expect this to be a turtle swim when you book. My husband and son enjoyed the snorkelling and the crew were great!
We went to the botanical garden and paid for the guide (would absolutely recommend this!) he was incredibly knowledgable and fun, he made the hour tour fly by.
The amount we initially allocated for driver tip was split between the boat crew and the gardens guide, the driver had the remaining 200 rupees (£3) He was essentially a taxi driver and not a tour guide!! This was my worst Viator experience having used them for over 20 years all over the world.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Hi, thanks for your review and feedback, and we apologize for the experience you had. We will follow up with your driver regarding your feedback, as this is not the type of service we wish to offer.
Good turtle swimming, nice church, a short turnaround in Port Louis and a great botanical garden in Pampelmouse.
Response from Host, Nov 2025
Hi, thanks for your review! We're happy you enjoyed the excursion and we hope to see you again soon!
Avoid this you do not swim with turtles you are ferried 150metres to an anchored speedboat that has an anchor with bait attached and a turtle is feeding from it - it’s chaotic as people enter the water to see the turtle - the water is murky and it’s just a waste of money. The changing facilities are beyond basic.
The trip was also to Port Louis the red church and pamplemousse gardens all of which are worth visiting and our car and driver were excellent but swimming with turtles is just a set up and shouldn’t be allowed you dont swim with them and the whole management of this part of the day was shambolic and should be avoided .
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Hi Deborah, thanks for your review and feedback. We're sorry you didn't like the turtles portion of the excursion. Please note that the turtles are wild, and some days there may be more than others. We're glad you liked the rest of the tour.
The highlight of the trip was swimming in the sea with turtles. It was also wonderful to see The Red Church, Pamplemousses Garden and Port Louis. Our driver Anil looked after us very well.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Hi Louise, thanks so much for your review! We're happy you enjoyed the trip and we hope to see you again soon!
The turtle experience was amazing and also the other stuff, the only problem was the rude driver that brought us everywhere.
And also it's not a real tour because you will be alone and without a guide so at the end you are just paying the turtle thing and the taxi because he stay with you all the day. I hope you will get a different driver then mine.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Hi, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you enjoyed the excursion, but apologize for your experience with the driver - we will follow up with him. Thanks!
My partner and I booked this and had a great time during the gardens, the guide was knowledgeable and engaging. However the rest of the tour felt rushed and not very well organised. We unfortunately ended up coming back early and not visiting some parts of the tour that was in the description. Was disappointed overall.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Jenny, thanks for your review and feedback. We'll follow up with your driver regarding the timing of the attractions, as guests typically have time to visit all of the attractions.
The swim with turtles was good managed to see one turtle and the crew were friendly. We visited the church at a quiet time which was very idyllic with the bay behind. The gardens were beautiful and we had a very informative guide showing us around where we also saw fruit bats flying.Port Louis was very busy and the market life was thriving with local produce and people. Our driver was very nice and explained about many sites and daily Mauritius life.
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Hi Eva, thanks so much for your review! We're happy you enjoyed the excursion and we hope you had a great stay in Mauritius!
Keno was amazing communicative, helpful, well spoken, friendly and informative. We enjoyed the tour from start to finish and highly recommend this! The swimming with turtles was amazing and so was all the other parts of the tour. We saw a beautiful Tamil temple as an extra bonus stop. The botanical gardens were so beautiful and a must see!!!! Beautiful tour!
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Hi Chiara, thanks so much for your wonderful review! We're happy you enjoyed the excursion and we hope to see you again during your next trip to Mauritius!
A really great experience and a fab way to see lots of things if you are short on time. Our driver was great- chatty and knowledgeable and very patient with us at each of the sites. The beaches we visited were particularly beautiful. I would definitely recommend this tour - especially if you are short on time visiting Mauritius. Only taking away a star as we didn’t see any turtles- not the tour’s fault but it was the main reason we booked so feel a bit disappointed. Otherwise 10/10!
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Hi Kate, thanks so much for your review! We're glad you enjoyed the trip, and sorry the turtles didn't cooperate. We hope you're having a great stay in Mauritius!
We had a great day, our guide Aslim was fantastic, nothing too much trouble. Swimming with the turtles was amazing.
Response from Host, May 2024
Hi Helen, thanks so much for your review! We're happy you had a great trip with Aslim, and we hope to see you again soon!
A great tour around North Mauritius. Definitely the highlight of the tour was the snorkeling with sea turtles, an amazing experience 😄
You also receive a personal taxi driver who carries you to all the destinations (its only you and people you booked with). Our driver was very knowledgeable and great to talk with !
Response from Host, Dec 2023
Hi Karlis, thanks so much for your wonderful review! We're glad you enjoyed the trip, and we wish you a Happy New Year!
we love seeing animals in the wild ,but watching turtles being scared by lots of people them was not what we wished . then next day we found that it has been illegal to swim like this with turtles in Mauritius like this since 2022 as with swimming with whales was banned some time back .we are shocked illegal tours are on viator . If you are ok with treating animals like this then book if not then do not book and help stop this trade . Did not put pics as seeing a stressed turtle is not great
Response from Host, Oct 2023
Hi Andy, we appreciate your concern, and we will follow up with the skipper regarding your comments. Please note that swimming near (without touching) turtles has been allowed to continue in Mauritius, led by licenced skippers departing from the National Coast Guard station at Trou aux Biches. We'd recommend you contact the Coast Guard for further information.
Snorkeling with the turtles was a fantastic experience we reallyenjoyedit. We didn't really get to see much of port Louis as was only given half hour, so by the time we got across the road and into the market we only had time for a quick walk up and down a couple of rows before heading back to the car.
Response from Host, Oct 2023
Hi Julie, thanks for your review and feedback! We're glad you enjoyed the snorkeling with giant turtles, and we'll follow up regarding the time in Port Louis, as typically guests have a bit more time there (although it depends on how long guests spend at the other attractions). We hope you had a great stay in Mauritius!
Not much. Basically you pay a taxi to drive you around. Port Louis was interesting. Encounter with the turtles is a rip off. We had to pay our entrance fee for the botanical park, which should be included as the trip was already expensive. The taxi driver was driving very dangerously, always on the phone, texting while driving above speed limit in the rain! I would not recommend this trip, if you want to visit the island book a taxi and make your itinerary!!!
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Hi Yasmin, we're sorry you didn't enjoy the turtles portion of the trip. We'll follow up with your driver, as all of our licenced drivers have strict safety rules that they must abide by. We hope you enjoyed your stay in Mauritius.
Great experience the tours itself we generally found in Mauritius are different to elsewhere in the world in that you’re essentially just paying a taxi driver to escort you for the day. We probably could have engaged our driver a little more to try to stay longer in a few of the places but we enjoyed the day overall and the snorkelling was great to experience a wide variety of marine life not just the turtles.
Response from Host, Mar 2023
Hi Sean, thanks so much for your review! We're glad you enjoyed snoreklling with the turtles, and had the opportunity to see some of the other marine life in Mauritius as well. We hope to see you again during your next trip to the island!
We are a family of 10.
6 adults and 4 children. Seeing the turtles was amazing but for half of us we was are not very confident in the water. The boat we was on only had one life jacket and they did NOT have snorkelling gear for us all. Well they had two. So half of our party stayed on the boat and watched the others swimming with the turtles.
As for our driver he was very patient, He didn't seem to speak much English though.
we was stuck in such a lot of traffic which seemed not to be going anywhere and by the time we eventually got to the waterfront the shops was closed. Which was a shame
Before the waterfront the driver did take us to a restaurant for lunch which he recommended. we would not go back there, it was a lot of money for what we had. My family was not impressed!!
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Hi Wendy, thanks for your review and feedback. We're sorry regarding your experience with the equipment. We have reached out to you for more details, and also been in touch with the boat operator to ensure that we are better prepared to handle large groups in the future.
The Snorkelling with turtles, Red Church and Pampelmousses botanical gardens were superb. Unfortunately this trip was let down by or driver. First thing he done was take us to one of his friends shops, he said "go in you don't have to buy and I get gift at the end of the month". This happened again after swimming with turtles and he "said I take you to another friends shop", I said no more shops. His driving was dangerous trying to overtake on a blind bend and having to slam the brakes on to avoid a head on collision, and we counted on 8 occasions he was driving whilst on his mobile phone.
Before our final visit to Port Louis after being told not to take us to any more of his friends shops, he took us to his friends Tea shop, I said we don't drink tea, but he still lead us inside. Would recommend this trip but not with this driver. We were glad to get back in one piece. Hence he did not get a tip.
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Hi Geoffrey, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you liked the itinerary. While driving in Mauritius can be a little hectic at times, we will follow up with your driver regarding your feedback. Thanks for providing this to us as it helps us improve our level of service. We wish you a great rest of your stay in Mauritius and a safe flight home!
The swimming with turtles was a once in a lifetime opportunity and would highly recommend to anyone considering as they were so close and swam all around us.
Only real negative I have which is quite an important one at this moment in time was that our taxi driver picked us up late meaning we were late to the swim with turtles part of the trip. On arrival we had to change from the speedboat to the glass bottom boat and was each given a recently used snorkel set to use that hadn’t been sanitized. The girls who had recently used the same one recommended us to wash it in the sea as there was no more available and we would have missed the experience altogether. Very bad and could have ruined our experience completely.
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Hi Hannah, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you enjoyed the amazing experience of swimming with giant turtles. We want to apologize for the driver arriving late. Unfortunately we had very heavy rain across the island that morning which caused some road delays. We hope to see you again during your next trip!
We had a good experience, our guide was friendly and the visiting sites were beautiful. Overall we would recommend this trip.
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Hi Elmonix, thanks so much for your review, and we're glad you enjoyed the day! We wish you a great continuation of your stay in Mauritius!
Snorkling with the turtles was great and tasting the tea but the rest was ok. Port Louis in my opinion isnt a nice place.
Response from Host, Dec 2022
Hi James, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you liked snorkeling with the turtles. We hope to see you again in the future!
This is an ambitious programme attempting to cover a lot in one day from a resort in the South of Mauritius. Due to the tides the order of the programme had to be changed with the snorkelling in the middle of the day. Consequently the initial time in Port Louis was somewhat rushed and several sights were missed out. The turtle snorkelling was amazing and Pamplemousse Botanical Garden lovely. Jay our driver was competent especially when the driving conditions were challenging. He did however appear grumpy at times and impatient with us.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Hi Susan, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you enjoyed the tour overall, and especially swimming with wild turtles! We apologize for the rush in Port Louis (we have since informed our drivers how to better plan for situations when the swimming with wild turtles needs to be rescheduled tot he afternoon due to the tides). We'll also follow up with Jay. Thanks again for your feedback and we hope you enjoyed your vacation in Mauritius!
Great trip, Rocky, our driver was awesome ! North of this island is beautiful and it was awesome to swim with sea turtles.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
Hi Guillaume, thanks for your review! We're glad you enjoyed the excursion, and especially swimming with the wild turtles, and we hope to see you again in the future!
Pick up details were a little mixed. Our tickets said departure at 10am but our guide turned up at 9am. Not an issue but could have been clearer!
Turtle watching was great, snorkeling site is less than 100m offshore so no worries about seasickness. The tour mentioned a glass bottom boat experience, however this did not happen.
Botanical Gardens and the tour was enjoyable and interesting! Definitely worth getting a guide on arrival for the extra €s
Port Louis was nice with a mixture of history and modern waterfront areas. However it was very busy so very different to rest of Mauritius
Our driver Keshevan (unsure on spelling!) was great. Answered any questions and had good information when asked questions. Allowed us to choose how long we wanted at each place etc
Overall, turtles were a definite highlight and the botanical gardens were good.
Response from Host, Sep 2022
Hi Sam, thanks for your review and feedback. We're glad you enjoyed snorkeling with the turtles. Regarding the pickup time, while the boat for the turtles departs at 10am, we send a message via Viator with your exact pickup time, prior to the tour. However, we will see if there's another way we can communicate this in case the message is missed. Thanks for letting us know about the glass bottom boat as well, and we have updated our description to reflect that a glass bottom boat may not always be used.
Guide Nadeem was excellent. Had a great time snorkelling with 4 turtles, also some eels and. Triggerfish to see. Recommend getting a guide at botanical gardens - made it much more interesting.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Hi Edward, thanks so much for the review and we're glad you enjoyed snorkeling with the turtles!
Our guide/driver Nadeem with Bonjour Mauritius was amazing. Skip the turtle(s) as the site is over crowded with too many boats and tourists who do not respect the turtle. The boat drivers care little for the safety of the passengers and turtles. You can walk from shore if you really want to swim with the turtle
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your review! We're gad you liked the tour with Nadeem, and thanks for your feedback regarding the turtles portion of the tour.
Der Botanische Park war sehr gut.In Port Louis durften wir nur 8 min unterwegs sein,laut Beschreibung hätte uns aber viel mehr Zeit zugestanden...war leider dann doch ein hetzen von A nach B
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Hi Steffi, thanks for your review and feedback! We'll follow up with your driver as typically guests have more time in Port Louis. We hope you had a great stay in Mauritius!
La excursión no estuvo mal del todo, pero no estuvimos 45 min con las tortugas, fueron solo 20 min, te llevan a comer a un restaurante para el típico turista que te cobran el plato (más barato) a 20€ y es un plato que tiene arroz y un pernil de pollo, vamos nada del otro mundo, me parece que esa fue la peor parte de la excursión ya que es bastante caro. Lo del Port luis que estás 3h caminando por sus calles y en sus mercados es mentira, no te llevan al centro de Port luis, te llevan a un centro comercial diseñado para turistas donde los precios son caros también.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Hi Monica, thanks for your review and feedback. Please note that Port Louis and quite compact, and Le Caudan (the more touristy area) is directly across the road the Central market and the main commercial area of the city. We hope you had a great vacation in Mauritius!
Reservé esta actividad para ver las tortugas ( sí que las vimos,estuvo genial,lo recomiendo 100%) y ver el jardín de Pamplemousses.
Entiendo que son muchas cosas para ese día y no de tiempo a todo,pero el guía debe preguntar cuales son las preferencias de los clientes.
A nosotros nos llevó en Port Louis a un centro comercial como los de Europa, que para nada era lo que queríamos, nos dejó allí una hora ,después nos llevó a ver la iglesia de tejado rojo y a comer a un restaurante carisimo, nos cobraron 180 euros ( 9100 rp) a 5 personas.Nosotros nunca vamos a esos restaurantes,en Mauricio los hay mucho más económicos.Tardaron mucho en servirnos y cuanto terminamos el guía nos dice que se ha terminado el tiempo...sin visitar el jardín botánico.
Le dijimos varias veces que queríamos ir a ver el jardín, no tenía que habernos llevado a ese centro comercial. No nos dijo cuando entramos a comer el tiempo que nos quedaba para finalizar el servio de taxi.
Ha sido una experiencia agridulce.
Response from Host, Aug 2024
Hi Laura, thanks for your review and feedback. We will follow up with the driver regarding your comments, and we apologize for the issues you encountered. We're glad you enjoyed the turtle portion of the excursion and we hope you had a great stay in Mauritius!
El guía nos llevó por Port Louis y nos explicó todo muy bien . Nos pareció muy buena persona y muy atento
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Hi Coro, thanks so much for your review! We're happy you enjoyed the excursion and we hope to see you again soon!
Tout était super .le chauffeur très bien et toutes les activités de la journée au top .c était parfait et bien organisé
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Bonjour Nathalie, merci pour votre avis ! Nous sommes heureux que vous ayez apprécié l'excursion et nous espérons vous revoir bientôt !
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