Chamarel — Mauritius
Chamarel is a village on a forested plateau in the south-west of Mauritius, reached by a road that climbs in tight hairpins out of the sugar plain. Its name travels further than its size suggests, thanks to a hillside of striped mineral earth and a waterfall that drops into a wooded amphitheatre below.
Free — no account needed. The assistant builds a full proposal: itinerary, honest budget, map and booking links.
Why go
This corner is where Mauritius stops being a lagoon and turns into a landscape. The plateau sits under the rim of the island's largest forest reserve, a tract of ravines and endemic trees that shelters birds found nowhere else. From the lookouts along the ridge you see the gorges on one side and, on the other, the flat blue of the western lagoon with a lone basaltic mountain standing at the end of its peninsula. The village itself lives from that geography: the coloured earths, the falls, a distillery that presses cane grown on the slopes, coffee planted in the shade, and a handful of tables that cook what the plateau produces.
Set your expectations accordingly. Nothing here touches the sea, there is no promenade and no nightlife, the evenings are dark and quiet, and cloud often parks itself on the high ground while the coast below stays in full sun. The reward is a different island: cooler air, forest paths, and viewpoints that make sense of how the whole place is put together.
Month-by-month climate
This side of Mauritius runs a warm, wet tropical year with a marked pause in the middle of it. Summer is the wet half: 340.2 mm falls in January and 196.3 mm in December, with daytime readings of 28.4 °C and 28 °C and nights that barely drop below 21 °C. March and April stay in the same register, 242.3 mm over 17 rainy days and 240.2 mm over 15, which is why the forest below the village is as dense as it is. The turn comes in May, when rainfall halves to 121.3 mm and daytime figures fall to 25.3 °C. Winter then runs cool and showery rather than wet: 92.4 mm in June, 81.3 mm in August over 14 days, and nights at 16.4 °C that feel genuinely cold up here. September closes the sequence with 69 mm on 13 days, and October brings the year's thinnest rainfall, 57.3 mm on 8 days. The annual total, 1963.9 mm spread across 174 days, is measured at island level; on the plateau, expect that water to arrive more often, in shorter bursts, and with cloud sitting lower than on the coast.
| Month | Avg. high (°C) | Avg. low (°C) | Rainfall (mm) | Days ≥ 1 mm | Days ≥ 5 mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28.4 | 22.0 | 340 | 18 | 11 |
| Feb | 28.5 | 22.0 | 254 | 17 | 10 |
| Mar | 28.4 | 21.7 | 242 | 17 | 10 |
| Apr | 27.4 | 21.0 | 240 | 15 | 9 |
| May | 25.3 | 18.6 | 121 | 14 | 8 |
| Jun | 23.3 | 17.0 | 92 | 15 | 8 |
| Jul | 22.5 | 16.3 | 117 | 18 | 9 |
| Aug | 22.9 | 16.4 | 81 | 14 | 6 |
| Sept | 23.7 | 16.8 | 69 | 13 | 5 |
| Oct | 25.5 | 18.1 | 57 | 8 | 4 |
| Nov | 27.0 | 19.6 | 152 | 10 | 5 |
| Dec | 28.0 | 20.7 | 196 | 15 | 8 |
Source: Meteostat — Chamarel (Mauritius) station, 18.0 km away, 10 sample years. Monthly totals rebuilt from daily averages.
When to go
October gives you the best odds: 57.3 mm on 8 rainy days, the thinnest month of the year, when the forest tracks are dry enough to walk and the ridge viewpoints are usually open rather than swallowed by cloud. September still counts 13 rainy days, November 10, and from December to April the summer downpours make the steep roads greasy. Whatever the season, come in the morning: the plateau clouds over as the day heats up.
The most favourable months, on these records
- October
- November
What to see in 2, 4 and 7 days
In 2 days
- Reach the plateau early and see the coloured earths before the tour vans arrive, with the falls viewpoint on the same ticket.
- Walk one of the marked forest trails along the gorges rim, choosing a there-and-back route rather than a loop.
- Afternoon at the rum distillery on the plateau, where the cane is grown on site.
- Second morning down at sea level, on the beach beneath the basalt mountain, returning by the shore road.
- End on the ridge lookout at dusk, when the light rakes across the western lagoon.
In 4 days
- Day one on the plateau itself: coloured earths, waterfall, distillery, and dinner at a village table d'hôte.
- Day two walking in the forest reserve, taking a summit path from the upper car park and allowing the whole morning.
- Day three at the crater lake pilgrimage site in the uplands, then down to the fishing bay on the west coast.
- Day four on the beach under the basalt peak, with a snorkelling stop on the reef if the wind allows.
- Keep an afternoon spare for the ridge viewpoints, which are worth a second visit in different light.
In 7 days
- Two days around the village: earths, falls, distillery, coffee plantation and the nearest gorge lookouts.
- One long day of hiking in the forest reserve, with a summit and a descent to a river pool.
- One day on the south-west coast: the basalt peninsula, its long windward beach and the lagoon behind the reef.
- One day heading east through the sugar country to the wild southern cliffs and their basalt platforms.
- One day inland at the crater lake and the mountain passes above it, ending at a viewpoint over the gorges.
- One day on the water off the west coast, looking for dolphins early and snorkelling afterwards.
- Use the last morning for whichever walk the weather spoiled earlier in the week.
Getting there and around
The international airport (MRU) is 31 km away as the crow flies, but that number is misleading: the road runs around the southern coast and then climbs the escarpment, so the drive takes far longer than the distance suggests. Hire a car or book a transfer in advance, because buses serve the plateau sparsely and stop in the late afternoon. The other airports listed here belong to Réunion, a separate island: Roland Garros (RUN), 201 km out, and Saint-Pierre (ZSE), 221 km. Local roads are narrow, steep and often wet, with pedestrians and dogs on the verges. Drive on the left, and avoid descending after dark.
Nearest airports
- MRUSir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport31 km from the centre
- RUNReunion Roland Garros Airport201 km from the centre
- ZSESt Pierre dela Reunion221 km from the centre
Budget
Country price level compared with France : −48 %
Price index for restaurants and hotels, France = 1000, from European purchasing power parities. It is a country average: it says nothing about one hotel in particular.
Mauritius sits at roughly half of French prices, and the plateau is cheaper still than the coastal resorts. Guesthouses and small lodges run from about 45 to 110 € a night, and a set meal at a village table costs in the region of 10 to 25 €. Entry to the private estate that holds the earths and the falls is the one fixed outlay, and a rental car is effectively compulsory. Cash is useful: several places on the plateau do not take cards.
Common mistakes
- Arriving in the middle of the afternoon. The plateau collects cloud as the day warms, and the viewpoints close in just as the tour groups peak.
- Coming up in beach clothes. Nights fall to 16.4 °C in August, the forest paths are muddy, and flip-flops do not survive the gorge trails.
- Reading coastal weather as plateau weather. The village can be under drizzle while the lagoon below stays in sunshine, and the reverse happens too.
- Expecting a monumental scale. The coloured earths are a small, fenced hillside; the waterfall and the forest around them are what fill the visit.
- Planning to move around without a car. Bus services are infrequent and the last departures leave earlier than most visitors expect.
Frequently asked questions
Is the waterfall worth seeing outside the rainy months?
Yes, though it changes character. After the summer rains it is a heavy single column; by September, with 69 mm falling across the month, the flow narrows considerably and you see more of the rock wall behind it. The amphitheatre of forest is the real subject in either case, and the viewing platform is a short walk from the road, so the detour costs little even in a dry spell.
Can the plateau and the forest reserve be combined in one day?
They can, provided you start early and accept one substantial walk rather than several short ones. Take the earths and the falls first thing, then drive up to the reserve's higher entrance for a trail along the gorges. Leave the summit paths for a separate day if you want to reach a peak, since the climbs are steep, the surface is root-bound and wet ground slows everything down.
Is a night on the plateau better than a day trip from the coast?
One night changes the visit. Staying up here means you reach the earths at opening, walk the forest before the cloud builds, and see the ridge in evening light when every day-tripper has gone back down. The trade-off is that dinner options are few and close early. Two nights is the practical maximum unless you intend to hike seriously.
Updated on 21 September 2026