Stores, Malls or Markets in Mauritius

What to buy: Mauritius produces sugar cane, so go grab a tropical rum made with sugar cane as souvenir. the bottle is handpainted with dodo (extinct animal in Mauritius) while the doll is soo local, get one for your travel collection.

What to pay: Rum is about Rs400-Rs290. i spent Rs200 for the doll.

Remembering our driver (for the day,) had said he had bought his wife a sari for her birthday that week, The Handsome Man politely asked him if he would take us to the shop he had chosen for his wife's gift. He drove us 5 mins around the corner and hey presto - an enormous sari shop with thousands of saris and clothing, shoes & accessories of all colours & sizes. - It looked like a palace to me! Even better, there were alot of local women shopping away happily and although a quality shop, there was non the the pretentiousness of the former place (see other sari tip) and no snooty Madam.

The Handsome Man went off in search of CDs (via some crazy streets full of chickens apaprently, but he'd have to write that tip!) and I spent a happy hour or two trying on a variety of saris and two piece skirts and tops.

Alot of them were rather too big for me (usual in my world), but they said they could pop me and chosen attire around the corner and have it altered in no time at all for a very reasonable price - Hooray! I chose a deep blue intricately beaded skirt and top, with a pasmina type shawl and some lovely sparkly bangles in packs of ten, to match. We also bought beautiful silk shawls in vibrant colours for our respective Mums.

We had some lunch in a rather 1970s style restaurant around the corner, went off and did some more sightseeing and they gave us a call when the alterations were done which allowed us to pick up our goods on our return journey home that afternoon. That's what I call good service!

Job done.

(sorry, no pic).

What to buy: "Jupe, Chouridar, Choli, Soiree (another spelling of sari en Francais?), Blouses etc"...
There is an extensive range of evening wear, shoes and accesories too.
Worth the trip even if you don't buy anything.

What to pay: From little, to alot

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I really wanted to visit a sari (or is it saree?) shop. Or a shop that sold clothes or fabrics in fabulous bright eastern colours and silks. We were taken to the 'Volcano Club' (what a strange name for a clothes shop!) This is an upmarket shop, very tastefully layed out over two floors which specialises in 'Indian Wear, Classic Wear and Jewelry'.

I had such fun in there, there were some truly beautiful saris in the most gorgeous colours, my favourite being the blue.

I was fussed over and admired for some time by Madame and her staff (much to the amusement of The Handsome Man) - que fun!

The fun however ended, when presented with the cost ! Over £500 for the sari plus the other goods - Hmm ! The Handsome Man and I had a little chat and decided we could grab the same in London for half the price - a shame, as I adored that blue sari, but hey, a rip off, is a rip off.

The Handsome Man did aquire a lovely blue shirt and I picked out some good quality, electric pink leggins for The Little Rock Chic. Madam was not amused. She 'brought the price down' to the said £500 and was most cross when we politely declined.

Oh well ; )

What to buy: Shirts and leggins.

What to pay: Take your credit card and forget the price.

Gateway is a new Shop where u can buy without paying duties and taxes. The Shop is not yet open officially but it will be on the first week of November 2007. It is a world class duty free shopping. It provides many high quality services and facilities and above all it sells only genuine products. Anything that you'll buy will be accompanied by a certificate of Authenticity. It is controlled by the Government. You'll find Many branded items of well known brand and i can assure you that it is not fake as u'll get guarantee worldwide. You can even go and check your products in your country to the respective Branded Suppliers.
there's a cybercafe for free, a kids corner for your little angel, a bar for you guys, and all the staff there are well trained, polite, smiling always and very professionals. May be you'll visit many Duty free shops in Mauritius but u'll find the differences at GATEWAY. If you have not been to GATEWAY, therefore u've not been to Mauritius.

What to buy: It sells mainly Diamonds, jewellery - Gold, Silver, Platinum, Pearls etc... Persian Carpets, perfumes like Christian La Croix, Roxy, Paul Smith, Cathy Guetta Hugo Boss, Bvlgari, Lacoste and many more. Also branded sunglasses, products from LANCEL, GUCCI, GIVENCHY, JACQUES BOGART etc...
Silk Products like bed and table covers, cushion covers, cigars, wines, whiskies, ties, scarves, shawls, pashminas.
You'll find also local craft such as traditional baskets, handicrafts, ship models.

What to pay: it depends of how much u have but definitely there's a little something for everyone.

Another place to buy souveniers and ship models is the Le Craft Market at Port Louis Waterfront. Its built like a big court with 3 levels and you get a wide range of local handicraft plus the regular souveniers here.

This shop is part of the Port Louis Waterfront Mall.

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For all your souvenier shopping, we landed up at Port Louis Waterfront where our lovely guide dropped us, telling us to be picked up after 4 hrs. Guess 4 hrs is a lot of time to shop if you are not much of a shopper. After scanning a few shops, we finally stopped at this shop ULUWATU (don't ask me the meaning). It had a good collection of Mauritius souveniers and cheap prices and we bought a whole lot of them, from this small but well stocked shop.

We were a couple of people and after selecting everything, things were handed over to my wife who brushed up her bargaining skills with the girls at the counter. She got everyone a good discount and even managed to get free gifts alongwith the goods we purchase.

The girls at the counter were nice decent and very jovial, so we would recommend this shop.

What to buy: Dodo's, Refrigrator Magnets, Photo frames, Buddhas, Small ships, most of the things you buy would be spotted as you walk through the shop.

What to pay: Even if you buy a lot for each member of the family back home and friends it would be quite inexpensive.

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Je pense que le meilleur marché de l'île, pour les vêtements et les souvenirs, est celui de 4 Bornes.

I think that the cheaper of the island, for the clothes and the memories, is the one of 4 Bornes

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Le Port is one of the ship model factories in mauritius and they have a guided tour for you to explain how the models are built, before they take you to the main shop where you can buy various ship models

What to buy: Always take a ship model as a souvenier from Mauritius for your living room mantlepiece.

What to pay: Available from MUR 300 - MUR 1,50,000, don't forget to bargain by atleast 20%