Port Louis Questions

Hi,

To make it simple, lets say Port Louis today is not an attractive residential area as it is the biggest urban spread in the country and already overcrowded.
Some people do choose to live in PL for convenience like those who work in the city center or do business but most choose to live in the suburbs, in other towns or along the coast.

Moreover, PL houses the largest concentration of businesses, trading, commercial activities and administrative services in the country and here you have the usual hustle and bustle of a city with its routine issues like traffic bottlenecks, pollution, noise, etc. Hence most expats (and an increasing number of locals) tend to shy away from it.
Due to this, there are few residential projects around the city.

And as you pointed out, the island is small and it's only a 1-1.5 hr drive to PL from any location.

On another note, Mauritius is urbanizing at a fast pace and soon enough, the whole island will be a big PL!

BTW I'm a Mauritian student in the US on the west coast and in a bid to conceptualize...it's like people moving away from downtown LA to the coast around Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Long beach or further down towards San Diego!

Thanks for the reply. I'm originally from Los Angeles so that gives me an idea. Though, these days, there has been an influx of professionals moving into the city of L.A. (downtown, Silver Lake, East Hollywood, etc.) but I don't get the sense there's any equivalent sensibility in Port Louis.

Hi,

It's good that you're considering other options for areas to live in. I would suggest you visit Port Louis in the day, evening/ night and on a Sunday to get a sense of it's different characteristics. From my experience it's quite bustling in the day time but changes quickly after dusk and is very quiet. Bar the Caudan waterfront area, which has a nice ambiance at night, I'm not sure if there is much to do, and I think one would tire of that quickly. Perhaps the biggest factor is the weather. It can be quite a bit hotter and more humid than most other areas and less of a breeze to aleviate this due to the togography surrounding. In summer that's pretty stifling.

I also don't know of any Mauritians who would consider moving there to live. I suspect most who do reside there, live with family or have inherited a property/ land to live or build on.     

No disrespect to anyone living there!

Interesting. Thanks.

Having friends/acquaintances who've lived/studied/retired overseas, it seems -- even if they don't particularly like the largest and/or capital city of whatever country they're in -- they might have to go that city regularly for work/shopping/entertainment/cultural activities/medical care. From what I'm gathering, there are fewer such reasons for Mauritians to do that with Port Louis.

It's also interesting to hear that there are so many micro-climates and various topographies in such a small land mass as Mauritius. That's really cool that, for example, Grand Baie can feel very different from Port Louis and feel different again from, say, Ebene. The more I find out about Mauritius, the more fascinating it becomes.

Thanks again for all the information.

Indeed.

Port Louis is at both sides of the spectrum. During the day, it's buzzing with people, activities and traffic but past 6 p.m. it becomes dead quiet.

With decentralisation process today, you can get all the amenities you would expect in PL in other towns and regions.

E.g for banking, financial and ICT services, you can stop at Ebene...no need to continue to PL.

In the other towns and in the touristic villages like Grand Bay, you can do almost the same level of shopping.

When it comes to nightlife, Pl has been overtaken since long by other towns and coastal villages like Flic en Flac, Tamarin and Pointes aux Cannoniers.