Port Louis rewards thin wallets: its UNESCO landing site, mosque, botanical square and hilltop fort are all free, street snacks start at Rs 5, and every viewpoint over the harbour is reached on foot or by a Rs 30 municipal bus.
The stone steps where roughly 462,000 indentured labourers first set foot in Mauritius from 1849. Surviving immigration sheds, the hospital block and latrines are open free Mon–Fri 09:00–16:00, Sat 09:00–12:00, with a free guided walk.
An 1850s mosque blending Indian, Creole and Islamic carpentry behind a green-and-white gateway on Royal Street. Non-Muslim visitors are welcomed free of charge into the courtyard and its ancient almond tree outside prayer times.
The city's shaded 18th-century square, laid out by the French East India Company, with giant banyan trees, a cast-iron fountain and statues of poets. Office workers nap here; benches and toilets are free and it never closes.
A British basalt fortress of 1835 on a low hill, built to control the town rather than the sea. The ramparts give a full sweep over the harbour cranes, Champ de Mars and the Moka range, and the gate charges nothing.
The old rope-makers' street is now a corridor of fabric shops and pavement carts. Dholl puri — turmeric-yellow flatbreads with bean curry, rougaille and pickle — is served in pairs off a wooden board from around 09:00 until sold out.
Two blocks between the friendship gates hold Mauritius's Sino-Creole kitchens: boulettes steamed in bamboo baskets, niouk yen dumplings and fried noodles sold from shopfront counters, most dishes still under Rs 120 a bowl.
The Muslim quarter north-east of the centre, where briani is cooked in sealed pots and sold by weight from mid-afternoon, alongside gateau piment fried in oil drums at Rs 5 apiece. Almost no tourists come this far uphill.
The northern bus terminus turns into an evening canteen as commuters queue: mine frite tossed in wok-sized pans, roti chaud rolled in paper, and glass jars of fresh pineapple dusted with chilli salt sold from handcarts.
A 323-metre volcanic hump directly above the city, once used to flag incoming ships. The dirt track starts behind the Marie Reine de la Paix road and climbs through scrub to a summit looking straight down onto the port.
Terraced gardens rising to a white marble Madonna, built in 1940 and the spot where Pope John Paul II spoke in 1989. The stepped lawns are open free all day and frame the whole city between the Citadel and the harbour mouth.
The tomb of Jacques-Désiré Laval, a French missionary who baptised 67,000 freed slaves and remains an object of pilgrimage for Mauritians of every faith. Entry and the small museum of his effects are free; the shrine opens daily.
The royal-palm avenue running from the quays to Government House and the 1735 statue of Mahé de Labourdonnais. Late afternoon light hits the colonial façades and the Moka ridge behind, and the benches cost nothing to occupy.