Home / Experience Mauritius / Distilleries & Winery / Château de Labourdonnais
A teak colonial mansion of 1859 at Mapou, restored room by room and set in orchards, gardens and a working rum distillery — the clearest picture of nineteenth-century plantation life on the island.
The Domaine de Labourdonnais dates back to 1774, but the house at its centre was built between 1856 and 1859 for the Wiehe family: a two-storey neoclassical villa constructed largely of teak, shingled and wrapped in a double colonnaded verandah, approached along an avenue of intendance trees planted more than a century ago. After decades of decline it was restored between 2006 and 2010 and opened as a museum, and the standard of that restoration is what lifts the visit — furniture, tableware, family papers and interiors returned to how they looked when the house was lived in, with a short film explaining the work.
The estate around it is still farmed. Orchards planted from the 1970s cover some 45 hectares and produce hundreds of tonnes of fruit a year — mango, lychee, guava, papaya, citrus, passion fruit — much of which ends up in the jams, fruit pastes and juices sold in the boutique. The distillery on site makes a full range of rums, including agricultural rum pressed from fresh cane juice, and a tasting of rums, juices and fruit pastes is included in the standard ticket. You can walk the gardens and orchards yourself or take the Labourdonnais Express, a small train that loops the grounds and the vanilla greenhouse in around 45 minutes. La Terrasse serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea beside the house, and there are giant tortoises in the grounds. A guided tour of the house costs a little more than the self-guided ticket and is worth it if the family history interests you.
Open daily, generally 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Last entry before closing — arrive with time to spare
Restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and tea
Comfortable shoes for the gardens and orchards, sun protection, and a card or cash for the boutique. Book La Terrasse ahead at weekends and in high season.
The grounds and ground floor are largely level and accessible; the upper floor of the house is reached by stairs. Guided tours cost slightly more than self-guided entry, and the Labourdonnais Express train is an easy alternative to walking the orchards. Prices and hours are revised periodically — confirm before you travel.
Ten minutes south at Beau Plan: the old sugar factory turned museum, with the original machinery still in place and a tasting of unrefined sugars.
The oldest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere, a short drive away — giant water lilies, palm avenues and three centuries of plant collecting.
Continue north to Cap Malheureux for the red-roofed chapel beside the lagoon, with Coin de Mire filling the view offshore.
Château de Labourdonnais,
Domaine de Labourdonnais, Mapou,
Rivière du Rempart District, Mauritius
Around 25–30 minutes from Port Louis
Approximately 20 minutes from Grand Baie
Around 1 hour from the airport
Signposted off the M2 at Mapou, in the north of the island, with a large car park at the estate entrance. Most northern day tours can include it.
A neoclassical planter’s house built between 1856 and 1859 for the Wiehe family, at the centre of the Domaine de Labourdonnais estate at Mapou. It was restored between 2006 and 2010 and opened to the public as a museum of nineteenth-century Mauritian life.
Entry to the house, the gardens and orchards, and a tasting of the estate’s rums, fruit juices and fruit pastes. A guided tour of the house costs a little more than self-guided entry. Rates are revised periodically — check before you go.
Yes. The estate distillery produces a range of rums, from white through gold and spiced, including agricultural rum made from the first pressing of fresh cane juice. Bottles and estate preserves are sold in the boutique.
Around 45 hectares of tropical fruit — mango, lychee, guava, papaya, citrus and passion fruit — producing hundreds of tonnes a year, much of it turned into the jams, pastes and juices you taste at the end of the visit. There is also a vanilla greenhouse.
Around two hours for the house and grounds, or half a day with lunch. La Terrasse serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea beside the château; book ahead at weekends. The Labourdonnais Express train tours the grounds in about 45 minutes if you would rather not walk.