Swimming with Sea Turtles in Mauritius: a €39.41 Boat Hour in the North, and What the Longer Trips Add
5 min read
Only one trip in Mauritius is built entirely around sea turtles: a short glass-bottom boat outing from Pereybere Beach in the north. Everything else that mentions turtles is a larger day, with a city tour, five islands or a dolphin swim, and the turtles are a bonus the page cannot promise.
For most people: the Sea Turtle Adventure from Pereybere at €39.41 — 4.2 stars from 314 reviews, an hour and a half. If you also want a city day: the turtle swim with Port Louis at €95, though it has only 15 reviews. If you want turtles inside a full boat day: the five-island speedboat at €84.92.
Four ways to see a turtle
| Trip | Price | Duration | Rating · reviews | Turtles are |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Turtle Adventure and Coral Reef Discovery | €39.41 | 1h 30m | 4.2 · 314 | the point of the trip |
| Turtle Swim and Port Louis City Tour | €95 | 6 hours | 4.3 · 15 | half of a combined day |
| 5 Islands Speedboat with Snorkelling, Sea Turtles and Lunch | €84.92 | 9 hours | 4.3 · 188 | one stop among several |
| Private Le Morne dolphin boat | €300 per group of up to 2 | 2 hours | 4.9 · 151 | a possible extra |
The Pereybere trip: short, cheap and honest about its limits
A guide takes you out on a glass-bottom boat from Pereybere Beach on the north coast to snorkel and swim alongside wild sea turtles. It lasts an hour and a half, there is a live guide in English or French, and the price is €39.48 per person.
The page says two things worth knowing. Do not touch the turtles. And the trip is suitable for all ages, but non-swimmers should stay on the boat, so a non-swimming child or adult sees the turtles through the glass floor and over the side rather than from the water.
It is not a high-scoring trip: 4.2 stars from 314 reviews. The page’s own review summary says travellers value close turtle encounters and guides who help find the animals, and that clearer communication about meeting points, delays and cancellations would help. Read your confirmation carefully and message the operator the evening before.
Turtle swim plus Port Louis: only for swimmers who want a city as well
At €85.50 for six hours, this is the same idea stretched into a day: a boat to a snorkelling spot in a calm lagoon, then the city, with the Central Market, the Caudan Waterfront and Fort Adelaide, and free time for shopping. The page lists non-swimmers as not suitable and says life jackets are available. Pickup is listed, but check the details when you choose a date.
Thirteen reviews at 4.2 stars is too few to call. You are paying €46.02 more than the Pereybere trip for a city tour attached; if you would visit Port Louis anyway, our Port Louis guide says what to do there and when, and a separate food tour fits better than a stopover.
The five-island speedboat: turtles are in the title, but they are one stop
The €108.92 speedboat trip from the east coast puts sea turtles in its title along with snorkelling, lunch and drinks. It runs nine hours and has 188 reviews at 4.3 stars. The turtle swim is one of several stops, so how long you spend with them depends on the day. What the five islands themselves are like is covered in the five-island comparison.
See availability and prices for the five-island speedboat with turtles
Turtles as a bonus on a dolphin boat
One Le Morne dolphin boat mentions turtles on its page, reviewers of a second one report them, and a hotel-pickup dolphin trip from the west coast says you might see turtles too. The page for the private Le Morne boat at €300 says that if conditions are favourable you may encounter green turtles after the dolphins. Reviewers of the other Le Morne boat report turtles as well. This is luck, not a product, and the price is for two people and a boat, so book it for the dolphins. See which dolphin trip to book.
A turtle snorkel you should skip
A one-hour snorkelling trip at Trou aux Biches mentions a chance of sea turtles “depending on weather conditions”. It costs €50 and has a rating of 3.0 stars from 8 reviews, which is the lowest of any trip on this page. Its page asks guests to message the operator on WhatsApp for the meeting point and warns about boat traffic and sea urchins. We would not book it over the Pereybere trip.
When this is the wrong trip
If you want a guaranteed encounter, none of these is it. These are wild animals in open water, and the pages say “chance” and “if conditions allow”. If you are a non-swimmer, the Pereybere boat is the only one that lets you see turtles without getting in. If your day is already a long boat trip, do not add a second one for turtles.
Which one to book
For most people: the €39.48 Pereybere trip. It is the only one built around turtles, it costs less than any other offer here, and it is over in ninety minutes, so a bad morning costs you little.
See availability and prices for the Sea Turtle Adventure
For a combined day: the €108.92 five-island speedboat, if you want the islands as well. Skip the €85.50 Port Louis combination unless a swimming morning plus a market afternoon is your plan anyway.
