Chateau Labourdonnais is a step back in time to admire an impressive mid-1800s French colonial building and former main house for surrounding sugar cane fields. The sugar cane fields remain on and around the grounds today. Tall grassy reeds swaying and rustling around this beautifully manicured ground.
I am from the West Indies so we are spoiled with these old plantation homes where European came to set up grand mansions from which they managed their expansive estates. The estates varied between cocoa, tea, sugar or other commodities but the manor house remained as a statement of grandeur. I am reminded when I travel abroad that other countries really invest in restoring and managing these historical monuments in a way that we have forgotten in Trinidad (except for the Magnificent Seven).
The Domaine Labourdonnais existed since the 1770s but the Chateau followed. Some careful restoration resulted in a striking building.
Things to do at Chateau Labourdonnais
There is a lot to do here beyond just admiring a time capsule of architecture.
Labourdonnais Express (Estate Train Ride): this is worth doing but you need to be organized. A train ride available around 2pm which tours you around the Chateau, the immediate gardens, the expanding fruit orchards, sugar cane fields and restaurant. The tour includes a fruit tasting from the orchard of Mauritian grapefruit varietals etc. This is very popular with children including colourful booklet with the local orchard fruit (in English & French). A guide helps to explain the history and ongoing activities within the estate. There are clearly plans to expand and diversify into wider nursery and orchard activities.
Plant Nursery: you can buy local plants, seeds and other gardening equipment here. There is a large garden shop here where locals were coming to buy plants etc.
La Table du Chateau: this is the main restaurant on site. The food is Mauritian creole for the most part (and very good too). It is an open air restaurant with uninterrupted views of the main house and surrounding gardens. Wine and cocktails are also available. You may want to eat here AFTER the train ride for a late lunch; we heard it was PACKED before coming to the train ride leading to some delays.
Rum degustation: The Chateau has a distillery on site allowing them to make their own rum. There is a bar adjacent to La Table where rum tasting is available. You can either buy the rum tasting at the bar or it can be bought together with some ticket packages (you pay more for this). There are a few types of white and dark rum available at the Chateau. We bought two bottles of the dark rum home with us.
Giant tortoises: there are four large Seychellois tortoises on site within a generous field area. I do not think you can pet them or approach them directly. The tortoises are just after the nursery behind a wall and trees. This is included as part of the train tour.
The Main House: impressed this is left for last but it is a museum retaining the original furniture and decor of the house from when it was actively managing the Domaine.
Prices start from a modest EUR11. If you get the train tour, you also get the rum tasting and nursey tours included and the house visit. It is actually good value as you could easily spend 2-3 hours here. I recommend coming for the 2pm train starting with a house tour first and the continuing with the train tour. You will usually be done around 3pm with the Labourdonnais Express but this depends on the speed of your group. There was a family insistent on buying everything in the nursery so we just left the group to check out the tortoises and grab lunch at La Table.
It is a good activity for kids or anyone interested in the history of Mauritius. It is very close to...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
