Where to stay in Chamarel, from Lakaz Chamarel to farm lodges

Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge on Piton Canot

Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge is a family-run boutique lodge of 20 rooms on Piton Canot, in the wooded hills about 0.6 km west of Chamarel church in a straight line.

The lodge publishes six categories, from the Kaz Standard of about 50 m² with a shared pool to Private Villas of about 135 m² with their own pool, and every category has an open-air shower (as published on 29 October 2026).

The Makak Restaurant and Bar opens seven days a week, and The View Bar opens daily from 16:30 to 19:30, and the official View Bar page welcomes non-guests by reservation (as published in October 2026). Lakaz Chamarel collects the €3 tourist fee at check-in, offers resident rates on request and takes calls on +230 483 4240.

Lakaz Chamarel is family-run and does not publish its owners’ names. No reliable published record names the family or the company, so the names that circulate in guest reviews are not repeated here.

La Vieille Cheminée, nine eco-lodges on a working farm

La Vieille Cheminée is a small working farm with nine private eco-lodges on the main road in Chamarel, about 1.8 km south-east of the church in a straight line, where each lodge has its own garden, parking space, fireplace and barbecue (as published on 29 October 2026).

With direct bookings, breakfast is prepared on the farm and brought to the lodge when ordered 24 hours ahead, and farm-sourced meals can be pre-ordered daily with the same notice. The farm keeps horses for guided rides through the forest, with hand-led rides for children, and several trails of 2 km to 6 km are marked with arrows. A plunge pool and kiosk stand at the highest point of the property.

The name means the old chimney. The estate keeps the chimney of Chamarel’s old sugar mill, the last trace of a factory that closed in 1897. Call La Vieille Cheminée on +230 483 4249 or +230 5251 3551. The farm’s own count is nine lodges; the figures of six or eight that circulate elsewhere are out of date.

Chalets in Chamarel and on the plateau road

Chamarel’s chalets are a handful of small properties with little official information, so check each one directly before you plan around it.

Les Chalets en Champagne, at 110 route Plaine Champagne above Chamarel on the edge of the Black River Gorges National Park, is a set of mountain chalets in a quiet garden under the Piton de la Rivière Noire. Its website is dead (checked on 29 October 2026), and its phone number, +230 483 6610, is the one given for the Varangue sur Morne restaurant on the same road.

Chalets Chamarel has an official Sea Resorts website and stands on the Piton La Porte ridge. It is a separate property from Les Chalets en Champagne. Use its current booking information for room categories, rates and house rules.

What a night on the hill is like

A night in Chamarel is cooler and quieter than a night on the coast, with mist in the early morning, few places to eat after dark and winding roads down to the lagoon.

No weather station publishes figures for Chamarel itself, which sits at about 260 to 300 m above sea level. On the coast at Médine, nights average about 17 °C in July and August (Mauritius Meteorological Services, 1971 to 2000 normals), and the hill is cooler than that. The air is cool and misty on the climb, the plateau above calls for an extra layer, and fog sits over the waterfall area at night and in the early morning.

Dinner needs planning, because Le Chamarel Restaurant publishes breakfast, lunch and an afternoon pastry service, L’Alchimiste at the Rhumerie de Chamarel serves dinner by reservation, Lakaz Chamarel has its own restaurant and La Vieille Cheminée cooks for guests who order 24 hours ahead. No fuel station, ATM or pharmacy is mapped in the village; the nearest ATMs are on the coast road at Case Noyale and La Gaulette, and the nearest fuel is at Black River and Tamarin.

The roads off the hill are mountain roads. The B104 climbs about 4 km and 300 m from Case Noyale through hairpins that are slippery on the corners when wet, so allow extra time after dark. Mobile signal works in the village and at the geopark but is unreliable on forest trails. In an emergency call 999 or 112 for the police, 114 for the SAMU ambulance and 115 for the fire service.

The tourist fee since October 2025

Since 1 October 2025 every visitor aged 12 or over pays a tourist fee of €3 per night in hotels, guesthouses, tourist residences and domaines on the island of Mauritius, collected by the accommodation (Mauritius Revenue Authority notice of 6 October 2025).

The fee is not charged to children under 12, guests who stay free of charge, residents of Mauritius, Mauritians living abroad with a Mauritian passport, or holders of a valid Premium Visa or residence permit, and no cap on the number of nights is published. Lakaz Chamarel collects the fee at check-in, so a couple staying three nights pays €18 on top of the room.

When a coastal base makes more sense

A coastal base at Le Morne, La Gaulette or Tamarin makes more sense than Chamarel if you want the lagoon every day, a choice of restaurants in the evening or a stay without a car, because the hill has few dinners, no mapped fuel station and an infrequent bus.

Stay on the hill for the early start. The Chamarel 7 Coloured Earth Geopark opens at 08:30, the Black River Peak trailhead on the plateau road has room for only two or three cars, and Ebony Forest’s Sublime Sundowner watches the sunset from Sublime Point, which leaves only a short drive home in the dark.

Choose the coast if you have no car. Bus route 5A runs between Baie du Cap and the Sainte-Anne church with no published timetable, rural buses in Mauritius run roughly from 06:30 to 18:30, and taxis have no fixed tariff, so agree the fare before you set off.