Sunshine, sand & sparkling clear waters. This island paradise in the Indian Ocean is one of almost year-round sunshine. Warm, turquoise waters lapping against gorgeous white beaches provides the perfect setting for a flop and drop holiday. But those looking for action will find hiking, biking, golfing, fishing, diving and shopping as well. Gary Allen has the low down on the top places to stay.
The St Regis Mauritius Resort
The St Regis is set on Le Morne Beach on Mauritius’ southwest side and has 172 lavish rooms and suites, plus fine dining at Simply India by India’s first Michelin-starred chef, Atul Kochhar.
Accommodation
Designed in traditional colonial style, all rooms at The St Regis Mauritius have ocean views. For an ultra luxe experience book the St Regis Villa, which comprises four suites, an exclusive team of staff, three private heated plunge pools, an infinity pool and private gym with hammam.
Rates
Rooms are priced from €340 (about A$502) per night and suites from €1,500 (about A$2,213) per night.
The Oberoi Mauritius
In the northwest of the island, The Oberoi Mauritius is made up of luxury pavilions and villas set on 20 acres of lush tropical gardens with 600 metres of waterfront.
Accommodation
Pavilions are huge, starting at 70 square metres, and each features a four-poster bed, while every villa sits within a private garden. The three-bedroom Royal Villa has 650 square metres of tropical gardens, a private pool and an open-air dining pavilion.
Rates
Pavilions are priced from €800 (about A$1,180) per night and villas from €1,050 (about A$1,549) per night.
oberoihotels.com/oberoi_mauritius
Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita
The plush villas and residences of this resort are split between the mainland and its own private island, Ile aux Chats, just off the coast. But what really sets it apart are the residents; four giant aldabra tortoises that cohabit the grounds.
Accommodation
Dressed in soft, natural colours with wood and stone accents, every villa and residence has its own plunge pool. Book the Presidential Suite on Ile aux Chats for panoramic views, a private pool and spacious outdoor living areas.
Rates
Villas are priced from €570 (about A$840) per night and residences from €1,035 (about A$1,516) per night plus taxes.
Le Touessrok
Le Touessrok overlooks Trou d’Eau Douce Bay and lays claim to two islands, Ilot Mangénie, exclusively for hotel guests and Ile aux Cerfts, featuring a Bernhard Langer-designed 18-hole championship golf course.
Accommodation
Choose between the contemporary design of a spacious room or junior suite, the more classic colonial style of the royal suite, or an ultra luxe waterfront villa with private pool and gardens. All rooms have ocean views and all guests receive personalised 24-hour butler service.
Rates
Rooms are priced from €249 (about A$367) per night, suites from €289 (about A$426) per night and villas from €4,999 (about A$7,372) per night.
One&Only Le Saint Géran
Set on a private peninsula, the One&Only Le Saint Géran offers both relaxation at the One&Only Spa and action in the form of water sports in the resort’s sheltered lagoon or a round on a nine-hole Gary Player golf course.
Accommodation
The resort offers 166 suites and one villa, each with butler service and overlooking the Indian Ocean. The two-bedroom oceanfront Villa Residence has its own pool and includes a host team and private chef.
Rates
Suites are priced from €566 (about A$835) per night half board.
lesaintgeran.oneandonlyresorts.com
Maradiva
The only five-star resort on the west coast of Mauritius, Maradiva is set on Tamarin Bay and faces a 750-square metre beach. It has an award-winning spa and a huge range of fitness options – from beach boot camp to aqua aerobics – for an active holiday.
Accommodation
Each of the 65 spacious thatched villas at Maradiva has its own private pool and 24-hour butler service. The two presidential villas are huge (345 square metres) and have a large infinity pool and direct beach access.
Rates
Villas are priced from €560 (about A$826) per night and the presidential villas from €2,935 (about A$4,328) per night.
Spend a day on a private island
LUX* also offers a day trip to the island of Ile Des Deux Coco in the beautiful Blue Bay, just south of the main island of Mauritius. It’s a private island that is only accessible by boat and is a fantastic experience, with some of the best snorkelling in the region. A day includes a bountiful buffet of fresh salads and seafood, burgers and desserts. If you so desire, you can book the island for yourself and a special someone in the two-bedroom villa that was the governors special residence way back when.
Lux* Grand Gaube
Minutes away from the picturesque fishing village of Grand Gaube, Lux* Grand Gaube comprises 172 rooms, 25 suites and one villa. The Accommodations at Lux* Grand Gaube have been designed to reflect the energy and ambience of Mauritius with colourful décor and careful positioning in the midst of the island’s surrounds and overlook beaches, a lagoon and islets.
Restaurants
The resort’s main restaurant is The Kitchen, and in addition there are the choices of The Beach, offering relaxed Mediterranean cuisine, barbecues directly on the beach at Abalone, or Mauritian street food under the boughs of a banyan tree at Banyan – The Island Kitchen.
Highlights
The Lux* resorts offer a “lighter and brighter” approach to luxury, which is spontaneous and exciting while celebrating the nature, culture and flavours of Mauritius. Guests will always be surprised, from secret bars and pop up restaurants to al fresco film screenings.
Location
LUX* Grande Gaube is on the north coast of Mauritius. There are hardly any other resorts in this area, which brings welcome serenity but also limits options for dining outside of the hotel.
Rates
Rooms are priced from €152 (about A$224) per night, suites from €357 (about A$525) per night and the 288-square-metre Emperor Villa, offering a private beach, swimming pool, whirlpool and gardens, starts from €1,166 (about A$1,716) per night plus taxes.
Lux* Le Morne
There are close to 150 rooms at Lux* Le Morne, yet the resort retains the feel of a boutique retreat. All rooms have a terrace or balcony and the prestige junior suites come with an outdoor shower carved from rock. There are four swimming pools as well as 600 metres of beach fronting a calm lagoon. Standing in the water and looking back at the resort, the view is breathtaking with Le Morne Brabant mountain in the background. Some of the best snorkelling on the island is right out in front of the resort.
Restaurants
Guests can choose between six restaurants and bars including the signature Thai restaurant EAST. Watch chefs prepare meals in the show kitchen or swim up to the bar for a cocktail and a snack at Ilot and Oasis.
Highlights
The region is one of the world’s premier kitesurfing destinations, famous for the Manawa and One Eye breaks. The resort opeRates its own kitesurfing school which opeRates courses for beginners or rents gear out to the more experienced. The resort also has a “message in the bottle”. The bottle is hidden somewhere on the resort each night and, if found by a guest, the message can be a free massage or facial, dinner for two on the beach or a bottle of champagne at dinner. The guests love it, according to the staff.
Location
The resort sits on the Le Morne Peninsula at the southwestern tip of the island. Winds can be high in this area but Lux* is sheltered by the Le Morne Brabant mountain. It is really a great location; the southern part of the island is so much more “local” with small towns and villages close by. It was my favourite part of the island.
Rates
Rooms are priced from €221 (about A$323) per night and suites from €267 (about A$390) per night plus taxes.
Lux* Belle Mare
All rooms and suites at Lux* Belle Mare have ocean views, curving in a semicircle around a quiet beach. The 12 luxury villas at the resort have recently been redesigned by celebrity designer Kelly Hoppen and are the most luxurious option; with heated pools, gardens and butler service, they combine privacy with all the services of the resort.
Restaurants
The resort produces a lot of its own food, with a dry aging chamber for meats and an ice cream laboratory for making frozen treats. Kelly Hoppen has also designed the laid back Beach Rogue restaurant that serves Mediterranean-style food, or you can sample the cuisine of the Indian Ocean region at Senses. The Beach Rouge restaurant also has the island’s one and only Jasper Oven, which is a coal oven that makes fish and meat dishes a whole new experience in flavour.
Highlights
The resort has its own coffee roasting facility and prepares the Lux* Brand coffee beans for the other Lux* resorts. Each resort has a coffee bar and trained baristas. There is also an old fashioned red phone booth for FREE “Phone Home” calls anywhere in the world, anytime. The LUX* Me Spa is fantastic and we had facials that were really amazing.
Location
Close to the quiet village of Belle Mare, the resort is on the east coast of the island. This is the most famous area of the island, home to many five-star resorts and arguably the best beaches. Lux* Belle Mare sits on a strip of sand that, in 2013, was chosen as one of the best in the world by CNN.
Rates
Rooms are priced from €205 (about A$299) per night, suites from €229 (about A$334) per night and villas from €496 (about A$724) per night plus taxes.
Sofitel So Mauritius Bel Ombre
Sofitel So Mauritius Bel Ombre was the first property launched under Sofitel’s design-conscious So brand and certainly does not disappoint in its delivery of chic and contemporary luxury. A combination of clean-lined and gently curving architecture from Lek Bunnag and tropics-inspired designs and bold artworks by Kenzo Takada, the resort affords guests environmentally friendly Accommodation in one of 84 suites, each with its own private garden or one of eight beach suites or villas with private pools.
Restaurants
Dine on classic French cuisine pool-side at Flamboyant or tapas and fresh seafood by the beach at La Plage.
Highlights
Relax with a trip to So Spa’s hammam and open-air pools, and every guest has a personal 24-hour So Special butler at their beck and call.
Location
The hotel is in the south of the island, which is less developed than other areas and still somewhat undiscovered. There are just a couple of luxury resorts in this region and the Sofitel So faces its own quiet stretch of coast. The Rochester Waterfalls, around a 20-minute drive from the resort, are a great side trip. The pristine falls have a large swimming area and we were the only people there for most of our visit.
Rates
Suites start from A$465 per night and villas from A$758.50 per night. The best room in the house is one of two 200 square metre Beaulieu Villas, starting from A$2,294 per night.
Shanti Maurice
The Shanti Maurice is set on 36 acres between sugar cane fields and a pristine coral sand cove. You won’t find anything less than suite Accommodation at this boutique property; there are 44 of them in total and each features modern interiors set in villa-style buildings. Ground floor suites have beach access and first level suites have balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean. Step it up a notch in a villa, where you’ll have a private pool, outdoor shower, courtyard and sala dining pavilion.
Restaurants
Dine on fresh Cape food from the South African influenced menu at Stars, or Indian and Creole cuisine at the all-day dining restaurant Pebbles. Fish Shack offers a rustic beach-side barbecue of fresh seafood and meat, and the Rhum Shack features cocktails using rum from a local distillery.
Highlights
The property’s 75,000 square-metre award-winning Nira Spa combines age-old Ayurvedic treatments, yoga and meditation with more contemporary offerings including aromatherapy and Watsu aquatic therapy.
Location
Shanti Maurice is set on the southern coast of Mauritius on a secluded bay, away from any other resorts. While there may not be many tourist activities or shopping close by, this is a wonderful place to see how the locals really live. We rented a car and had a great time driving through small villages and pulling over for delicious fresh roti being cooked at roadside stalls. At about 30 cents each, we would feed the family for a few dollars, and meet the friendliest people while waiting for our meal.
Rates
Junior suites start from €700 (about A$1,031) per night, villas start from €1,050 (about A$1,547) per night. The 800 square metre two-bedroom Shanti Villa starts from €6,000 (about A$8,841) per night.
Shanti Maurice
Farm to table Mauritius
Shanti Maurice is one of only a few resorts in Mauritius to have its own herb and vegetable garden. Over 30 varieties are planted in the garden with lemon verbena, parsley, rosemary, basil, mint, coriander, beetroot, eggplant, broccoli and onion grown. Guests can dine on the fresh produce as part of a five-course seasonal menu designed by executive chef Willibald Reinbacger, at a barbecue dinner held in the garden. Meals are served at rustic wooden tables (surrounded by flaming torches in the evening) by a personal butler and are matched with a wine flight. Dishes like yellowfin tuna with garden herbs, lobster and lime achar (grilled and shaved corn) and wagyu with foie gras sourced from a neighbouring village are on the menu. Dinners are priced from MUR30,000 (about A$1,064) for up to six people.
InterContinental Mauritius Resort
The InterContinental Mauritius fronts 600 metres of beach and overlooks the Bay of Balaclava in Mauritius’ northwest. All of the property’s 210 rooms are ocean-facing and this includes 10 Duplex Presidential Suites, each with its own private hot tub and two balconies. One of the InterContinental Hotel Groups’ Green Engage hotels, the property’s day-to-day energy, water and waste usage is closely monitored to improve its energy conservation and carbon footprint score for optimal sustainability.
Restaurants
Guests are spoilt for choice with five restaurants. Noble House serves up Asian Fusion, Segala offers Mauritian cuisine and fresh seafood, Senso’s menu includes regional cuisine as well as European, Indian and Asian dishes, Veda is a contemporary Indian restaurant and Palms by the main pool offers lighter options for lunch.
Highlights
The beach in front of the hotel is rocky and can be quite rough, however there is a man made lagoon that is calm and clear all day long. This is also great for families and kids swimming in the ocean and part of a very family friendly resort over all with two-bedroom family rooms, a kids’ club, children’s pool, playground and babysitting.
Location
The InterContinental Mauritius is on the northwest of Mauritius, about 20 minutes drive north of the capital Port Louis. This is a popular resort area with a number of luxury properties spread along the coast. The best beaches were a 15-minute drive from the hotel, and the nicest was Mont Choisy Beach. The town of Grand-Baie is also very close by and great for lunch and shopping.
Rates
Rooms start from €140 (about A$206) per night and Presidential Suites start from €400 (about A$589) per night.
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