Mauritius with my 2 year old ...

[taab]

Hiya. I'm starting to plan our holiday with hubby for next April. My son will be 2 when we travel. Has anyone been to Mauritius with kids? Is it child friendly? The long journey is worrying me .. its about 11 hours. Any tips for the plane?

And what about hotels. Which ones are geared up for kids .. any good suggestions?

Thanks very much

!!!

No hints except lots of comics, books, crayons, and food!!!!

Skate .. have you been to Mauritius ?

Hi, I've been to mauritius with a 3.5 and a 18mth old (three years ago). It is a beautiful island, fabulous beaches, really nice people, good food, good babysitting freely available... recommend it wholeheartedly. We went in Mar/Apr too. Stayed at the Residence which was completely fab, very luxurious but not OTT. Lovely children's club, nice communal childrens suppers at 6.00 if you wanted it, it was all very easy and relaxing. Everyone loved it. The plane journey IS very long so you have to pray that they sleep on the way back, but it isn't too bad. Obviously if you could go club it would be fine...!
Go, you won't regret it.

my dad's side of the family live in mauritius. Its very beautiful there, clear and clean beaches and sea. On plane journey, just take lots of favourite things of theirs and allow them to walk around the plane every so often, dont want him getting too restless!

Thanks. I've heard a lot about the Residence and of Le Saint Geran. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay? And interestingly, we also plan to go in April. What was the weather like?

Sorry about the million and one questions .... how did you cope with the long journey (we've done plane journeys as long as 6 hours, but not 12 !!)

And what was the kids club like at the Residence?

Cheers

Have also been to Mauritius with a 2 and 4 year old. They both loved it, as did we. We stayed at the Maritim at turtle bay, which was very nice. We are planning on going back this year and will probably stay at the Residence this time - bit more luxurious! ALso Powder Bryne who run the childs club there have a very good reputation!

I thought the island was exeptionally child friendly - nothing was too much trouble for them.

One tip would be to hire a car and driver for the odd day rather than hiring a car. We paid about £20 a day and the driver. The car we got had integral child seats, but if younger child you might want to take a child seat with you.

Taab - IIRC we paid about £7-8k for a fortnight.

We went in October so no idea what the weather is like in April!

We went earlier this year (end of Jan). My DD was 3.5. We stayed at The Victoria - great kids club to the extent that when DD was playing up her punishment would be that she wouldn't be allowed to go to kid's club!

Would love to go again but DD at school from January annd can't afford to go in school holidays - go - you will love it!

We took dd when she was 9 mths and i ditto what everyone else says.

Our travel agent arranged a carseat for us with the taxi to and from airport.

Although my dd was too young to use the creche, we did have a play there to get some shade and use their equipment and toys (mummy supervising) and it was really nice. Hotel staff were 100 % friendly, helpful and adored children.

My dd was a lot younger, possibly easier to contain on the flight? She slept a lot of the way, but i bought a load of mini toys and kept the hidden until we were on the flight so they were new and exciting. Toys, such as pack of cards free on the plane!, tiny books, little wind up musical toy etc anything i thought small enough and light enough! oh and of course lots of snacks.

Have a lovely time!

we stayed at "le touessrok" in mauritius, it was fantastic, before ds was born though!! remember there being a kids club though. not as expensive as its sister hotel, le st geran, and not quite so formal.

I've just come back - well about three weeks ago. Went with a two-year old and a four year old - although both nearly three and five. You would have to have a nanny at The Residence - where we stayed - she will take your child to th e kids club. Lovely hotel, brilliant staff and had a great time. They are massively accomadatiing re childrens' fod - we just ignored the childrens' menu/adapted it. LOVELY place, beach amazing. Singers in the bar were bloody awful. But the handsome waiters more htan made up for it. Lots to do for you as well. Big rooms - we got a great deal through Joie de Vivre, an agency in Kent. I phoned five and it's worth calling around - massive discrepancies in prices. Flight fine - overnight etc, but my dds are a bit used to it. Long haul flights, I mean.

Thanks everyone for your advice .. I've started to look around and get some prices. You're right Sykes, prices really vary! And as for the handsome waiters, that's just sold it to me !!
Cheers all!

taab: sorry, missed this before - I was away, in Mauritius!
I have family there so have been all over the island and strolled along many of the hotel beaches. This time we escaped the family hospitality for a few days and went to Coco Beach (because we saw a cheap deal in the local paper).
this gives a list of all hotels and details
St Geran has to be the best ever - but is v v posh. And expensive. Coco Beach is on the same peninsula with very very lovely uncrowded beaches, we liked the huge selection of well-cooked food, though the buffet format got a bit wearing (but chefs do freshly cook meat and fish to order behind the buffet), has a great (free) kids club, covering 9.30-5.30 and then again for a 6.30 supper club. Free watersports etc. We went in a bungalow in the lawns rather than a room in the hotel building, which I would recommend.
La Pirogue, Sugar Beach and the hotels on the SW coast also look very very nice, I don't honestly think you can go wrong with any Maritian Resort Hotel - it's just a question of price and taste. Amongst the cheaper ones, avoid any which has a road between hotel and beach - the hotel needs to be right on the beach.
It will be v v hot in April, but hotels will have air condidioning, and there is always plenty of shade on the beach. And beyond mossies, there are no 'nasties' in Mauritius to worry about. Outside hotels, Mauritius is a v cheap country, but drinks, meals not-included etc are v expensive in hotels. (skinflint here turned up with a case of beer to put in the fridge in the room rather than pay mini-bar prices). At any hotel in the Grand Baie area, round La Pirogue/Sugar Beach or I think where Le Tousserek is, you will be within walking distance of 'real life', otherwise you will need to get a taxi or bus to get genuine Mauritian atmosphere (and prices).

Sorry to hijack this thread - Fran1, how did you feed your 9 month old? Dh wants to go to Mauritius in Feb with 9 month old and 2 year old. For me the 9 month old is the issue because he will need approrpriate food (and he hates savoury jars). How did you approach this

hmc - ime there will be a huge selection of high quality well cooked food in any hotel - couldn't you just mash the most suitable choice v finely? I took DS to mauritius when he was 8 months and he managed with mashed 'real' food - but were in MIL's kitchen!

Sorry I haven't had time to read all the other replies but we stayed at the residence which was great (better than the oberoi surprisingly) + the women looking after the children seemed to be absolutely wonderful with them.

Hi Blu, when I read the title of this thread I wondered if you would post.

Did you have a good time?

FIL sat on DS in zombified hangover, whole family caught up in his (FIL's)constipation crisis, discovered that FIL has fantasies about me while watching videos of womens wrestling....but as for the 'holiday' part of the trip, it was really, really invigorating and relaxing. Sorry for hijack, Taab, but this is, I hope, helpful holiday info - we went wallking in the volcanic mountains of the central plateau, I saw a wild boar and got chased by wild monkeys, DS got thoroughly caught up in the fantastic Hindu temples, loved floating around in the gorgeous warm calm sea, etc etc. And 'specially for JanH - when DS was enjoying his half hour pony ride along the beach, it transpired that DP thought that ponies are simply horses that haven't grown up to full adult height yet....

Ponies are just small horses, aren't they?

Confused now.

Taab, sounds like you will have a great time as long as you stay away from blu's FIL

yes - but DP thought that each pony then grew bigger into a horse.

FIL has his own symbol in the rubric of any reputable tourist map, so you will be able to avoid him.

Hi Blu!
Oh, I hate these threads - make me so green with envy - like this! Attractive, non?