Mauritius holiday advice

[hopefullyoneday22]

Good morning 🙂

Trying to book a somewhat last minute holiday for November, 14 nights departing UK on 20th November (overnight flight) returning December 5th.

We are 2 adults who have had a pretty stressful few years (like most) and really need to relax and unwind.

So far we have 2 options - the first being slightly out of price range (argh!)…

1️⃣The Residence Hotel, Belle Mare
2️⃣Preskil Island Resort

I think our preference is the first as we’ve been seeing some negative reviews for the second based on food? Although it’s all inclusive at Preskil, I can’t see anything re snacks/day time food outside of breakfast, lunch and dinner - is this correct, are there snack options in the day?

Also seeing lots of mixed reviews re where the best part of the island to stay is - are the beaches nicer at Belle Mare/first hotel than in the south east/second hotel? (Sorry for my ignorance 🤦🏼‍♀️)

Any other tips re trips and places to visit etc? Would you hire a car or book organised trips?

Thanks so much in advance - appreciate any advice ✨

x

We went to Mauritius in September and very much enjoyed it. As usual I arranged it myself so cannot advise on using an agent or operator. It all worked well so I would do this again. We tend to travelling holidays as we get a bit bored in one place so we moved around.

We flew in arrivng around 4pm and collected our pre booked hire care. We have driven in various places around the world so are pretty confident. I drive and DH navigates as he is much better at this than me, having said that we got a little lost driving from the airport to our first hotel The Residence in Belle Mare but a friendly local helped us out and sent us back to the right road. The light did go while we drove and we were a a bit wary of driving after dark as pedestrians and loose dogs do wander in the road.

In general driving was easy all over the island but Port Louis was busy so get yourself a good map or sat nav if you would be more confident. We managed with a mediocre map and Google Maps.

We stayed 4 nights at The Residence in Belle Mare (for resting and doing little) where the food was the best of our locations with a choice of a well executed but small dinner menu - we did not have a duff dish for dinner. Breakfast was along the beach and great location. The pool was closed while we were there for maintenance - check it's reopened if this is important to you.

Then 5 nights at The Intercontinental in Balaclava (for Port Louis, botanical gardens, Le Pouce hike) on the west coast, we found the experience in the buffet a bit of a zoo but in the other 3 restaurants it was a much nicer experience with good service and quality of food. If this is important look into the option of eating in the other restaurants and book early as they get filled.

Then 5 nights in Sugar Beach (for boat trips) this was the most attractive setting of the 3 but the food was better than the Intercontinental. We did dolphin snorkelling and a separate successful whale watching trip from here. Dolphins are just nearby and the whales were off Le Morne, great trips.

I chose these locations as I wanted to avoid the south and east coasts to avoid the wind and found the best hotels deals i could once I narrowed down my areas I wanted.

We were on half board which suits as otherwise we eat far too much and we dont like to do that. We tend to pick up local snack and alcohol from shops as we are out and about and that keeps us happy until dinner after we have worked our way through our excess breakfast calories, so I cannot advise extra snacks etc anywhere.

Beaches were nice in all 3 locations, breakfast good in all 3 places, diving wasnt great in first 2 places so we didnt bother in the 3rd but did the whalewatching instead. The Residence was the windiest but we still lay on the beach, there is a sheltered spot but the loungers are a bit closer than we like so we avoided them.

Hope thats helpful, but feel free to ask more.

Went to Mauritius for our honeymoon 13 years ago. Is a lovely island. Splashed out on hotel, but was lovely. Husband learnt to dive at the hotel and then did a couple organised dives. I tried, but didn't like it. We did a few organised days trips from hotel, and ones I enjoyed most visited Sagar Shiv Mandir Hindu Temple and Mauritius National Botanical Garden as part of the tour. Would love to go back one day.