Planning a trip to Mauritius

View of Belle Mare Beach on the East Coast of Mauritius
Picture Courtesy Google Images

My fondest holiday memories as a child have been in tropical places such as Thailand and Indonesia. White sand beaches, palm trees and turquoise water are an idyllic choice for a honeymoon. Our first step towards planning our holiday began with choosing a location.

While many options come to mind when you think of a tropical island getaway the reason why we chose Mauritius boiled down to some key factors. We had set a budget for our honeymoon and we wanted to choose a location that fulfilled those requirements while adhering to our budget. Setting a budget early is a great way to start planning your holiday. It avoids disappointment and most importantly saves you the hassle of planning a whole trip only to realize you can’t afford it.

We wanted a complete 5* luxury experience without breaking the bank and for the budget we had set Mauritius fit perfectly. However, for those of you looking for cheaper accommodation there are plenty of options that are extremely nice as well. Our next criteria were flight prices and flight times. From London most of our potential honeymoon destinations had long flight times. Mauritius for us took 14 hours of flight time with a stop over in Dubai for 3 hours. There are direct flights as well but at the time of booking, this flight worked out to be cheaper while only saving a couple of hours on flight time.

We ideally wanted to travel first week of May so it was important for us to check the weather. Mauritius is a tropical country, and weather throughout the year is generally warm.  November to April are classified as their rainy and humid period with temperatures ranging from a high of 31^oC to a low of 24^oC whereas, their cool and dry weather begins in May and ends in October with temperatures ranging from a high of 29^oC to a low of 19^oC.

Next on our agenda was picking the right hotel in a location that fit our preferences. As a honeymoon couple we wanted to live somewhere that afforded us exclusivity, luxury and away from hustle bustle. The East Coast in that regard offered us that. The East Coast boasts having some of the most luxurious hotels and is home to one of the most beautiful beaches named Belle Mare. We chose to stay at a resort called LUX* Belle Mare. I will do a more detailed review on our hotel in the next post.

LUX* Belle Mare
Picture courtesy Google Images

The East however, while granting us privacy and seclusion is less developed compared to the North i.e. outside of the resort there aren’t many options to dine out or go partying if that is something you wish to do. Other beaches in the East include Ile Aux Cerfs Beach. This is an island just off the East Coast and is easily accessible by boats.

The North in contrast offers a lot more activities and has a larger selection of restaurants and nightclubs. Although many reviews you find online say that the North offers other activities such as wind surfing, sailing, parasailing and gliding I found that to be untrue. While you can do those activities in the North most resorts including LUX* Belle Mare in the East also offer these activities with some of them being complimentary.  Some of the best beaches in the North include Trou aux Biches and the Grand Baie public beach where you can find a great selection of street food, beach restaurants and many more.

The South is the most unexplored region in Mauritius with cliffs and rocks and beaches that are not recommended for swimming.

The West has beautiful sunsets and is famous worldwide for having beaches such as Le Morne and The Tamarin that are ideal for surfing.

Since we were spending 9 nights in Mauritius we wanted to make sure we utilized our time wisely. My husband and I decided that we both were looking forward to some water sports as well as spending a good time relaxing at the beach and our spa spending lots of good quality time with each other. We researched activities that were on offer in Mauritius and narrowed down the list to what we were most keen on doing. While dolphin watching alongside swimming with them was something that appealed to us, waking up at 5 am did not. We narrowed our list down to taking a day trip to Ile Aux Cerfs Beach, Under Water Sea Walking which was a completely unique experience, Sea Karting – we originally wanted to jet ski but we found out that jet skiing in Mauritius is illegal as they deem it unsafe and also to protect their coral from dying.

Sea Karting
Picture Courtesy Google Images

My Husband and I enjoying the high speeds of Sea Karting

We also went snorkelling multiple times as well as glass bottom boating, water skiing and kayaking. These activities alongside tubing, windsurfing etc. are offered by many resorts complimentary.

In order to avoid disappointment I would recommend booking activities such as sea karting and under sea walk in advance since they do tend to book fast. Link for the Under Sea Walk that we did located in Grand Baie is here and the link for Sea Karting is here.

Although Mauritius is a tiny island moving around can be slightly tricky. Moving from the East to the North or East to the West approximately took an average drive time of 45 minutes. While most hotel concierge help plan trips for you, the main mode of transport for tourists is taxis. For all our excursions such as the Under Sea Walk and Sea Karting, which were located in the north and west respectively, we had to arrange our own transport to the locations. Taxis in this regard worked out to be just as expensive as the activity itself. We were better off hiring a car. We had arranged to rent a car from the airport from a car rental called Maki Car Rental. Link found here.  When we arrived we had someone from the car rental company waiting for us who handed us our keys and a GPS system that we then used to navigate our way to the hotel. Renting a car in my opinion was great because it afforded us the flexibility of movement and we used it for our excursions, making trips to the North for some amazing culinary experiences and over all exploring the Island at our leisure. The GPS System however, was a little out dated and we had some adventures where it gave us some faulty directions but having said that by and large it worked adequately to get us from Point A to Point B.

Mauritius was a complete Heaven on Earth experience, from beautiful tea plantations, sugar cane fields and picturesque beaches it did not fail to impress. The main cultural influence in Mauritius is that of French, Indian and Chinese. You can find that cultural influence in their food as well. The people in Mauritius were extremely hospitable and friendly. While French was widely spoken, English is just as well understood.

Before you visit make sure your travel documents are valid and check for any visa requirements. British, American and Canadian passport holders do not require a visa and are issued a visa on arrival. You can find whether you need a visa or not here. Tips for travelling in general and in Mauritius are that always be cautious, don’t walk alone in dark isolated places and be wary of pick pocketing and avoid drinking water directly from the tap. Although we didn’t face any security issues in Mauritius it is always better to exercise some caution. Also consider getting travel insurance.