Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to spring up each year. There are, however, two distinct categories of hotels in Mauritius -
the luxury over-the-top resorts that stretch along the sea, and the old-school midrangers
that need some serious TLC. It's best to avoid the latter as many of the posh properties of-
fer vacation incentives that rival the has-beens, and the guesthouses (which are often
cheaper) are generally in better shape. Upscale properties come in various tiers of luxury -
there are three-, four- and five-star resorts. You'll do perfectly well with a three-star
charmer, and while the five-star price tags may be out of reach for many travellers, it is
well worth checking with travel agents about hotel-and-flight vacation packages. In fact,
no upmarket sleeps should be booked with the public rates - agency rates are always
cheaper. If you have your sights set on a luxury vacation, expect to pay €100 per person
per night (including half board) at the very minimum. Prices quickly climb all the way up
to €1000.
ACTIVITIES
There's much more to Mauritius than sun worship - listed throughout this chapter you'll
find plenty of ways to get the blood pumping after one too many days of baking on the
beach. For details on diving opportunities
Click here
. And one thing to remember about
those beaches: all beaches below the high-tide line are public property, so you are entitled
to plop your towel down on the sand, whatever some over-officious security guard from
an upmarket resort might tell you.
CHILDREN
Travelling with children in Mauritius presents no particular problems. In fact, kids gener-
ally have a ball.
To put their holiday in context, there's a wonderful series of cartoon books by Henry
Koobes (published locally by Editions Vizavi Ltd). The English-language titles include
In
Dodoland, SOS Shark
and
Meli-Melo in the Molasses
.
For more information, see Lonely Planet's
Travel with Children
.
Accommodation
Most of the high-end hotels have dedicated facilities (like 'kids clubs') for children and
those that don't often have a small children's playground somewhere in the grounds. Most
top-end hotels also include babysitting services. The proliferation of villa leases has made
it easy to bring the entire family on vacation, while many hotels and even some
chambres
d'hôtes
offer family rooms.
