Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar. The island was ruled by the Dutch, the French and later by the British and became independent in 1968. The population of 1.3 million people consists mainly of people of Indian or African descent.
We’ve been to Mauritius in July 2010 for 2 days and stayed in the 4* La Plantation Resort and Spa in Balaclava (north-west of the island). The hotel is nicely located at a beautiful beach in a calm bay where we could do water sports, relax and enjoy a beautiful sunset. We went for a walk at the beach, mild 25 degrees, sunny and a soft rain shower. The Maritime Hotel is located next to the La Plantation Resort and a small path leads to ruins of a castle with a waterwheel and a small waterfall behind, worth a visit, its just 10 minutes walk. Next morning we took a Pedallo to paddle around in the bay and enjoy the view of the palm trees at shore (30 mins rent are included in room fare).
The beautiful lobby of the La Plantation Resort and the tropical welcome drinks with cold towels were a great start. The room was little far away, but modern and spacious with a big balcony. Unfortunately the service here does not deserve a 4 star rating. The pillow cover was dirty, the trays were not cleared when placing outside after in-room dining and the waiters in the restaurant were not attentive. The food was all-inclusive and not bad, but not really good either (tasted like made in a big canteen). We had to call house-keeping three times until they finally brought the iron to get Nayan’s uniform prepared for the return flight. Anyway considering that I only had to pay 47 EUR for a one-night all inclusive stay, it was still good value for money.
So nothing could spoil my mood as I just enjoyed fleeing from Dubai’s summer heat and to spend some leisure time with my husband. It was a 1.5 hours drive from and to the airport, so I could see a bit of the island, the vegetation and sugar cane plantations as well as a mix of colonial and modern architecture. It’s a beautiful island and worth a visit. As it takes 6 hours flying time from Dubai and about 11:30 hours direct flight from Germany, one should schedule more than 2 days to explore this tropical island and it’s vivid history.