Luxury in Mauritius, house by house

In Mauritius, the five-star hotels do not form a uniform group. The classification itself distinguishes several sub-categories, and among the hotels rated five stars there are properties in the Standard sub-category as well as others in the Luxury sub-category. On the ground, the difference shows less in the marble of the bathrooms than in a handful of services: a butler for every room or only for a few, a shared beach or an entire peninsula, one more restaurant or one more island.

The seven houses that follow are all rated five stars. Each has its own way of receiving guests, and that is what needs knowing before choosing: some rely on space, others on service, others still on a setting found nowhere else on the island.

One&Only Le Saint Géran occupies a private peninsula at Poste de Flacq, on the east coast, between the Indian Ocean and a lagoon. Rated five stars in the Luxury sub-category, it has its own heliport, from which flights over the island leave without any transfer beforehand. Rooms and suites range from sixty to one hundred and fifty square metres, all with a terrace or balcony, and villas complete the whole.

The signature restaurant, TAPASAKE, is built over the lagoon, serving Japanese cooking with Mediterranean influences. The spa is a Guerlain spa, and a dedicated team arranges private dinners, under a beach tent, on the jetty or in the room.

At Grand Baie, the Royal Palm has only sixty-nine suites, all facing the Indian Ocean, plus the Villa Royale with its private pool. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, rated five stars in the Luxury sub-category, it feels more like a great house than a great resort: a single lift, a cigar lounge, an in-house florist, a cellar of three hundred and seventy wines where blind tastings and wine classes are held.

The spa works with the Swiss house Valmont and brings together eleven treatment rooms, two hair salons by Leonor Greyl and a yoga room. The three pools are heated in the southern winter, and a heliport allows guests to arrive by air.

Across thirty-four hectares at Trou d’Eau Douce, the Shangri-La lines up six secluded white-sand beaches along four kilometres of shore. It adds an island to them: Mangénie islet, served daily by boat from 9:00 to 17:00, with its own restaurant and beach bar. The one hundred and eighty-five rooms, suites and villas run from the Coral room of fifty-six square metres to the three-bedroom Shangri-La villa on the beach.

It is in the villas that service changes scale: a butler and a private chef from 7:00 to 23:00, a buggy with a driver from door to door, and free laundry. The suites, for their part, come with in-room check-in and à la carte breakfast at Coco’s, the beach house.

Constance Prince Maurice holds sixty hectares of private land at Poste de Flacq, sheltered from the prevailing winds, for just eighty-nine rooms: sixty-four Junior suites, twelve Family suites, twelve villas and one Princely villa. Rated five stars in the Luxury sub-category, it keeps a natural fish reserve in the western part of the estate, above which five Junior suites and three villas stand on stilts.

The Princely villa, of three hundred and fifty square metres, stands directly on the beach in a secluded part of the estate, with three terraces each facing a different stretch of ocean and lagoon, and two heated private pools. Nine of the villas have direct access to the beach and a heated private pool.

At Bel Ombre, at the heart of a 2,500-hectare estate, Le Telfair borrows the architecture of French plantation houses and offers only suites, one hundred and fifty-eight in all. An affiliate member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, it assigns a butler to every one of them, without exception, and runs a Clés d’Or concierge.

The other luxury is scale: guests have access to thirteen restaurants across the estate, to the Château de Bel Ombre, a gourmet restaurant set in a nineteenth-century mansion, and to the nature reserve. The spa covers 2,500 square metres, and an entire wing is reserved for adults aged sixteen and over, with its own heated pool and a butler by the water.

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Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita

★★★★★Beau ChampSee the hotelBook on Booking.com →

The Four Seasons at Beau Champ, rated five stars in the Luxury sub-category, offers only villas and residences, each with its own garden and private pool, from 105 to 830 square metres of indoor and outdoor living space. The Three-Bedroom Royal Sanctuary, at the tip of the resort’s private island, has two infinity pools and a hot tub.

The spa is built on stilts over the lagoon, with treatment suites above the water, and the resort has its own beach on Île aux Cerfs, reserved for its guests and reached by boat shuttle. One round of golf per person per night is included, on either of the two neighbouring championship courses.

At Bel Ombre, the SO/ Sofitel has only ninety-two units, eighty-four suites and eight villas, in lush gardens a few steps from the beach. The whole was designed by the architect Lek Bunnag, and the decorative pieces were created for the hotel by the couturier Kenzo Takada, on the motif of the hibiscus flower.

Every unit has its own private garden, terrace, patio and outdoor shower, and reaches the beach through the tropical gardens. A butler service particular to the brand accompanies the stay, and Takamaka Riverside, facing the lagoon and the Jacotet river, regularly holds chef’s tables of Mauritian cooking in the evening.

From one house to the next, then, luxury changes its nature: space at the Four Seasons and the Prince Maurice, service at Le Telfair and the Shangri-La, intimacy at the Royal Palm. It is that nature, more than the number of stars, that decides the stay.