Adults only: the hotels where calm is the rule

An adults-only hotel promises one thing above all: a pool without rubber rings or shrieks. In Mauritius the idea comes in two very different forms. There are entire properties that no child ever enters, and there are large family resorts that set aside a wing, a pool or a restaurant for adults. The choice between the two depends less on budget than on temperament.

Even before the view or the beach, the first point to check is the minimum age, because it is not set at the same level everywhere. The Solana Beach, at Belle Mare, the Radisson Blu Poste Lafayette and the Riu Palace Mauritius, on the Le Morne peninsula, are reserved for adults aged eighteen and over. The adults-only wing of the Ravenala Attitude, at Balaclava, applies the same limit. At Bel Ombre, the reserved area of the Heritage Le Telfair is open from the age of sixteen. The Wonders Beach Boutique Hotel, at Trou aux Biches, sets the bar at twelve: it keeps out young children more than it caters for adults alone.

AI-generated image

The east coast, the natural home

The greatest concentration is on the east coast, between Belle Mare, Palmar and Trou d’Eau Douce. The Sunrise Attitude lines the beach at Belle Mare with 145 rooms and eight villas with private pools, and it has made a rare choice: no television in the rooms. In its place come workshops led by Mauritian artists (pottery, drumming, dance) and, each week, a headphone listening session on the beach, Sand and Sound. Further north, the Tropical Attitude, at Trou d’Eau Douce, has 58 rooms, all with sea views, and eleven villas with pools; Île aux Cerfs lies opposite, and the boat shuttle is free.

Palmar has three. SALT of Palmar has only 59 rooms, all facing the sea, a lobby and courtyard designed by the British artist Camille Walala, and a firm stance against buffets and plastic. The Seasense Boutique Hotel, 63 rooms on two levels in a tropical garden, was renovated in 2024 and keeps a cellar of more than a thousand bottles. Ambre, finally, is in another register altogether: 297 rooms, an all-inclusive formula and an unapologetic nightlife, with a lounge open until 2:00 in the morning, karaoke evenings and its own nightclub. At Belle Mare, the Solana Beach has 117 rooms, all facing the sea, and no facilities for children whatsoever.

On the north coast, the adults-only properties tend to be smaller. The Seapoint Boutique Hotel, between Mont Choisy and Pointe aux Canonniers, has twenty-four rooms, all with an open view of the sea and of three northern islets: Coin de Mire, Flat Island and Round Island. The Veranda Paul et Virginie, in the fishing village of Grand Gaube, opens its 81 rooms onto the pool and the northern islands, with a restaurant at the end of a jetty and a free shuttle to Grand Baie, twice a week and on weekend evenings. At Anse la Raie, the Lagoon Attitude has 182, on a lagoon where the group has set up its marine discovery centre.

The Radisson Blu Poste Lafayette, on the north-east coast, limits each of its hundred rooms to two adults. Its sister hotel at Azuri, in Roches Noires, welcomes families with its Ti Krab club, and a free shuttle links the two.

AI-generated image

The reserved wing, a compromise

For those travelling as a couple who still enjoy the bustle of a large resort, the reserved wing is often the best solution. At the Victoria Beachcomber, at Pointe aux Piments, Victoria for 2 brings together forty rooms on the beach, with their own à la carte restaurant, their own pool bar and a pool of eight hundred square metres. The Shandrani, at Blue Bay, has its Shandrani for 2 wing, with a bar and a restaurant set aside. At the Dinarobin, at the foot of Le Morne, a crescent of Zen suites is reserved for adults, around its own pool.

Le Méridien Île Maurice, at Pointe aux Piments, has its Nirvana wing, with an adults-only pool bar; the LUX* Grand Gaube has Le Banyan, an area set beneath a banyan tree with its own pool, restaurants and bay; the Veranda Pointe aux Biches has the Sandy Lane wing and its infinity pool. At the Telfair, nineteen sea-view suites are reserved for adults, close to an area with its own heated pool.

One curiosity is worth knowing about before arriving in July. At the Hilton Mauritius, in Flic en Flac, the infinity pool is reserved for adults, except in winter: heated during the cooler months, it then opens to children as well. Its neighbour, the Sofitel L’Impérial, applies the same rule to its adults-only pool. At the Club Med in Albion, the second pool, facing the lagoon, is reserved for adults, and sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds may use it only when accompanied. At The Oberoi, at Pointe aux Piments, the twenty-metre Turtle Bay pool is for adults only, while the On the Rocks pool is open to all.

These rules say something about the spirit of each property. A hotel entirely reserved for adults guarantees calm everywhere and at all hours. A reserved wing guarantees it within a perimeter, and leaves the rest of the resort to families. Between the two, everyone sets the dial where they wish, provided they know where it stands.