Three stars on the lagoon

Mauritian hospitality likes to tell its story through five-star resorts, villas with private pools and spas of several thousand square metres. It has another, quieter side: three-star houses of fifty to a hundred rooms, set on the same coasts and facing the same lagoons as their grander neighbours.

For travellers watching their budget, the difference lies less in the published rate than in what a hotel gives without asking: a shuttle to an islet, a free kids’ club, kayaks on loan, a daily happy hour, a package in which meals are settled in advance. The six addresses that follow are all rated three stars, and each has its own way of doing a great deal on a modest scale.

At Grande Rivière Sud-Est, on the east coast, the Laguna Beach has just sixty-four rooms. Their decoration borrows from the neighbouring fishing village: handmade furniture, rattan baskets, bamboo coat stands, seashell lamps. Every room has a terrace or balcony looking out over the mangrove, the ocean or the mountain, and the Barachois rooms face the wild landscape of the south-east coast.

What comes free weighs in the sums. A complimentary shuttle runs to Île aux Cerfs, the kids’ club takes three- to eleven-year-olds free of charge from 8.30am to 8pm, and pedal boats, kayaks, canoes and snorkelling gear are included. The only restaurant, La Sardinella, serves a buffet with a live cooking station. At extra cost, the hotel arranges fishing trips in a local boat with fishermen from the village.

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Friday Attitude

★★★Trou d’Eau DouceSee the hotelBook on Booking.com →

The Friday is the Attitude group’s budget family address. At Trou d’Eau Douce it runs to fifty rooms, fifteen of them family rooms with a separate space for children, and Île aux Cerfs, just opposite, is reached by a free shuttle. The Ayo le Dodo mini-club is free, and baby equipment can be hired on site, which spares parents from bringing it.

The hotel is served by a bus, and its Otentik Discovery app suggests routes around the area. The outings look towards the island rather than the resort: the market at Flacq, the Bras d’Eau forest, dinner in a local home. From 4pm to 6pm the Taba-J food truck serves its street-food tea of gâteaux piments, rotis, dumplings and fried aubergines.

In the heart of Flic en Flac, on the west coast, the Aanari lines up fifty rooms in two wings, a few steps from the beach. Its Cantonese restaurant, Mei Yan, is the reason to come: two hundred seats, two chefs from mainland China, and a menu running from Peking duck carved in the dining room to crab with fresh chilli. It draws hotel guests and Mauritians from all over the island alike.

The rest of the day follows simple appointments. The evening buffet changes theme every day, with a séga show on Tuesdays at 8pm and live music on Saturdays. Happy hour runs daily from 4pm to 7pm, with every drink at half price. The Ticabo dive centre, PADI certified, is a few steps away.

At Mont Choisy, in the north-west, the Tarisa faces three kilometres of white sand. Fifty-seven of its seventy-five rooms are thirty-seven-square-metre Superiors facing the sea, for two adults and a child or for three adults; the five Family rooms, fifty square metres with a separate room, take up to four adults.

Two touches matter to a thrifty traveller. The sauna and hammam at the Crystal Spa are free, on booking, and courtesy rooms with showers await those who arrive early or leave late. The Tandoor, an Indian restaurant of eighty seats, takes reservations. Guests choose between half board, full board and all inclusive, and lunch and afternoon tea are included only in the last.

On the beach at Trou d’Eau Douce, the Silver Beach has made the clearest choice of all: the all-inclusive package. It covers a buffet breakfast, full English or continental, a buffet lunch, a buffet or set-menu dinner, and a long list of local drinks, from wine and beer to fresh juices and cocktails. The rooms come in just two categories, sea view or garden view.

The beach faces the sunrise, and Île aux Cerfs is close at hand. The boathouse lends pedal boats, kayaks, masks and snorkels; diving, water-skiing and catamaran trips are available nearby at extra cost. Online bookings require a minimum stay of three nights.

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Coral Azur Beach Resort

★★★Mont ChoisySee the hotelBook on Booking.com →

Also at Mont Choisy, the Coral Azur keeps to two categories of twenty-four-square-metre rooms, garden side or facing the sea, which sleep up to two adults and two children. What sets it apart is on the beach: the Wildwind Sailing Centre, recognised by the British Royal Yachting Association, where one learns to sail a dinghy or a catamaran with instructors for every level.

The Dodo club welcomes children from three to twelve, every day from 9am to 5pm, and the La Canne à Sucre bar opens from 8.30am to 11.30pm. The third and fourth beds cost extra, as does the minibar in the garden category. None of these six houses tries to compete with the island’s great estates. They offer something else: a size one can cover on foot, and a lagoon that has no stars at all.