A honeymoon, from the east to Le Morne

A honeymoon in Mauritius is best cut in two. The east coast faces the sunrise and has several adults-only hotels; the south and south-west offer dinners in old mansions, distilleries and the silhouette of Le Morne. Ten days are enough to have a taste of both, with a single change of hotel halfway through.

On the east coast, the choice is first between several ways of being left in peace. SALT of Palmar, for adults only, has fifty-nine rooms, all facing the sea; its decor is the work of the British artist Camille Walala, and its restaurant, Tek Tek, with just ten covers, serves a menu of six to eight courses, except on Sundays. The Sunrise Attitude, facing Belle Mare beach, has chosen to put no television in its rooms, and eight villas of one hundred square metres have their own private pool and garden. At Trou d’Eau Douce, the Tropical Attitude, with fifty-eight rooms, all with sea views, feels more like a house than a resort; eleven villas have their own pool, and a lobster dinner is served with your feet in the sand. Further north, the Radisson Blu Poste Lafayette, open only to guests over eighteen, is designed for couples and newlyweds: a snorkelling trail is marked out in the lagoon in front of the hotel, and its rooftop tapas bar has only sixteen seats.

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Three days in the east

The first day is spent on Île aux Cerfs, reached by boat from Trou d’Eau Douce; the Tropical Attitude runs the crossing itself for its guests. The beaches at the northern tip are lively; follow the island’s east coast, under the casuarinas, and you find quieter stretches. The second day can take to the skies: a seaplane reserved for a single party takes off from the water and climbs above the lagoons, the reef and the islets. The third is spent at or near the Sunrise Attitude, cycling to the market at Flacq, or in the workshops the hotel entrusts to Mauritian artists.

For those who prefer the north, the Maison 20 Degrés Sud, on the lagoon at Grand Baie, has been the only Mauritian property in the Relais & Châteaux collection since 2013. Its thirty-six rooms and suites are each laid out differently. In the evening, just eight guests board the Lady Lisbeth, a boat dating from 1927, for dinner; the Table du Chef, for its part, seats four at 7pm around a surprise menu. At the northern tip, at Cap Malheureux, a sunset photo shoot can be booked especially for honeymooning couples.

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The south: a mansion, a spa, a distillery

The second half of the trip heads down to Bel Ombre. The Heritage Le Telfair, built in the style of the plantation houses, has only suites, all with butler service, and an entire wing is reserved for adults aged sixteen and over. In the evening, Le Château de Bel Ombre serves dinner in a colonial mansion surrounded by gardens, from 7pm to 10.30pm: come in trousers or smart Bermuda shorts, an elegant shirt and closed shoes, with no sandals or sarongs. In the morning, the Bel Ombre Nature Reserve is explored with a guide, two hours in endemic forest, with a stop at a waterfall where you swim when the weather allows.

At Saint-Félix, the Shanti Maurice makes its spa the heart of the house: about seven thousand square metres, five ayurveda rooms, a Watsu pool. Its Rum Shed gathers more than two hundred and fifty rums from thirty-six countries, and its twenty-seat open-air cinema can be booked privately for an evening.

One day returns to Chamarel. The Rhumerie, 300 metres above the coast, can be visited from its copper stills to its ageing cellars, after which you have lunch within the grounds, at L’Alchimiste, on cooking inspired by the terroir of the south-west. It is closed on Sundays.

The final days are spent at the foot of Le Morne Brabant. At LUX* Le Morne, a wooden cabin perched near the sea serves as a dining room for breakfast or as a cinema for an evening, and the KAWAII bar takes just eight guests for an omakase menu. A one-hour horse ride at Le Morne is spent facing the ocean. And for the last evening, the beach at La Preneuse, guarded by its Martello tower, looks out on the sunset, with Le Morne Brabant in the distance. It is the simplest way to end a honeymoon, and perhaps the most fitting.