Family Holiday in Mauritius
Travelling in our summer (August) is actually winter in Mauritius. Some may argue that this is the best time to visit as it actually has less rain than the Summer months. As our family are not particularly sun worshippers this offered us a great time to visit.
We flew direct from Heathrow with Air Mauritius (now only direct from Gatwick) but you can also fly from Birmingham or Manchester via Doha or Dubai which makes it the perfect destination for a twin centre holiday.
I am a big fan of the Beachcomber Hotels and they have 8 on the island all offering something different whether travelling with families or as a couple. We had decided on the Mauricia because it offered everything our family wanted in terms of facilities but also because it was walking distance to bars, restaurants and shops. They offered half board or all-inclusive and we opted for the latter which is always a popular choice when travelling with kids (especially when you have 4!) You can also dine and use the facilities at other Beachcomber Hotels.
After an hours transfer from the airport to the North West Coast we were greeted with a nice cold refreshing drink and showed to our rooms. We had decided on 2 rooms for this trip and chose to be in the ground floor beachfront rooms which gave us access to the beach and pool from our balconies which again is another handy thing to have with kids.
One of the great things about staying at a Beachcomber Hotel is that all water sports are complimentary. So if you fancy Kayaking, windsurfing, pedal boats and water skiing etc then this will be perfect for you. It was nice to see the kids get better day by day especially on the water skiing which can be quite tricky to master.
Whilst away we took in a day trip to the capital, Port Louis. This is very much an interesting city. One side you have brand new buildings which are very modern and then around the corner you have the old town with its bustling markets and where the locals love to barter with every purchase you make. Two very different experiences in one city.
We also hired out a speedboat for the day (no I was not driving!) which was great fun especially whizzing around the bays where other hotels were located. We stopped at various points for snorkelling and headed to a remote island for some lunch which was surreal. I say it was remote, there were some locals on there that had nipped over for a BBQ, talk about living on the doorstep of paradise and certainly beats having a BBQ in my back garden on a Summers day. The guides were informative and stopped at the best places where there were lots of tropical fish to see and would recommend if part of a large group or family in doing this so you can pretty much customise where you go and how long you stay somewhere.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay on the island and it’s a great alternative in our Summer months for your holiday over a European trip.
