Romantic Trou aux Biches
This is Mauritius’ first eco-hotel. It’s a much larger hotel (306 suites and 27 villas) located on a narrow white sand beach where you are able to walk out of the hotel into the village where there are a couple of shops and a supermarket.
The entrance isn't as grand as the Shanti a little bit more functional with its seating areas and shops. We were taken by buggy with our luggage to our room which was central to everything. We weren't anything flash here just the lead in room which was a junior suite (63m2) with a garden view. The gardens are pretty spectacular with 34 hectares of gardens which are stunning and lots of birds too! I did get chance to see the Senior Suites here (wow) and the villas (double wow)!
There are 6 restaurants here and you need to book them - our favourite was the International restaurant and Italian which were facing the sea and gave you the feeling you were on the French Riviera. There was also Thai, Indian, seafood and buffet. The food was amazing - even the lunches were fantastic. You had the choice of a la carte or buffet and the presentation was amazing. We were on full board, so we just needed to pay for our drinks. We are not big drinkers so it would interesting to see how we would cope with paying as we went along. Cocktails were about £12 and a bottle of water/soft drinks £4. Good job we were playing tennis, or we could have put on some weight!
The activities were great. We played a lot of tennis, went snorkelling (they have a boat that takes you to the reef), and used the pedalos when we needed to cool down. They also had a glass bottom boat to take people out to where the turtles were plus canoes and sailboats. We didn't do this but there were always boats in the vicinity taking people to see them. You could also pay to go deep sea fishing or underwater walking.
Despite being 'romantic' it does have a teen club which has a bar football table, pool and table tennis and a children’s club which takes them from 2 years old (happy days for parents) and stays open until 10pm so parents could have their romantic time.
The sunbeds are big padded ones on the beach - there were always plenty of them available. The weather was mixed for this part of our holiday (as we expected). It was good to get up early and get to your sunbed for 9am. When it was really hot, you could see the clouds coming behind you when there would be a shower for a few minutes then it would brighten up. The evening cooled down and you definitely need a jacket or shawl as a lot of the restaurants are al fresco.
The garden at this hotel is stunning and well-tended. There are about 6 pools dotted around them as well as the main pool. The pool at block 3 was heated. There were lots of birds around making their nests which was like something in a nature programme. There were a couple of cute dogs who would adopt you and walk with you which was quite sweet they didn't look stray but loved the attention.
Evenings were low key with live music and dance shows, but most people went to bed early so if you want to party it isn't that sort of hotel. The quality of singers was very good, and they also sang in the restaurants while you ate.
Despite being a larger hotel, it doesn't feel like this, only in the evenings when you see the full restaurants and wonder where these people have been all day! We did a couple of excursions including underwater walking and also took a taxi for half a day to see the Botanical Gardens at Pamplemouse and then on to Grand Baie ( I have done a separate blog for this).
This will not be my last trip to Mauritius. In the words of 'Arnie' I WILL BE BACK!