After reading so many of your stories, here I am writing about my trip to Mauritius, hoping it may be useful to you!
Walter (my husband) and I left from Malpensa on 6 May 2007 on a British Airways flight. We had decided not to buy a ready-made package, in an attempt to save something and thus choosing the hotel in the area of the island that most appealed to us (that is, the least rainy one, given the approach of the Mauritian "winter") but unfortunately, having booked everything very late, the direct charter flights cost us more than the scheduled one (€ 619 per person), which, however, stopped over in London both going and coming back. And so, after about 19 hours of travel (including the wait between one flight and the next in London), here we are on the island of the dodo!
The impact is overwhelming: although we had read quite a few forums about the island, from the plane we did not expect to see all that green! The airport is in the south-east, and therefore in a "rainy" area: indeed the runway looked damp and the sky was dotted with scattered little clouds (in short, it had just rained!). We negotiate for a taxi to take us to our hotel, in the north-west of the island, and we manage to get a price of 1,200 Mauritian rupees (about 28 euros) against the 1,500 initially asked of us. After a good hour of travel and a few problems finding the hotel's address, we arrive in Trou aux Biches, at the Hotel Villa Kissen. Another little trick: we had chosen the hotel's location by looking at the satellite maps on Google Earth, on which Trou aux Biches and Pereybère seemed to have the whitest beaches in the north-west!
The Hotel Villa Kissen (chosen by visiting its website provided by the Lonely Planet guide, which, as usual, proved extremely useful) is a pleasant surprise: brand new, rebuilt 150 m from the sea (and what a sea!) just a couple of years ago (initially, in fact, it was about 300 m from the sea), clean, very kind and helpful managers. We, in fact, had booked a "studio", not a standard room, and so our mini-apartment included, besides the bedroom, the bathroom and the little terrace, also a small equipped kitchen (here too everything was brand new: there were a microwave, toaster, kettle and, if I remember rightly, even a blender and an ironing board!). All this for the modest sum of only 27 euros a night per apartment (yes, you read that right!), against the 23 euros of the standard room (breakfast excluded).
We, in fact, had breakfast at the hotel only on the first day, and having available only coffee, tea, bread, butter and jam, plus a couple of fruit juices, we preferred to have breakfast in a kind of pastry shop/café 500 m from the hotel which made a cappuccino and brioches of a standard decidedly high for being abroad!
As mentioned, the beach of Trou aux Biches is very beautiful, of fine white sand, lined with palms. In May the water temperature was starting to drop, but outside it was a constant 30° (tempered by a very pleasant little breeze that you felt only under the palms and that let you have such good naps...) and so swimming was absolutely no sacrifice, quite the opposite!
We took trips (DIY, of course!) on alternate days, almost always using public buses and, rarely, taxis (which for us are anyway very cheap). We went to Pereybère beach (a little small compared with that of Trou aux Biches but very beautiful too), to the botanical gardens of Pamplemousses (free entry, they are certainly worth a visit), to the little church of Notre Dame Auxiliatrice at Cap Malheureux (the one with the red roof, to be clear), to the lively Grand Baie (renting a scooter) and to the very popular and heavenly Île aux Cerfs. With regard precisely to the latter, we opted for a trip organised by a travel agency in Trou aux Biches that had assured us that, in case of bad weather, the trip would be postponed to the next day. Well, it didn't quite go that way...
In fact, unfortunately, Île aux Cerfs is on the east coast of Mauritius and it is not rare for there to be sun at Trou aux Biches/Grand Baie and, there, instead, rain or almost, as in our case. In fact, once we arrived on the island we had no way of admiring the colour of the sea reflecting the blue of the sky (but one could guess it even with the clouds, or in those brief moments when a little sun came out; with a clear sky it must have been a breathtaking panorama...) since the day was practically always cloudy and we even managed to catch a few drops of rain. So here's a tip: if you want to go to Île aux Cerfs in the "winter" season (from May to about September), wake up in the morning, look towards the interior of the island (that is, the mountains) and see whether it is very cloudy or not.
At that point decide whether to take a taxi and pay for the speedboat crossing to the island (the ticket for the latter, in fact, can easily be bought at Trou d'eau Douce, the departure point of the speedboats that take you to Île aux Cerfs, and it is not at all expensive) or whether to postpone to the following day. In my opinion, that way you will be surer of seeing it in the sun and you will probably also save a little money (even better if you travel as 4 and split the taxi fare).
And, I insist, if you go to Île aux Cerfs, open your eyes wide, because in some parts of the island (it happened to me right on the beach where we were waiting for the speedboat to go back) you will see lots of little holes in the sand and you will wonder what they are: well, if you don't move too much, or rather, if you stay absolutely still, you will see the most beautiful little blue crabs coming out of those very holes! One of the many surprises Mauritius can hold in store...
Of Mauritius, one must absolutely say that it seems an earthly paradise not only because of the beaches, but also because the people who live there are always smiling and kind and, above all, because it is one of the few places in the world where different religions manage to coexist without problems: Hindus, Muslims and Catholics live peacefully, respecting the traditions and the thinking of those who have a faith different from their own. And so you find yourself faced with unexpected contrasts: a Hindu temple opposite a mosque, people bathing in swimsuits a few metres from others bathing fully clothed, and all in the most absolute tranquillity.
Day 114 May 2007
Unfortunately, the return trip (again with British Airways) did not go very well, as the departure was scheduled for 9:10 in the morning and we left almost two hours late (with almost certainty of missing the connection in London), to which was added another hour due to an unexpected stopover in Cairo (a passenger had "hurt himself" with a little bag that had fallen on his head and so we had to make an emergency landing so they could take him to the hospital). Because of this, in fact, we arrived in London at about 22:00 (instead of 18:20) and at that time there were no more flights to Malpensa. Therefore the airline arranged our accommodation in a hotel near the airport and the booking on the first morning flight bound for Malpensa. So, all things considered, we arrived at our destination almost 24 hours after departure!
To sum up: if you go between May and September, definitely choose the northwest coast, so you can fully enjoy the sunny days (we did not have even one day of rain at Trou aux Biches...); if possible, book well in advance a charter flight that, usually, does not make stops (and therefore you will not have to face 24-hour journeys!); do not go with organized tours, because with do-it-yourself travel to Mauritius you save quite a bit and the hotel accommodations (even the inexpensive ones) are decidedly good (obviously, you will not have the mega-resort full of Italians where you stuff yourselves like little pigs, but you will certainly see and taste the "real" Mauritius); Mauritian cuisine is fantastic if you like eating spicy, trying a mix between Indian and African cuisine, and it COSTS VERY LITTLE! (we had lunch with 3-4 euros and dinner based on fish with 7-8 euros per person); bring a
duffel bag or a small empty suitcase, because in Mauritius anything costs almost 1/5 of what it costs here at home and as for, instead, the much-praised designer cashmere/cotton sweaters, well, we will never know if they are original goods (I lean toward no...), but I can assure you that the quality of the fabrics is really very good and you can make excellent deals.
Furthermore, I would like to point out that in the evening, in Trou aux Biches (but I believe a bit all over the island, with the exception of Grand Baie), outside the tourist villages there is NOTHING and the streets are also poorly lit (in case you want to take a walk on foot, therefore, you will know what you are getting into!) but the crime rate is very low, so, in any case, you do not run particular dangers. However, with nothing around after 9 pm, you will be sure to be very rested and full of energy the next morning! A gem: think that one of the first evenings, in the restaurant where we were having dinner, I dared to ask for a fruit salad at 9:30 pm and I was told that they were closing!!!
Ah, one last piece of advice, if you want to see the island in a somewhat more complete way (we practically visited only the north), stay two weeks, because one is too little.
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