For a first taste of island life, Mauritius is honestly such a lovely introduction for anyone with a mid-range budget.

Since its 80s boom as an attractive travel destination, it has been a draw thanks to its warm Indian Ocean waters, palatial beach villas & now renovated resorts, as well as the fun activities fit for explorers and lazy vagabonds. You know what?! Not bad.

The waters around my own City of Cape Town can be bracing – cool waters lapping at sandy beaches. So, I was ready for a warm dunk when I got to the island.

The unanimous warmth in Mauritius starts from the minute you land and are hit with the humid air, really accommodating airport teams, and the cacophony of taxi drivers lined up to sweep travellers to their temporary island homes.

The greenlined roads towards the historic peninsula Canonnier Beachcomber calls home, are their own vibrant naturescape – reminding me of South Africa’s incredibly vivid verdant Garden Route. I am taken with the familiar I see in an unfamiliar tiny island nation.

And Canonnier Beachcomber is the kind of resort that makes sense of why All-Inclusive Resorts exist.

The economy of modern resorts is easy and follows the cruise model in some aspects: Fixed pricing for a priority packaged solution (ideally with a reputable company) to have a holiday alone, or with family or group, and entails streamlined ways to keep vacationers happily busy, fed, and decently accommodated on foreign terrain carefully edited, which they can explore…a colonial approach, as it, unfortunately, were.

Once purchased, the usual promise, and peace of mind, are that there are no sleuth side-costs to catch you unawares.

SIDE-COSTS TO KEEP AN EYE ON THOUGH, CAN INCLUDE:
Tourist Taxes (Venice now has this!), Amenity Fees, Destination Fees, Facility Fees, or Resort Charges.

Activity equipment rental is one of the ways most people get got!

Whether it’s a curative camp experience around from your home or crossing the seas for the party and culture journey of your life, resorts at every price point make sure their unique selling point can cater to their market.

From luxury spas to proximity to Disneyland, prearranged credits for food & beverages, or taking the reigns of transportation, the modern resort taps into holiday needs and wants (and not always locals’ own), and shortlists some of the most tantalizing packages for the majority markets: Asia, America, and Europe.

Now, while I love adventuring beyond my hotel when I am travelling in the cities of the world, something about the island air, lush forests, and resort design made me lethargic. Slowing down here was a genuine pleasure – let me walk you through it…

Mauritius, for more than 3 decades, has maintained a more than adequate menu of cultural offerings for the crowds coming off the evolving flight circuit and following cruise itineraries. In and toward the capital of Port Louis, Mauritius has:

• Rum tasting from some of the burgeoning rum industry
• Poignant museums and memorials
• Bustling, bazaar-style shopping districts with singular ceramics you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere,
• Charming towns serving up some rustic cuisine (so maybe try a street food day trip)
• Bel Ombre Nature Reserve and also the Botanic Gardens for a hit of stunning nature (like pirouetting birds) up close,
• and in a show of the cosmopolitan: Mauritius now has contemporary art installations at the House of Digital Art (HODA).

There are even more and more luxury resorts offering elevated island hospitality, in-land.

However, alluring picks like Canonnier Beachcomber make the well-trodden seaside on their resort, an inescapable draw.

From kitesurfing to snorkelling with the region’s sea life, tree house Spa built amidst branches of an ancient banyan tree, or kayaking, and even just getting a taste for the local life with divine meals, Canonnier Beachcomber is a prime resort pick.

Every day the four-star resort posts the activities (the usual golf types, and even Instagram-worthy 4×4 island tours) on offer near the main dining structure, and it quite literally has something for everyone. Aside from swimming with schools of reef fish in the warm ocean, I have tried archery (successfully so!) and had the once-in-a-lifetime sea turtle-watching experience on pellucid waters.

Not going to lie though: I spent most of my time away from my air-conditioning cool accommodation and languishing along the pristine beach where guests can view the northern islands.

“Slow travel means tamping down our own built-in, conditioned obsessions with time and allowing the world to move just a little slower…” – Sebastian Modak (2023). Conde Nast Traveller

The hotel rooms, duplexes, apartments and suites, are comfortable to be sure – uncluttered and designed with prominent warm wood, rattan, and crisp white linen on firm-but-cosy beds & pillows. Everything to sit on or lie in is set lower than standardized hotel furniture, to ensure light flits in through the windows and balcony doors covered by a whispy and atmospheric off-white curtain.

The hotel room design at Canonnier Beachcomber ensures a mesmeric view of the lush greenery or the beach, when in the sleeping area, while suite and room bathrooms have excellent internal ventilation keeping things hygienically sound in tandem with the daily housekeeping which refreshes fridges, beds, and bathroom essentials alike, efficiently.

Guests need only focus on what dish to try that day, and drinks to sip on with their program of the day.

*PRO TIP: If your budget allows, opt-in for an All-Inclusive Package when booking your hotel stays.

What hotels may lose in hotel room prices, they often make up for with how guests send on alcohol and food. Once you check a resort menu online and calculate your own rate of food & beverage consumption, you will see how an all-inclusive may work out cheaper because at a place like Canonnier Beachcomber: if you flash your specific all-inclusive guest armband, you order anything, anytime!

All-Inclusive at Canonnier Beachcomber includes (*Terms & Conditions Apply):

In true hotel spirit, there is an in-house store where guests can shop local artisan’s wares, but the way.

And if you wish to connect with the outside world or locals while on the grounds, you can chat with the Canonnier Beachcomber team who are always smiling & ready to talk, or sit along the cascading pools and creeks, or in the hotel lounge, for important virtual calls ( or network with some board games or a game of pool).

There is passable wifi connection everywhere here, no power cuts, and the picture of beauty to distract you anywhere!

HERE ARE THE GENERAL AMENITIES:

VERDICT?

You may not feel alone the way a luxury private island would allow (mostly thanks to the sporadic beachside entrepreneur peddling scarves and locally-made jewellery), but you will feel respected at Canonnier Beachcomber, discretely catered for, and free to always do your own thing.

This resort has a dauntless team maintaining amazing hospitality, the drinks are not watered down at all, and the food is varied and plenty. Along with the convenient sun loungers on the beach and warm waters, I honestly wanted for nothing – not even a movie binge!

I get global travellers’ fascination with Mauritius.

Aside from continuing to flourish with its tourism, real estate, and financial services, along with a foreign investor-favouring tax climate, Mauritius is just great for solo escapes, health retreats, research endeavours, and group tours wanting to immerse themselves.

Rich in culture, utterly vibrant and unique flora, fauna, and forest species, Mauritius is making a case for itself to an existing and new travel market yearning for more, always.

Easily reachable as it is on the east coast of the African continent, and with conservation tourism threaded into its DNA through community projects and even resort operations and activities, this is a more than adequate destination for slow travel and for the ‘vibe’ seekers – even when Bali, St. Barths, or Madagascar (which is 1932km east of it) has some deals!