Wellbeing centre, lagoon, private beach with watersports facilities, kids clubs, boathouse, restaurants, bar, café and sweet shop, fitness centre, champion 18-hole golf courses and a clubhouse, boutique, laundry and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: fully-fitted kitchen (oven, dishwasher, washing machine, refrigerator, Nespresso machine, microwave and kettle), flatscreen TV, bathrobes, slippers, free bottled water and black-out blinds. Villas are also graced with a private garden and all suite category rooms and above have a private infinity-edged plunge pool (with safety netting).
All suites and villas have large fully-fitted kitchens, spacious gathering-sized living rooms, and private plunge pools.
There are three. Two outdoor infinity pools – one for adults, which is heated year-round, and one for children, which is heated during the winter – sit side by side in the village, surrounded by rattan sunloungers, palm trees and parasols, with alluring turquoise-tinted views of the Indian Ocean beyond. A beach-like slope allows easy access to the curved and crystal-clear kids’ pool; however, there’s no supervision. The kids’ club also has a shallow unheated pool for infants.
The fitness centre has large windows, so gym bunnies can gaze at the greenery during a workout. Outdoor treatment rooms have gentle ocean breezes and lush tropical foliage – many of the plants are used in the treatments – to send you into an island-scented reverie (or a more secluded session can be booked in your suite or villa). Thalgo facials, body wraps and scrubs, massages, couples treatments, waxing, manicures and pedicures are all offered, but Juniors can join in too, with massages for kids tweens and teens (30 minutes for 3–6 year olds, 45 minutes for 7–12 year olds and 60 minutes for over-12s).
Bring your breezy beach best, an underwater camera for snorkelling sessions, and your most care-free attitude.
There’s no wheelchair-accessible accommodation onsite. Pushchairs and buggies can be pushed around public areas problem-free, but there are some steps from the reception to the pool area where obliging staff are happy to help.
Cots are free for under-threes; extra beds for under-12s can be added to Prestige Suites on request. Entrance to the kids club is included (meals are chargeable), babysitting is available and kids are welcome in the restaurants.
Overview
Under-threes stay in cots free; extra beds for under-12s can be added to Prestige Suites for an extra charge (prices vary depending on the season).
Recommended rooms
Children can stay in all room types. Three-, Four- and Five-Bedroom Villas are ideal for larger families, and villas even come with a family butler, to give parents some well-earned R'n'R.
Activities
This resort delivers family entertainment in an all-singing, all-dancing fashion; splash and sunbathe on the beach or glide through the infinity swimming pools, while gazing at the ocean. Guests can brush up their game on the golf course or the tennis courts, or take in the view from the gym's large windows; alternatively, browsing the boutiques in the resort’s village and time in the beauty salon and spa provide a less pulse-pumping way to pass the time. When you tire of landlubbing, head to the resort's boathouse – an aquatic toy box of sea-faring vessels – to windsurf or sail over the sea. Set a short walk from the villas, tucked away from the beach, the kids' club, OurSpace, is thatch-roofed and friendly. There's a safely sandy-floored outdoor space, perked up with large parasols, an astroturf playground and teeny tables and chairs, with a shallow unheated children's pool; the building also has ramp access. Internationally accredited staff have been trained and managed by a reputable external company; 4–12 year olds attend for free and sessions for children aged eight months to four cost £10 an hour or £50 for a full day (meals not included). Parents can stay to play or bow out and bliss out as they choose. The clubhouse has an indoor baby room with toys, books, puzzles, a baby gym, push bikes, bouncy chair, dressing-up boxes, Lego and a specially adapted bathroom. There's a well-considered range of activities: children aged 3–5 bake (cakes, pizza and cookies), make bubbles and flags, build sandcastles, watch movies, learn about local nature with butterfly-spotting, crab-hunting, and learn Mauritian dancing. Children aged 6–8 become pirates for the day, ride glass-bottomed and banana boats, cook, try henna tattoos and hair braiding, hunt crabs, decorate t-shirts and play golf. Children aged 9–13 have a more spirited schedule, with kayaking, water-skiing, fishing, tennis, bocci ball, an introduction to diving and pedal-boat riding (alongside baking, t-shirt painting and treasure hunts). The teens' club, Escape (for ages 13–18), has TVs and a DVD player, board games, a Wii console and dance mat. Activities include ping-pong, bike tours, tennis and watersports (kayaking and snorkelling), bike tours, tennis, Frisbee tournaments and trips to Île aux Cerfs; in high season, it becomes the teen social hub of the resort by night, when its turned into a disco until 11pm.
Swimming pool
A beach-like slope allows easy access to the curved and crystal-clear kids’ pool; however, there’s no supervision. The kids’ club also has a shallow unheated pool for infants, and swimming aids and swim nappies are on hand.
Meals
Children can take lunch and dinner in the OurSpace kids' club, but mini Smiths are welcome in the resort's restaurants. Each serves a parent-pleasing kids' menu of healthy and imaginative meals, including salads and fruit plates, stir-fries, omelettes and curries. Lunch with your little ones in Bliss, where oven-baked pizzas and home-made ice cream can be eaten by the pools or beach, or in the shade of a thatched roof if the sun is scorching. Children are also welcome in Il Forno, but the stone floors and outdoor firepit make for watchful meals with tearaway toddlers. A bombastic buffet breakfast is served at Origine, and a menu replete with pastries and sweets make the easygoing VU bar or Sugar and Savour Café the ideal stop off for family afternoon tea. Wherever you choose to dine, staff are on the ball, whipping up home-made purées, heating up baby food and milk and readying themselves with highchairs, booster seats, bibs, beakers/feeder cups, weaning spoons and kids' cutlery as needed.
Babysitting
Available for ₨500 an hour from 7am to 6pm, ₨600 an hour from 6pm to midnight, and ₨700 after midnight; prices are subject to change and exclude the mandatory taxi charge (₨700-800). Give at least one day's notice (earlier in high season, if possible).
No need to pack
Big ticket baby kit, including highchairs, booster seat, sippy cups, cots, buggies, stair gates, toys, bicycles with training wheels and bike helmets, craft materials, picture books.
Also
Pack high-factor sunscreen, insect repellent and the kids’ sunhats in your suitcase: the resort is well shaded, but you’ll clock up plenty of beach time. To keep milk and snacks chilled on the beach, double up a mini cooler bag as a vanity case. If you can't take the heat, both children (aged 3–12) and parents can enjoy a range of gentle yet indulgent in-room massages. Send a shopping list to the hotel before you arrive and staff will stock your suite or villa kitchen with goodies (please note that there is a 15 per cent service charge).
All food is locally sourced, the hotel composts waste to use on the surrounding land, and grey water is filtered and used in keeping the golf course green.
