Mauritius is a hugely popular winter sun destination but edges into low season by May, which means prices plummet in this expensive Indian Ocean honeymoon hotspot. Beaches are almost empty and attractions quiet, yet temperatures remain in the mid to high 20s and the sea is still gloriously swimmable. Humidity is also lower than during the winter, making May a great time to explore the island, potter around markets and head out on hiking trails.
A week at Dodola Lodge costs £727pp room-only with Expedia, departing on May 10. You’ll fly out with Saudia via Jeddah and return with Kenya Airways via Nairobi, with a 23kg checked suitcase included both ways. A private car transfer can be added for £81pp return for the hour-long journey from the airport to the lodge, but it’s worth considering hiring a car for more freedom during your stay (from £24 a day; carrental-mauritius.com).
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The hotel is in the northern coastal village of Grand Baie, which has powdery white sand beaches, water sports and buzzy bars. It’s directly opposite Pereybere beach, one of the most beautiful on the island, with its calm turquoise water, palm trees and beachfront food shacks. There’s no swimming pool and only a basic restaurant serving breakfast at the hotel, but there are shops, cafés, a bakery and a supermarket in strolling distance, and you can go from bed to beach in two minutes flat. Eighteen bright, airy rooms have tiled floors and furniture in dark wood and raffia, and guests have use of a communal kitchen area. A room with a private kitchenette costs an extra £16pp for the week.
The island’s capital, Port Louis, is half an hour’s drive away and has a harbour, colourful Hindu temples, a Chinatown and the busy Central Market. You can avoid crowds by browsing the stalls in the smaller bus station market instead, where you can feast on dholl puri (stuffed flatbreads) and alouda, a Mauritian milkshake made with basil seeds and grated agar-agar jelly. Spices, vanilla pods and woven baskets on sale all make good souvenirs. The free Natural History Museum is a ten-minute walk away and features the reconstructed skeleton of a dodo — the extinct flightless bird once found only in Mauritius.
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For a more active afternoon, travel half an hour in the opposite direction to the island’s east coast for a hike through Bras d’Eau National Park, where trails criss-cross forests and lead to hidden waterfalls, coastal lookouts and shimmering natural pools for impromptu swims.
On Sunday, follow the locals and make a beeline for the beach. Try Baie du Tombeau near Port Louis, where families hold all-day barbecues with dancing and drumming and there are pop-up rum shacks. Or go to the fishing village Cap Malheureux, a five-minute drive from the hotel, to join a church service at the pretty red-roofed Notre Dame Auxiliatrice chapel right next to the sand, where a giant clam shell serves as the baptismal font. Worshippers head straight out to party on the beach afterwards, grabbing samosas and cold Phoenix beers from roadside stalls.
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What you get for your £727pp
• Return London-Mauritius flights, departing on May 10
• 23kg hold luggage
• Seven nights’ room only at Dodola Lodge (expedia.co.uk)
Feeling flush? If you’re inspired but you’ve got more cash to splash, you could try…
The £1,400 holiday
Salt of Palmar is even closer to the beach than Dodola Lodge, set right on the sand in Belle Mare on the east coast. Painted in tropical shades of burnt orange and royal blue, it has a lounger-lined pool overlooking the sea, plus a 24-hour café serving homemade pastries, a rooftop bar for sea views and two restaurants focusing on locally grown ingredients. There’s a wide range of Mauritian-flavoured activities to get you off your lounger, including pottery sessions, basket-weaving, drumming workshops and dawn fishing trips, as well as entertainment from Mauritian musicians three times a week.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £1,399pp, including flights, departing on May 8 (tui.co.uk)
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The £2,000 holiday
If you don’t feel inclined to venture beyond your resort, Anahita Golf & Spa has everything you need in its sprawling 500-acre grounds on the island’s east coast. This includes two championship golf courses plus a driving range; two tennis courts; bikes to borrow; three pools, including one heated year-round; and a Japanese-inspired spa where treatments are followed by a poolside tea ceremony. There are complimentary snorkelling trips and non-motorised water sports, or you can hop in the free water taxi to Île aux Cerfs, a stunning private island with bone-white beaches and bath-warm lagoons.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £2,037pp, including flights, departing on May 11 (britishairways.co.uk)
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