The Republic of Mauritius is one of the few places on the planet that simultaneously surprised me, charmed me, and left me completely bewildered.
A brief introduction:
All I knew about Mauritius off the top of my head was that it's an island near Africa and they parle français. Well, Africa, French influence, island - it all sounded amazing because the French manage their overseas territories quite well from a tourism perspective (French Polynesia [better known as Bora Bora] in Oceania, the Caribbean), which gave hope for something really cool.
But something went sideways in Mauritius. Let's figure out what exactly.
Natural Paradies
Mauritius is a very beautiful place. The island is truly all green, the sun is thermonuclear, which makes the whole picture incredibly vibrant and stunningly beautiful. Add mountains in the background, add an azure pleasant ocean - and here you are in Mauritius. The swimming is simply perfect. I've been to many of the world's best beaches in all parts of the world, but Mauritius is definitely at the very top.
The water is crystal clear. It's perfectly transparent, has a pleasant color both in and out of the water, and it's simply ideal for swimming by any parameter.
It's super pleasant and you just don't want to get out at all. At all! The sand is also perfect. The whole picture against the mountain backdrop - couldn't be better.
Perhaps if you book an all-inclusive luxury resort in a private area and just swim, occasionally going on packaged excursions, then Mauritius is almost perfect. But I haven't enjoyed that kind of vacation for a long time because they're all the same (endlessly awesome - yes), but I need everything to be like the locals and all their vibe in bulk.
I'll say upfront that if you've booked (and enjoyed) or are considering such a resort, then this would be the right option here.
But if you don't want to book such a resort, things get a bit strange, because there are very few other types of hotels near good beaches. No, they exist, but research showed that Mauritius has only two swimmable beaches with public, rather than hotel, infrastructure around them. And apartments completely dominate over hotels - hotels are only about 10%. Okay, apartments it is, I like them, but I was slightly concerned that the most popular filter on Booking.com was "with kitchen" and every third review was also about the kitchen. In the Dominican Republic, there were also apartments with kitchens, which were brilliantly used for fruitcutting and rumpouring, but to have such a strong emphasis on this...
Are you crazy there with your little kitchen in the tropics, huh?
Turns out they weren't crazy.
But this was all discovered on site.
The trip was split into two parts - three days of chilling at Mont Choisy beach with a visit to Trou aux Biches beach, and the rest - based at Flic en Flac beach with a trip to the capital Port Louis and subsequent drive along the entire coast of the island, with special attention to half a day at the most Instagram-worthy Le Morne beach.
About the Islanders
The first thing you notice upon arrival is that Mauritians have a distinctive appearance. Looking around, you quickly realize that the island's population reflects a strong Indian heritage...While their features and skin tones are uniquely Mauritian, reflecting the island's multicultural heritage, the Indian influence is unmistakable.
And the second thing that hits you right in the face - leaving the airport and all along the road - flagpoles with Mauritian and (surprise, surprise)... Indian flags hanging side by side.
And everyone speaks French. This is slightly strange because while the French ruled for a hundred years, Britain controlled the island even longer afterward, but the whole island is steeped exclusively in French language and mannerisms. For example, baguettes.
Baguette Life
Baguettes are the main driving fuel of the entire island and the biggest contributor to the country's economy. Baguettes are simultaneously both the magical grail for all local problems and the key to any Mauritian's heart.
A baguette replaces parents, psychologist, mentor, trainer for a Mauritian, and the baguette is the only thing a Mauritian can truly rely on in their life.
Baguettes will be everywhere. In shops (if you can find them), in cafes (if you can find them), and anywhere where there are commercial food relationships - baguettes will be there.
Life on the island is unthinkable without a baguette.
If you've already imagined the smell and image of a freshly baked baguette with garlic that both melts and crunches in your mouth simultaneously, then no, they're not like that here, it's just bread in the shape of a baguette, not particularly exciting if I'm honest. It's just how things are done here and it's the cheapest available food.
Heading to the Dream Beach
The taxi from the airport was booked online, and we had to wait for the driver while messaging on WhatsApp. The 40-minute ride cost about 50 euros. Along the way - gorgeous views on both sides, Mauritius is very beautiful. At the apartments, we had to wait again for someone to wake up, but check-in was okay, the aunty was kind and cheerful, it was just after 12 and it was time to go to the beach.
The first survey of the area towards the beach reveals that there are some places around, but none of them work during lunch. This is strange, but okay. Maybe it's the local siesta?
The beach was a 7-minute easy walk away and let me tell you - Mont Choisy is very good. It's just insanely good and it's one of the best beaches in the world, no question.
Yes, I understand that it might not look like that in the photos, but I haven't adjusted the brightness, everything is much brighter in real life. What's really appealing is the filao forest (something similar to pine in structure, but tropical), which completely blocks the wind and gives off a forest freshness. Forest freshness on a paradise beach, yes.
As I mentioned earlier, the sun is thermonuclear and you can't use creams less than 50SPF. When you think you're in the shade and therefore can use factor 30, be prepared to ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ regret that decision. 50 only.
After swimming to our heart's content, we went to explore what infrastructure was promised on the beach. Food trucks powered by generators were visible nearby. Since we were quite hungry, we sat at the improvised tables of the second food truck we came across and ordered a dish each and a 0.3 beer mug.
It all came to almost 50 euro, which isn't terrible, but the quality of what we got was very far from ideal. We noted this, but I'll definitely come back to the quality of food (and especially salads) separately.
Looking ahead a bit, the other food trucks were slightly cheaper and tastier, but there the food was only in plastic containers. And besides food trucks with food in plastic and one coconut tent on the beach, there was nothing else. No shop or any kind of small stand was found.
Okay, so we just need to come to the beach with our own beer supply next time.
A small side note: the island had an endemic species (something that lived only in this locality and nowhere else) - the Dodo bird. It was completely wiped out by Europeans, as the bird was plump and rather dim-witted (just like all of us after New Year's), but Mauritians continue to use the image of the extinct bird everywhere they can - in products, souvenirs, and basically anywhere possible. They even named this brewery after it, not bad beer by the way, a liter in glass!
So yes, bringing your own beer to the beach - definitely.
But this was Mauritius, and it was not that simple.
Good Evening (Not)
On the way back to the apartments, none of the establishments had opened, and there was decisively nothing resembling a shop in the area. When asking our aunty about infrastructure, we got the answer that the nearest shop was only 10 minutes away. But almost immediately, "oh wait, do you have a car? No? Oh sorry, ten minutes RIDE."
Ten minutes ride, ladies and gentlemen. A car itself isn't a problem, but renting one in the first days just to drive ten minutes to a shop wasn't in the plans. Our people don't drive rental cars to get baguettes. I love long promenades, and tourist promenades are especially my love. So ten minutes ride transforms into about 35 minutes walking, but the map showed only a highway there, and walking would require going around the whole beach and would take 1:25, which is too much for a simple walk. And there was nothing resembling an easy taxi call.
Oh yes. There's practically no public transport on the island. Technically there are buses, but that's just technically - in reality, it lives its own life for locals, and getting to tourist points of interest with any comfort on this thing is practically impossible.
Okay, but within a thirty-minute walk from Mont Choisy there's another beach, Trou aux Biches, which was presented as also (also, really?) a beach with decent infrastructure, so we needed to walk there, especially since there wasn't much else to do.
Getting there leisurely in about 40 minutes, we were met by sunset on the beach, and the large number of people there gave hope. But beyond that were several closed cafes, two open cafes, and one tiny shop with consumer goods and basic food like cookies and alcohol.
Near the shop were two tables with people leisurely sipping beer. The general vibe created a complete feeling that the action was just about to start, right there, literally around the corner. That somewhere there was a fun bar or even a street of bars, where there would be fun, party poppers, and hats in the air. There were bars, but everything was either simply closed or closed with signs of abandonment. Meeting another couple of lost souls who had been living right here for two days already, who had searched all the surroundings and were also decisively looking for simple human "somewhere to hang out," it became clear that something was generally not right here.
But there was no answer to what wasn't right and how to fix it.
We had dinner at one of the open cafes, where the owner was promoting that he had the tastiest Indian cuisine. Let me make a micro-digression here. Indian cuisine is one of my favorites, more specifically, there are a couple of amazing dishes that are in my chart of the world's best dishes. When I was very impressed that every tiny Indian eatery had three or four pages of different dishes: dishes of all kinds, veg and non-veg, but having traveled extensively around various regions, I realized that while Indian cuisine can seem vast, it often revolves around a few key techniques and ingredients, like yogurt-based curries and various types of flatbreads. But chicken tikka masala and cheese garlic naan is a winning combination always, so that's what we ordered.
There was no naan. The tikka masala turned out quite *not the same*, and it was clear the chef might not have had firsthand experience with traditional Indian cooking. But it was tasty, and honestly, I was just glad it was available, as finding food here was a bit of a challenge.
By the way, that shameful (as it's fashionable to say, tired) salad on the plate - if you double the portion, that's exactly what becomes a "green salad" for 15-20€.
On the way back, we had a bottle of beer and the first day ended. Not a single open bar was encountered on the way.
A New Day of Mauritian Discoveries
Early morning in the neighborhood saw one single café open for breakfast - it was tasty, but it decidedly couldn't accommodate all the people coming inside with seating, and consequently, breakfast not in baguette form. People would come in, ask about tables, but either just get disappointed or take something to go. By around 11, it closed too, after which it didn't open again until the next morning.
Well, they can do it when they try, it was delicious:
The day itself didn't differ much from the previous one - the beach still had nothing except food trucks, no shops appeared in the area, but the beach and swimming were still devilishly perfect.
The local cultural diversity is evident in everything, for example, some beachgoers set up tents where they spread out all their belongings, which looks quite striking and strongly contrasts with the paradise aesthetic around.
From Mauritius, one might expect vibrant beach parties, if not like the Latin Americans in the Caribbean (that's an unattainable bar for everyone in the world), then at least like in Kenya or South Africa. But here, beach gatherings typically involve playing outdated musique de danse through speakers from a car AND LISTENING TO IT MOTIONLESSLY. And if someone wants to dance, that solo burst of energy will last for about 15 seconds of spontaneous movements. And this wasn't a one-time thing, it happened several times.
But the swimming was still perfect.
Not a single bar in the area ended up opening, not a single establishment (neither those we passed by nor those specifically checked on maps) worked during lunch time, only food trucks with noisy generators. But in the evening, some kind of miracle happened: right next to the apartments, literally before our eyes, one restaurant for the whole area opened, adjacent to the breakfast place. And it was this place that showed that it's not us who don't understand something, but this is just - how it is here. The establishment had about 12 tables, and they were all instantly occupied (hurray, we were lucky to get seated), after which the owner physically couldn't seat people and had to turn them away at the entrance.
Picture this scene: people come out for an evening promenade, all dressed up, happily see an open café, approach it, and they're told - sorry, no seats, and there's nowhere else for them to go.
If this seems surreal to you, well, it's not just seeming that way.
I understand if there really was nothing around, but there are plenty of café premises that are just closed or work for a couple of unknown hours on certain days of the week. And most importantly - there are plenty of people in apartments around, walking with bored eyes, all dressed up, ready to spend money and getting a magical nothing. I sincerely tried to understand the issue, googling tons of stuff, but nowhere is there a clear answer and none of the locals could clearly explain why it's like this either. Well, like, there's Grand Baie (a non-swimmable beach with a mall not far from it) 10 minutes away by car, what's the problem?
Next Stop is Flick en Flack
Until 13:00 the next day was Groundhog Day: running early morning to the open café for breakfast to get a seat, then breakfast itself. Many thanks that you're the only ones around who exist!
Somewhere at the very edge of the beach there's a ghat - a word I know from Varanasi - the cremation city on the Ganges River. Here nobody was cremating anyone, but all the Hindu ritualism was fully present. There was a very amusing drama with a couple who almost had a falling out over how to release flowers into the water, but it didn't get caught on camera.
Beach and food from the truck. There's a thing on the island - even if you order noodles/rice with something, it will be 50/50 with chicken. That is, in "noodles with shrimp" chicken will be the main ingredient with several shrimp on top as an addition.
And then there was the move to Flic en Flac beach. Our WhatsApp guy charged 70 euros for an hour's drive, but passing by a nest of bored taxi drivers who finally appeared, we arranged with one, nicknamed Zeliboba, to drive us comfortably for 50 in his Toyota.
Yes, so you better understand what the Mauritian taxi fleet looks like:
Zeliboba pulled something incomprehensible just before the finish of the trip. Literally 5 minutes before arrival, he stopped with hazard lights on the roadside and says:
"Let's call the apartment owner, they'll tell us how to get there"
"But you have the exact point on your navigator through the internet..."
"Better to call"
"Why?"
No coherent answer could be obtained, we sat for 10 minutes while he performed navigator magic, turning something on and off, moving the point to the same spot, getting nervous and worried, but then we still drove EXACTLY along the initially plotted route. Zeliboba was very nervous, but we calmly arrived at the new apartments in exactly 4 minutes. Maybe he knew something, or maybe - this is just Mauritius.
The new apartments were fire, with their own parking and completely fresh renovation. Walking to the beach, we discovered bars, several cafés, and a HUGE SUPERMARKET, entering which I felt like a villager who came to the City on the Hill to look at the lights and passing cars.
They had EVERYTHING! And you could buy it! Exchange money for products, cool! Now this is life!
Flic en Flac beach was much simpler (really much simpler), but there was real life around it in the form of bars, cafés, and a huge store with everything necessary.
It seemed that this was it - life was getting better, and oh how we would live.
But it only seemed that way, because this was Mauritius and everything was not that simple.
Thank you!