Mauritius holidays

Thanks to a 330-mile coastline, Mauritius has more than enough beaches to go around. As a rule of thumb, bigger waves break on the shores of the east coast’s beaches. That’s why surfers have become part of the furniture here. The west coast, meanwhile, is slightly more protected from the wind, so the sea tends to be calmer.

Mont Choisy, 20 minutes from Grand Gaube, is Mauritius’ longest beach. It’s a popular place and locals flock here at weekends to eat picnics on the sand. You won’t find any restaurants on the beach, but food vendors set up their stalls under the shade of the casuarina trees that line the beach.

Just 25 minutes from Belle Mare, Roches Noires Beach is a stranger to tourism. Apart from the odd fisherman, this stretch of untamed sand is largely deserted. The waves are the showstoppers here. They’re tumbling and loud, and they give this unspoilt beach a rugged and rustic look.

Convenience stores have never really taken off in Mauritius, and most locals do their shopping at markets. Head to the open-air market on Le Caudon waterfront in Port Louis to browse stalls of spices, handmade jewellery and carved wood. Alternatively, pencil in a trip to St Jean Road in Quatre Bornes on a Sunday or Thursday to shop for textiles, including sarongs and scarves.

Arts and crafts are more than a hobby in Mauritius. Lots of islanders make a living as artisans. In Mahebourg, 40 minutes from Belle Mare, you can visit papier-mâché workshops and buy souvenirs. The same applies to the basketry studios in Plaine-Magnien, an hour’s drive from Belle Mare. For more souvenirs from the source, visit a traditional factory, like Biscuiterie Rault in Mahebourg, which makes cassava cookies.

In Floreal, half an hour’s drive east from Flic en Flac, all that glitters is diamond. This inland village cuts its own diamonds and you can visit the diamond museum near Berthaud Avenue and buy the gems in the shop. You’ll also find some diamond shops in the Sunset Boulevard mall on Royal Road in Grand Bay. For labels, meanwhile, visit the Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius, just off the M1, 10 minutes from Port Louis. Armani, Guess and Hugo Boss ring through the tills here.

Regular visitors to Mauritius get on their soapbox to talk about the quality of the service and food in the island’s hotels. And it’s this reason why lots of holidaymakers to Belle Mare and Grand Gaube don’t venture beyond their own à la cartes. In Trou d’eau Douce, there are more opportunities to eat out. Head to Royal Road for fresh seafood and Mauritian curries. There’s a similar set up in Flic en Flac, where the creole cafes and curry eateries are spread between Coastal Road and Flic en Flac Road.

Grand Baie, 20 minutes from Grand Gaube, is the brains behind Mauritius’ nightlife operation. Royal Road is home to a crawl’s worth of bars, plus a few discos. The biggest ones are multi-storey and don’t close until 5am. For something really memorable, catch the boat over to Ile-aux-Cerfs, just round the headland from Belle Mare, for the monthly full moon party.

This stew dish comes in almost as many forms as Heinz soup. You can cook it with prawns, beef, dorado, sausages or paneer cheese. But chefs remain faithful to the creole sauce recipe, which calls for onions, chillies, coriander, thyme and tomatoes, which are known as the apples of love in Mauritius.

The recipe for this Mauritian chicken curry calls for a spice rack’s worth of flavours. The tomato-based sauce is made from ginger, curry leaves, cloves, cardamom and sometimes cinnamon and coriander. Most chefs add potatoes to the mix, too.

This is the original Mauritian fast food, and it’s sold by street food vendors all over the island. The bready base looks like a quilted pancake and it’s topped with ground yellow split peas in a curry sauce. Before it’s served, it’s rolled up into a wrap.

Pineapple sellers are as much a part of the Mauritian seaside as Mr Whippy vans are part of the Great British ones. Vendors carve their pineapples to order and, just as ice-cream sellers top their cones with a flake, Mauritian traders sprinkle their fruit with chilli and salt.

This is Mauritius’ answer to a milkshake. The chilled drink is made by mixing milk and sugar, and it’s flavoured with sweet basil, almond and vanilla essence. Some beach bars add a scoop of ice-cream to the mix, to thicken it up.