With some places, all you have to do is look at a photo and be transported. Our visit to the website of Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury did just that: an achingly inviting pool flanked by gently curving palm trees stretching up to a clear blue sky. A sunken cocktail bar and beyond that a restaurant with an ocean view. We felt ready to dive into the picture of what’s arguably one of the finest hotels in Mauritius.
The reality is even better. An hour’s drive from Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, we cut through the seaside town of Grand Baie, up a long winding driveway (past a helicopter pad, which is always a sign you’re in a nice hotel), to be welcomed into the property’s stylish, indoor/outdoor-style main building. Think thatched rooves and open-air pillared spaces around a central pool, paired with a cosy raised section with deep couches, board games and a cigar humidor.
The staff were generally very friendly and helpful. There is a slight ‘island time’ vibe, (and we have found this to be true across Mauritius, not just here) so service is relatively casual in contrast to the hyper-attentive culture of luxury hotels in, for example, Southeast Asia. And waiters are quite happy to let you know if you’ve made a poor dinner choice and steer you towards a better option. But that’s just part of the deal here, and a taste of the national character. You quickly get used to it and it’s quite charming.
The Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury is a beach-focused resort, with palm-fringed ivory sands stretching off along the cove as far as the eye can see. Thatched parasols shade sun beds as the warm waves wash the shore. An army of white-uniformed waiters tends to your needs, bringing a selection of delicious cocktails and snacks. The water here is perfect, just the right temperature to cool you down. A selection of complimentary water excursions is available from the hotel, including snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, or taking to the sea in glass bottom boats.
If you like to work out on holidays, Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury boasts a particularly impressive gym. Spread over three rooms, it includes an open-plan studio for classes, a cardio area and a weight room with the latest Technogym equipment. Personal training and even martial arts instruction are available. We trained Brazillian jiu-jitsu with Arun and found him excellent, with impressive expertise and a relaxed, friendly demeanour that made his sessions a highlight of our stay.
The spa is next door in a tranquil pavilion with a sun deck and a small pool, offering the Royal Valmont, an 80-minute head-to-toe ‘wholeness ritual’.
| Perfect for | Fly into | Right on time |
| The Escapist | MRU | GMT +4 |
| While you’re Out There |
| Although we ran out of time to try this particular excursion, we were fascinated by the idea of a trip via helicopter to the underwater waterfall at Le Morne peninsula. This is not an actual waterfall, but a unique optical illusion that can only be seen from the sky. Located at a turquoise lagoon in the shade of a UNESCO World Heritage Peak, this makes for a once-in-a-lifetime view. |
The hotel’s circular, sunken cocktail bar has a perfect sea view to go with your evening aperitif. And the custom concoctions at the Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury are delicious – though a couple will blow your head off (luckily the friendly French mixologist warned us not to have too many of one particularly powerful concoction!). For music aficionados, there’s live jazz music most evenings to set the mood.
We had dinner at La Goelette, the resort’s excellent fine dining restaurant, feasting on delicious seafood as the warm breeze came in off the sea. Restaurant La Plage is situated right on the beach beneath the shade of a Badamier ‘Indian almond’ tree. It offers a pan-Asian menu created by Executive Chef William Girard. Take it from us, the crispy prawn salad followed by crabmeat pad thai was excellent. The restaurants require semi-formal wear, but so long as you have something with a collar and ditch the flip-flops, you’re fine.
All 69 rooms are sea-facing and about thirty steps (we counted) will take you from the ground floor to the ocean. Ours was spacious, with a large balcony with a dining table, a separate lounge, a huge bathroom with a free-standing bath, and a walk-in wardrobe.
Some untypically bad weather arrived during our stay, confining us to the room, and extra praise must be given to the room service staff who braved the conditions to keep us happily fed and cared for. Pouring rain can occur in a tropical country, but the Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury dealt with it extremely well, putting on rum tastings, flower arranging lessons, and keeping us constantly updated. In the evening, as conditions got better, we headed outside to stand alone on the beach and watch one of the most spectacular sunsets we’ve ever witnessed.
The location of the resort, picked for its beauty by Beachcomber Hotels back in 1952 when the company opened the first of its eight hotels here, is no doubt part of what makes it so special. The Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury is clearly the brand’s flagship, but despite its age, it remains the gorgeous grande dame of this island nation.
Zack travelled to Mauritius from London with Air Mauritius. For more information on the island nation, visit the website of the Mauritius Tourism Authority.
Photography by Eric Cuvillier
