In May 2022, Alex and I traveled to Mauritius for our mutual friend’s wedding (she is actually the friend who introduced us!). If you haven’t heard of Mauritius, that’s okay, I hadn’t either until I moved to South Africa. Mauritius is a small island nation off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Alex and I spent a week on the island hanging out with friends, new and old, exploring, and enjoying the crystal clear water and warm sandy beaches. Here’s what we got up to and everything you need to know about visiting Mauritius!
traveling to Mauritius
PIN ITSince Mauritius is a slightly remote island, we didn’t have many flight options. We had to fly on a small plane from Lusaka, Zambia to Johannesburg, South Africa, and after a short layover, fly from Jo’burg to Port Louis, Mauritius. Mauritius is a former French colony so there are often direct flights from Paris to Port Louis. There are also direct flights from South Africa and India.
Africa is a lot bigger than people may realize and flights around Africa can be quite expensive. Our flights from Zambia to South Africa on ProFlight cost $420 per person roundtrip and our flights from South Africa to Mauritius on Air Mauritius were $566 per person roundtrip.
COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
When we traveled to Mauritius in May 2022 COVID-19 tests weren’t required to enter the country as long you were fully vaccinated. However, we were given a rapid test when we arrived at our hotel. Whether they actually cared about the results of those rapid tests is another story…
Once within the resort, a mask was required when walking around in public spaces, but as expected, not everyone followed those rules – especially on the beach.
where we stayed
PIN ITOur friends got married at the Victoria Beachcomber Resort & Spa and got a discount for all the guests. The resort is beautiful and offers so many amenities. All guests can take advantage of free water sports like waterskiing, kayaks, paddle boats, windsurfing, and wakeboarding. They also have free snorkeling for guests. The resort even helps guests arrange excursions and scuba diving for an extra cost.
The rooms are big and beautiful and every room has a balcony overlooking the water. Check out this Instagram Reel from our room. As all-inclusive guests, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks were included. There were at least four different restaurants that we could choose from for dinner, including the standard buffet dinner. We paid $1,800 for two people for five nights.
What we did (activities)
Alex and I are not “chill on the beach” type people. We like to keep our vacations busy and active so we signed up for every activity that we could. Here are some of the things that you can do while in Mauritius, particularly at the Victoria Beachcomber.
scuba diving
PIN ITThe diving in Mauritius was beautiful. The water was crystal clear and we saw a lot of different animals – sadly, no sharks. My first dive was to the Stella Maru Wreck – an old Japanese fishing boat that capsized in the 1980s. Despite only being underwater for 40 years, the boat was already completely taken over by the sea and coral reef. The visibility was incredible on this dive – the top of the wreck was 20 meters underwater and you could see it from the surface!
My second dive was to Poison Reef and we saw a ton of stonefish, eels, and lionfish – hence the name Poison Reef. I did another reef dive the next day and saw similar animals. I was bummed I didn’t see any sharks or turtles, but I think the water is heavily overfished, especially the sharks because of the high shark attack rate at the nearby island, Réunion.
The dives were organized at the resort and cost about $160 total including equipment rental. Watch my YouTube video here to see more from the dives! Check out my other posts about scuba diving to see how Mauritius compares!
Catamaran tour
PIN ITWhat’s better than spending the day at sea, cruising around Mauritius on a catamaran? Nothing, I wager. We were picked up at the hotel and taken to a port where we jumped on a catamaran. We spent the day on the boat cruising around the island with stops to see a waterfall, swim, and hang out on another small island.
The staff at the Victoria Beachcomber helped us arrange a catamaran tour through a separate tour company. The catamaran tour included transportation to the port and lunch and cost about $75 per person.
SNORKELING
PIN ITThe resort offered free snorkeling as part of your stay – including equipment. We took a small boat a few minutes away from the main beach to a small reef for snorkeling. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t super impressed with the snorkeling. They took us to a reef during low tide so it was hard to avoid hitting the reef with our fins. Overall, the reef seemed pretty damaged, so I’m not sure I would do this again. However, the deeper areas were really nice and I do love swimming.
WATER-SKIING and wakeboarding
PIN ITWater-skiing and wakeboarding were also included as free activities at the resort. Every day a small boat took people out to a floating dock a few hundred meters from shore. There, people hung out and took turns water-skiing or wakeboarding behind a bigger boat. Alex loves water-skiing and did this most days. Although I can waterski, it’s not my favorite, so I only did this once.
Paddle-Boating
PIN ITAnother fun, free activity offered by the resort. I think they also offered windsurfing, but I did not have the chance to try that.
Wedding vibes
PIN ITUltimately, we were in Mauritius for our friend’s wedding and it was absolutely gorgeous. If you are looking for a place to get married off the coast of Africa, I highly recommend it! Check out their website for more about planing your wedding at a Beachcomber resort.
I hope this helped you plan (or at least dream of) your Mauritius vacation! Make sure to check out my Instagram for more pictures! I also created an entire video with highlights from our stay, which you can watch here:
Have you ever been to Mauritius? What did you do while you were there? Let me know in the comments!