Just couple of days back, I came back from Mauritius after a gr8 honeymoon trip with my wife Surya… Before I get out of the Mauritius effect,,, I feel like penning down certain details about the Mauritius Trip, So that It will be useful for the people who are planning to go there after wedding for their Honeymoon…
My entire post will be based on South Indian point of view..So that in future pakka South Indian ppl like me who is living in Virudhunagar won’t hesitate to go to Mauritius 🙂
Some details about Mauritius:
Mauritius is considered as one the best/hot spot for honeymoon due to it’s climate,beach and cleanliness of the city. Cost of living is very high in Mauritius.. But if you plan properly, U can reduce the cost and enjoy to the core… We, south Indian’s always prefer to go to some place within India so that we don’t need to take risk of wearing any modern dress in which we are not comfortable with..But take my words, once you complete reading this entire post, U will be ready to fly 2 Mauritius with U R partner.
Structure Of the Trip:
Mauritius trip is all about 6 nights/7 days Only* It means, U will be reaching there on Tuesday and returning back On Monday. If you book the trip via travel agent, they will provide u free 3 days sight seeing and remaining 2 days u will be free and on the last day, u will be asked to checkout the room and go to airport.
Now I am gonna explain the various Sight seeing places which i visited during 6 days of stay in Mauritius. (Just cut/copy/paste my tour schedule)
Very sorry for the very low clarity of the Image.. But still, I will explain the Tours in detail.
Mauritius is divided into 3 parts,namely The North, The south and Port Louis(Capital Of Mauritius). Apart from these 3, there are n number of Islands near by…
Day 1:One full day will be wasted in arriving Mauritius, reaching hotel and doing some paper works in order to check-in to the Hotel followed by Candle light Dinner along with a bottle of Red wine 🙂
Day 2: Its called as North Tour… At first, they take us to a botanical garden(Pamplemousses) followed by a fort(The citadel) and a shopping mall(Caudan waterfront) . The tour will carry on till 5 pm and later they will take us back to Hotel.
Day 3: Its called as Island Tour. They take us to an Island namely Ile Aux Cerfs by a speed boat. Once you reach the Island, U can do lot of water sports like Parasailing, Funny seater, Banana boat, Under sea walk etc., The best part of Mauritius is, Even non swimmers can take part in all the water based sports. Regarding dress code, we can wear any dress in which we are comfortable with.. But typical Indian Saree is not allowed 🙂 Once U r done with activities, take a walk around the Island and there is an Indian Restaurant with typical south Indian food.. Just eat as much u can , as u wont get such foods outside. In the evening , they will take us back to the Hotel.
Day 4: Its called as South Tour. I would put it as school tour 🙂 They take us to some temples,water falls, shopping places ,zoo and Seven colored Earth… To be frank, this tour is not advisable for couples 🙂 But still, being a complimentary tour it’s our duty to take part in it and take some pics 🙂 In the evening , they will take us back to Hotel
Day 5: Its Free day as per the Schedule. But we paid extra and went to Casela Park. Its about one hour drive from Turtle Bay. During the morning we just had a walk around the park and took some pics with animals. At 12pm, we were taken for Interaction with lion, thats the best part of our life. In my life, I have never thought that I will touch a lion and take a photograph with it:-)
later in the Evening, we went for Quad biking. we will be taken inside a Jungle and we will be able to witness all kind of wild animals moving freely… We can take pics with them, feed them etc…Quad Biking lasts for 2 hours.. Only in discovery channel , I have seen these kind of biking trips inside Jungle.. This Quad Biking trip will be in my heart forever. In the evening, they will take us back to the Hotel.
Day 6: Its Free day. As we stayed in Le-Meridian,the hotel offered free water sports activities like Glass Boat, Water Skiing, Pedal Boat etc.. One full day we took part in various in house activities and walked to a shop near by called as Max Shop and did some Shopping.
Day 7: The last day of the trip. At 9.30 am, a lady called from Reception and asked us to pack the things and check-out by 12 pm:-( That news created a stir in our heart, but still its time to move from Mauritius. With aching heart, we packed the things and checked-out the room by 12:15 pm. Our Flight was only at 9:35 pm, so we had some hours. we utilized it for swimming and had a dip in the beach(Indian Ocean). As the clock neared 5 pm, we moved to Hotel lobby and waited for the cab. At 5.30 pm, we got into the cab and said good-bye to Le-Meridian with some tears inside our heart:-( We badly missed Mauritius and Le- Meridian. Though we were sad, the driver who took as to Airport made us happy by degrading India in all possible ways:-)
Cost of the Trip:(All the calculations are based on bookings done 3 months in advance)
Flight Fare: Rs 29,500 * 2 = Rs 59,000 (In Air Mauritius)
Hotel Rent per Couple: Rs 65,000 to Rs 80,000 (Which includes free Breakfast and dinner for all the 7 days along with 3 days free sight seeing(i.e Day 2 ,Day 3, and Day 4). T-shirt, Fruit Basket and a bottle of wine is complimentary and it will be kept inside the room when U check- In the room)
Water Sports during Day 3 tour to an Island: 250 USD per couple, which includes entry ticket for all water sports, speed boat drive and lunch packets)
Casela Park: 400 USD per couple.( Which includes up and down transfer from hotel , entry to the park, Interaction with Lion, and Quad Biking)
Apart from the above mentioned expenses, we need to have extra money for shopping, buying snacks, eating lunch and other personal expenses.
Useful Tips and Advices:
- Air Mauritius(MK 747/MK 746) operates once in a week from Chennai/Bangalore on Tuesday. So U need to plan a trip for one week(i.e departing from Chennai/Bangalore on Tuesday and arriving back to Chennai/Bangalore on Monday). In case, if you want to change dates as U wish, then you have to go via Dubai and flight charges will be very high.
- Its advisable to book through any well known travel agent. I would suggest Thomas cook. Though it’s bit expensive, The quality of service which they provided during the entire trip was Excellent. If not Thomas cook, then go ahead with Make my Trip.
- As i mentioned early, the cost of living is very costly in Mauritius. If you want to eat Indian food, then pack all Instant food items like cup noodles, Instant rice items etc.. If your a Junk food freak, then pack as much as Junk food in your check-in baggage.
- Inside hotel, everything is costly. Say for Example the cost of water(300 ml) is Rs 50.00 in Mauritian Rupees which means Rs 80.00 in INR:-) The same with drinks like beer, wine etc.. If you want to cut down these expenses. Just take a walk to any retail shop near by, and buy water bottle, Beer can , and junk foods and take it to U r room 🙂 But we didn’t follow this master rule, as the result we paid extra amount when checking out 🙂
- Honeymoon is an one time event, don’t try to take any risk by booking in unknown hotel in order to reduce the total cost of the trip. I did some research in Internet and found good reviews for the hotels like Le-meridian, Intercontinental and Grand Mauritian. All these 3 are top class 5 Star hotels which provide U safety during U r stay. Remember, If you stay in a star hotel, they provide you free unlimited Breakfast and unlimited Dinner. Even if you stay in small hotels, the amount you spend for food will be very huge. So, without taking risk please choose a good resort, because everyday at 5 pm, U will be back to room and U need to spend the rest of the time in the hotel.
Dress Code:
- Just pack some casual dress for the entire trip.Jeans,Tshirt/Tops, Shorts, 3/4 shorts are preferred. Casual Slippers is a must to walk around the beach and hotel. In case, if U R willing to go for Quad Biking, then Sports shoe is a must. And when going for Quad biking, Please wear any dark color dress.. because i wore White t-shirt and when finishing the Biking the color of the T-shirt changed into black 🙂
- For all kind of water sports activities, Gents can wear shorts and T-shirt. Regarding Ladies, it’s advisable to wear dark colored 3/4 shorts and dark colored T-shirt. Swim Suit is not a must for water sports activities. So South Indian Ladies, don’t worry that, U will be asked to wear swim Suit and know Swimming if you want to do any kind of water sports activities 🙂
- Most of the hotel don’t allow Gents to wear shorts or 3/4th shorts during Buffet or sitting in the Lobby, So please take extra number of full track phants and fully covered type of chapels to wear during Buffets. Ladies can wear what ever dress they like during Buffet:-)
Some useful web-links:
Conclusion:
In this context, I would like to thank Mr. Pagalam Prem Kumar and his Office staffs(Pagalam Trawells International- Virudhunagar) for taking special care of my Mauritius trip and planned out very well in the last minute.
I would also like to thank all the staffs of Le-meridian, for making our stay very pleasant and memorable one.
I think, this much of details is enough for the readers to get to know about the Mauritius and plan for a Trip, if they are interested. If you still have any doubts regarding the trip. Please mail me to vanniaperumal@gmail.com
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