MAURITIUS TRAVEL BLOG - 2 WEEKS IN PARADISE

I was lucky enough to take a trip to Mauritius for Christmas & New Year in 2015 (Yes this blog post is SUPER late). This was the first time I ever spent Christmas away from home and even though I am a complete home bird and Christmas FREAK it was honestly one of the best trips I've ever been on to this day, and I've taken a fair few trips since then. Mauritius is BEAUTIFUL.

We split our stay into 2 villas - Flacq for Christmas and then Belle Mare for New Year. We also rented a car to go explore. Before going to Mauritius I would 100% of thought this is the kind of place you book a nice hotel and just lye on the beach as there won't be much around. This could not be further from the truth - even though I did spend a lot of time doing the below.

It's obviously not the cheapest of destinations, especially at Christmas. Luckily for me I tagged on to a trip my boyfriends parents had booked so I only had to pay for my flight and spending money. My flight alone was £1400 so if I were to go again I probably wouldn't go this time of year as nothing we did was really that seasonal! I've listed below some of the highlights from the trip and things I would 100% recommend if you plan on visiting!

Swimming with dolphins

Unlike my usual Christmas Eve of sitting with a box of Roses and watching The Snowman I got up at 5am to embark on a trip to go see wild dolphins. We were staying in Flacq at this point and the pick up was in Grand Baie so we had to drive about 40 minutes to get there then its about an hour on the minibus to the beach where the boats are.

When we arrived to the beach we got on a speedboat and were taken out about half an hour/40 minutes into the middle of the ocean. You have to go early as its when the water is coldest and you are more likely to see dolphins. There were about another 10-15 boats doing the same thing but be mindful if you are jumping in and out of the water!

We were lucky enough to see a massive pod of dolphins below us. I have never see anything like it. There were baby dolphins who touched fins with their mums the whole time and never left them! There were moments where I did feel like I was in Jaws as the water is SO deep and blue, but the dolphins brought me back to reality.

If you are in Mauritius and want an unbelievable experience definitely do this! I think we paid around £100 each for the trip which included all travel.

Speed boat with snorkeling

On one of our first days we walked along the beach at Belle Mare and asked about being taken out on a boat. I think we paid around £20 and he took us out and let us snorkel for about an hour before taking us right round to see different parts of the island

It's not hugely tropical fish but the water is so clear and he had all of the gear for us to go out into the water. Definiteley worth the money and somewhere you wouldn't go on a booked trip, it was stunning driving round and seeing all the different hotels, perving on the nice ones etc and also was only a few hours so you can then lye on the beach all day feeling like you've accomplished something.

Cocktails and dinner at Lux Belle Mare

Now this is one of those hotels that you would think to go to if you were going on holiday to Mauritius. On the beach, lush setting and amazing location right on the beach. We went here a few times to sit on the beanbags and enjoy a cocktail (or 3) while watching the sunset.

We also had lunch one day and dinner another night, its really affordable, obviously more expensive than the average restaurant here but the view makes up for it and the food was brilliant. Its 100% worth visiting but I think that's the beauty of staying in a villa as you can go to different places as I can imagine having dinner here every night as beautiful as it is, means you wouldn't see the rest of Mauritius!

The markets

I love going to markets abroad and the markets in Mauritius didn't disappoint. I bought quite a lot of stuff, jewellery, scarfs etc but we also bought some fruit and veg for one of our BBQ's. Would deffo visit one during your trip!

Catamaran trip

We booked a Catamaran trip which included bottomless Rum & Cokes, a waterfall, snorkelling stop, BBQ and going to a private island. This was great and we met some really nice people also on the trip as it was a shared boat (would recommend this). Just go easy on the Rum & Coke's, I spent the whole time on the private island face down in the sand after inhaling a Magnum to try and sober me up. Good times.

Quad biking day trip

This was by far the best thing we did in Mauritius. It was a full day of Quad biking which included hikes to secluded waterfalls, a trip to a wildlife park and incredible views. Being a little scaredy cat some of the quad biking is very extreme, like I nearly fell off, alot. But it was all so worth it!

You also get a little muddy. P.S how much does Josh look like Michael Mcintyre in this pic? LOL

Picking fruit from trees and drinking fresh coconut, swimming in the freshest water from a waterfall and seeing parts of Mauritius people never probably see, I would say this should be top of your list!

I created a video for my boyfriend for his birthday using all of the footage from Mauritius as I realized 85% of it is of him, press play to take a look!

AbbieJS

xxx

#TRAVEL