Why the original love island is best for honeymoons

ISLAND EXPERTS

When it comes to Mauritius, Beachcomber has a storied history with the island since opening the country’s first hotel in 1952. Each of its eight resorts offers its own settings and styles to suit different wedding and honeymoon tastes.

Its three wedding packages – starting at Bliss, Barefoot and its most inclusive option Bespoke – include all necessary legal fees and a dedicated wedding planner, while also featuring customisable options from photography and videographers, to flowers, hairdressing and live music.

Weddings usually take place in cooler late-afternoon periods, which also allow photographers to capture some sumptuous Indian Ocean sunsets (as we later discover).

An important selling point for Beachcomber is the guarantee of only one wedding per day at all its resorts. “It’s that attention to detail we pride ourselves on,” says Beachcomber Tours UK national sales manager Sarah Archer, explaining how its resort teams are known as “artisans” because of their passion for “crafting” guests’ stays.

SHARED EXPERIENCES

Another reason for couples to say ‘I do’ to Beachcomber are its Beachcomber Experiences – an extensive list of complimentary activities (one per couple) available to honeymooners and guests celebrating five-year anniversaries.

From boat trips and hiking through to cooking classes and horse-riding, each resort offers their own options, often utilising local nature spots and attractions. It’s the reason I find myself standing on onefoot and staring, somewhat unsteadily, into Laura’s eyes as we intertwine in a tree-like pose.

As strange an exercise as this sounds, even for honeymooners, it’s the culmination of our couples’ Hatha yoga class, one of the Beachcomber Experiences offered at its Dinarobin resort. Hatha, meaning “force” in Sanskrit, focuses on static poses and is great, we’re told, for yoga beginners – luckily for me given my all-round appalling posture.

With a host of stretches and breathing exercises, we’re put through our paces during the 30-minute session in the resort’s tranquil Indian-themed meditation room and later cool off in the spa pool, overlooked by the impressive Le Morne mountain (which, even as 556m-high monolith, looks more flexible than I am). Guests staying in Dinarobin – located on Mauritius’s south-western Morne Peninsula – have the benefit of using watersports and dining venues in Beachcomber’s nearby Paradis hotel, a short walk or buggy shuttle away.

Keeping up the day’s Indian theme, that evening we try an eight-dish curry by candlelight at Paradis’s open-air, beachfront La Ravanne restaurant, which nestles just 70 diners across intimate thatched booths. A tradition at Mauritian weddings – around 70% of Mauritians have Indian heritage – the curries range from the more conventional chicken to octopus and banana.

Also offering local flavours – and putting the honey in honeymoon – is a new Beachcomber initiative giving guests the chance to visits the hotels’ bee hives and aiming to raise awareness of the important role bees play in biodiversity. While at Dinarobin we visit its 10 hives (among 45 across Beachcomber’s hotels and head office) with bee-watching tours and honey-tasting experiences being rolled out to guests and honey served on hotel menus. It will also feature on sustainability-focused parts of future agent educational trips.

ADDING VALUE

Back at Trou aux Biches, more opportunity for guests to indulge will soon be on the way with Beachcomber adding all-inclusive for the first time from 1 November, making it the fifth Beachcomber resort to offer the option.

“We’ve had great feedback from agents after launching and we’re already seeing strong demand,” says Archer, and the change will no doubt appeal to those customers looking to push the boat out. But, according to Archer, there’s also a place for couples on a budget too, with all Beachcomber properties (except Royal Palm) offering half-board honeymoon guests complimentary lunches, just one of its ways of adding value. “Honeymoons can go a long way in Mauritius,” she says. “That could be the difference between 10 or 14 nights.”

We feel that value on our final night on the island as we enjoy another Beachcomber Experience with an evening boat trip (which could be up to six guests) from Trou aux Biches. The island’s north-west coast is known for unforgettable sunsets and, even plied with generous top-ups of fizz and platters of canapes, we’re still left open-mouthed when greeted by a dazzling, violet sky as the sun drifts below the horizon.

After our boat returns to shore, we walk along the beach, our toes in the sand once again. It’s a picture-perfect end to a trip and a destination to fall in love with over and over again.

Book it:
Seven nights at Trou aux Biches Beachcomber Golf Resort & Spa in a Junior Suite departing June 2023 leads in from £1,665pp, with return economy flights on half-board with complimentary lunches.
• beachcombertours.uk