Tamarin is a small fishing village on the south-western coast of Mauritius.Tamarin Beach surrounded by salt pans, is close to 1.5 kilometres in length. Much of the beach is lost to the incoming waves at high tide. But a gap in Tamarin Beach’s coral reef allows large waves to reach its white sands. This gives the opportunity to the surfers.
Salt production dates back to the French period and the tradition of its making is almost unchanged after nearly two centuries. Water is pumped directly from the nearby sea and allowed to evaporate in the basins.
Tamarin Beach
The beach does attract quite a lot of visitors at times and is also the starting point for the dolphin-spotting trips and angling adventures.
Tamarin Bay was discovered by a wider audience and immortalized after the release of the classic surf documentary “Forgotten Island of Santosha” by Larry and Roger Yates in 1974.
The ongoing development in Mauritius has made this village to become home to a new leisure and commercial area. The surfing area was previously known as Santosha Bay although the villages did not want to give a moniker because they didn’t want outsiders to discover their cache of surfable seas. Now the conditions have changed and the villagers are reaping the benefits of the development in tourism.
Tamarin village is located in the district of Black River and is about 50 km and one hour drive from the International Airport. The capital Port Louis, is about 30 km north of Tamarin and the drive takes around 1 hour. There are bus services between Tamarin and key locations in Mauritius. Visitors can use the public transport to save some money.
There are excellent boutique hotels and self-catering villas to aparthotels, B&Bs, holiday rentals and two to five-star hotels in Tamarin. There is accommodation to suit every budget.
Sands Suites Resort & Spa is a 4 star superior hotel offering five star luxury. From the hotel you get magnificent views of Tamarin Bay and Le Morne Mountain.
Golf Club
Tamarina Golf & Spa Boutique Hotel is a 4-star boutique hotel offers a selection of 50 garden-facing or sea-facing rooms, a choice of three different restaurants as well as bars and a wellness centre and also features an 18-hole golf course. Tamarina Golf Club is a 18-hole Championship Golf Course. This Par 72 challenging course undulates over 43 hectares of rugged savannah land framed with mature trees and crossed by the Rempart River. The holes have been designed to give great views.
Veranda-Tamarin-Hotel-and-Spa
Veranda Tamarin Hotel and Spa is located in the mythical retro surf spot of Tamarin Bay.
There are many more hotels in the area.
Tamarin Bay is also known for the water sports such as surfing, bodyboarding, paddleboarding, kitesurfing, snorkeling and scuba diving, high sea fishing,catamaran cruise and dolphin or whale watching etc.
Cascavelle Shopping Village located in Flic-en Flac is a great destination for shopping.
Featured Image : Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash
There are some incredibly fine four and five star resorts within Flic En Flac – Sands is a very well known brand and as with most resorts in Flic En Flac, there are very good water sports facilities as well as a world class spa.
Also in the top range is the Hilton which offers similar exuberance. The Hilton is a five star luxury resort enjoying a prime stretch of beach – it’s actually in Wolmar which is a stone’s throw from Flic en Flac (about a 5 minute taxi ride). Watch out for the giant gong that is bashed whenever a new arrival enters the resort, and for the refreshing welcome cocktail…usually a special concoction.
There are also some excellent nightly entertainment shows provided by the Hilton – don’t miss the cultural dances that take place twice weekly, and there is a very good live band that plays by the beach nightly.
Sugar Beach makes the third main top end resort and it’s right next doors to the Hilton.
If you’re not able to splash out on a luxury resort there are also some very good medium and budget options including:
Mauritius is a country which has a rich choice of top end holiday resorts and hotels.
It’s surprising then that it’s capital is relatively bare of accommodation – possibly because most holiday makers to Mauritius stay in one of the beach regions and typically travel to Mauritius for a day trip.
Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel – It’s possibly more suited to business travel but the Labourdonnais has 109 rooms and is situated along Caudan waterfront. It’s officially a five star hotel with 109 rooms and has the elegance and facilities that you would expect from a top end resort. The rooms themselves come in five varieties from standard to presidential suites, all immaculately decorated.
Hotel guests can enjoy a wide range of restaurants offering a lovely range of cuisines including Thai, Indian and European.
Le St George’s Hotel – A reasonable hotel which has business meeting rooms, located on St Georges St, and within a stone’s throw of the main heart of Port Louis. It’s relatively small compared to many of the other resorts in holiday Mauritius but the 21 rooms that this resort has are well designed and offer good quality furnishing and some wonderful sea views out into the Indian ocean.
Hotel Le Grand Carnot – Certainly a choice for the budget conscious, the Carnot is situated on Dr Edouard Laurent St. Rooms available for as little as 350 Rs.
Bourbon Tourist Hotel – With rooms available from a little over 600 Rs, this is another budget choice.
Le Suffren Hotel – Situated right on the Cauden Waterfront, Le Suffren is a fair 3 star hotel. It has 100 rooms and access to a pleasant white sandy beach area.
Villa Jorico – You can pick up rooms at the Jorico for a very reasonable rate. It’s a pleasant guest house but it’s situated a little outside Port Louis.
The two premium resorts in Grand Baie are the Royal Palm and Le Mauricia. Royal Palm really is the pinnacle of luxury and among it’s best features are a world class spa. Le Mauricia is a four star hotel that has a very good kids club.
There are several other hotel choices in Grand Baie too:
Veranda Hotel: Has 94 rooms and is classed as a 3 star resort. There are all-inclusive deals available and the resort is well designed with a very relaxed feel. Some of the amenities include a pool, kids club and guests can enjoy nightly entertainment.
Merville Beach Hotel: A 3 star hotel with reasonable rooms and a decent location in the area. You can also opt for a couple of the other holiday resort choices available within Grand Baie for your Mauritius holiday
Filao Village Hotel
Ocean Villas
If you do decide to stay in Grand Baie for your Mauritius holiday then there are no shortage of restaurants to eat at, or things to see and do. Grand Baie is within easy reach of the capital of Port Louis (buses are available daily and you can hire a taxi any time of day to take you there and back).
The island isn’t especially large which means that even other destinations such as Black Gorges in the southern part of the island can be reached without too much effort.
