Best child-friendly hotels & resorts in Mauritius

Creole cool is the vibe at this all-inclusive four-star hotel on the northern tip of Mauritius, with chic, rustic rooms under thatch with wax-polished floors, driftwood furniture and show-stopping views. Activities include a sunrise boat trip with local fisherman, Creole lessons under coconut trees and Mauritian games at the thatched kids’ club. Its centrepiece is a pirate boat, the starting point for a treasure hunt by raft. Zilwa’s protected bay is perfect for paddling, and it has family rooms and nappy-changing facilities close to the main restaurants. There’s also a toddlers’ pool, kids’ massages at the spa and a cinema on the beach. Family rooms include a furnished terrace and the family-friendly swimming beaches of Grand Baie are nearby.

With thatched rondavels shaped like the sails of a traditional pirogue fishing boat spread among 1,000 coconut palms beside a mile-long beach with shallow calm waters, this spacious hotel is a family favourite. The Magenta restaurant sits on islands in and around the large lagoon-style pool with a water slide, where kids can order mocktails at the Coconut Café. A cheery and colourful Sun Kids’ Club for two- to 11-year-olds has an enclosed garden playground, where meals are served at thatched picnic tables. Activities for young ones range from tennis, windsurfing and mini-golf to pizza making, sega dancing lessons and crab hunting. There’s a pond with pelicans, flamingos and ducks to feed at La Pirogue’s five-star sister resort Sugar Beach, next door. Great  excursions include dolphin watching by catamaran in Tamarin Bay and fishing at Casela Nature & Leisure Park.

Families love this tropical village-style, all-suite hotel set in a shady palm grove on one of the island’s loveliest, sheltered white-sand beaches in the north-west, with shallow, flat water and a reef close to shore for snorkelling. The kids’ club has a large sandpit and splash pool, and offers a range of activities from kayaking, tennis, waterskiing and sega dancing lessons to making pirate hats, a crab hunt on the beach and eyeballing a shark on an excursion to the Mauritius aquarium. Trips on an undersea semi-submersible scooter and parasailing are available in Grand Baie, a 10-minute drive away.

This tranquil plantation-style hotel, with butler service, gourmet dining and a mile-long white-sand beach is a big hit for family holidays. There’s a large central swimming pool, with two adjoining children’s pools, and The Planters kids’ club. Activities include snorkelling, cookery classes, pony rides and an underwater treasure hunt. Children can also do a thrilling underwater walk past colourful tropical fish from a platform in the sea, have fun at the nearby Waterpark, or enjoy mini treatments at the Sanctuary Spa.

Roomy two-, three- or four-bedroom villas with stunning views over the sleepy south-west coast give families the run of the 2,500-hectare Domaine de Bel Ombre. It has 12 restaurants, a half-mile-long beach, a spa, an infinity pool, barbeques and more than 50 sports and leisure activities on offer. The free Cool Teens Club at Heritage Le Telfair offers free golf lessons, crab hunting and beach parties, as well as wi-fi, Nintendo Wii and pool tables. Teens can also zip to the C Beach Club in the villas’ golf cart for swimming and free watersports, including glass-bottom boat trips and waterskiing, while parents relax over breakfast.

Complimentary land sports include tennis, mountain biking and archery, and a hike up rocky Le Morne mountain. Quad biking through a deer-filled forest in the Frédérica Nature Reserve is a hit with teens, and families are within easy reach of treks in the nearby Black River Gorges National Park.

This colonial-style grande dame with butler service and gourmet restaurants has an idyllic situation – a stunning beach on the breezier, glamorous north-east coast of Mauritius, with more than a mile of white sand and 60 acres of palm-filled gardens. Activities at the teens’ club, which is equipped with PlayStations, wi-fi and an internet café, include outdoor movie nights, spinning the decks with a DJ and free watersports in the secluded, tideless lagoon. If that’s not enough, they can also enjoy golf, a Nipper lifeguard awareness programme and outdoor personal training, after which they can relax at the junior spa.

Don’t want to spend the whole holiday on a sun lounger? Discover exciting things to do with kids in Mauritius.