Le Meridien Ile Maurice

On paper, Le Meridien Ile Maurice hits every box for an easy and upscale island getaway. The resort occupies a prime piece of beachfront real estate and affords more than enough features and facilities for all sorts of travelers. For example, families are catered to with an all-day kids' club with playground, a toddler pool adjacent to the main one, and free baby-friendly amenities, like guard rails for the beds and diapers and wipes. Though the resort is kid-friendly, an adult-only section -- complete with separate check-in, infinity pool, and swim-up bar -- appeals to couples and honeymooners.

The main problem is the datedness throughout the resort. Rooms, restaurants, and other common areas are oddly devoid of character, and impersonal-feeling interiors aren't as modern or chic as one may expect from the Le Meridien brand. But the tired decor doesn't bother too many guests (mostly from western Europe, India, and Reunion Island), who are largely pleased with the hotel's many stronger points: big rooms, long beach, lots of amenities, full animation calendar, friendly service, and beautiful sunsets. The hotel offers bed-and-breakfast, half and full boards, and all-inclusive meal plans.

Le Meridien is on a part of Mauritius' northwestern coast where several luxury resorts (like Victoria Beachcomber Resort & Spa, The Oberoi, and The Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa) are clustered. The location is stunning, but isolated -- the property is bordered by plantation land and the village center of Pointe aux Piments is about a 25-minute walk north along the beach. The hotel is within short driving distance of attractions like the beach town of Trou aux Biches (11 minutes), Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden (15 minutes), Port Louis (20 minutes), and Grand Baie (23 minutes). The colonial plantation and rum factory Chateau de Labourdonnais is a 21-minute drive away. The drive to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) International Airport takes a little over an hour.

Rooms and suites at Le Meridien come supplied with all the amenities one might expect at a four-pearl property, but even highest-level suite can't really be called luxurious. This has to do mostly with the impersonal and not-so-modern look and feel of the furnishings and decor. Instead of reading uniquely Mauritian -- or even generically beachy or romantic -- rooms are more cold and corporate in style. Poor lighting magnifies this. What rooms lack in warmth and chicness, they help compensate for in size (even the smallest units offer more than 500 square feet of space) and views -- all look across to the Indian Ocean from private balconies or terraces.

There are 10 categories of rooms and suites throughout the hotel, all with separate seating areas and bathrooms with separate bathtubs, showers, and Malin+Goetz toiletries. Every room comes with tea- and coffee-making facilities, a minibar, a safe, and a 32- or 42-inch flat-screen TV with about two dozen satellite channels, including Bloomberg and Disney Channel. Rooms feature independently controlled air-conditioning, and some have overhead fans, as well. The 65 rooms in the adult-only Nirvana section (which is accessed via a separate check-in area) come with free welcome fruit plates and sparkling wine. Nirvana guests also get free non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day and a cocktail at sunset.

Rooms come with turndown service and twice-a-day housekeeping (which guests can decline in exchange for food and drink credit). Wi-Fi is free in the rooms. Cribs, rollaway beds, step stools, and diapers are all provided on request, and interconnecting rooms are available. 

Le Meridien's main pool sits smack in the middle of the resort, facing the beautiful beach. The long, undulating pool stretches almost the entire length of the resort's main building, and is surrounded by a stone patio with palm trees, red sun loungers, and white umbrellas. A 20-inch-deep kids' pool is adjacent to the main pool, separated by a metal fence. A wooden bridge crossed the pool, leading from the main building to the beach. While the main pool is in the center of the resort, the two-tier infinity pool in the adult-only Nirvana section is in the quieter northern corner. The tucked-away location and lack of children or daily activities give the the Nirvana pool a serene and relaxing vibe -- plus, it practically comes right up to the crystal-clear sea. The Nirvana pool features its own swim-up pool bar.

Hotel guests can access Le Merdien's gym 24 hours a day. The fitness center has hardwood floors and floor-to-ceiling windows, and equipment like ellipticals, treadmills, rowing machines, bikes, bench presses, yoga mats, and free weights. Guests can use one tennis court for free, though they must bring or buy tennis balls. Le Meridien's animation program includes plenty of fitness activities, like free yoga, Zumba, water polo, aquagym, and beach volleyball tournaments. Bikes and scooters are available to rent. Le Meridien's Unlock Art program partners with certain cultural sights, like Chateau de Labourdonnais, in order to provide guests with free admission vouchers.

Penguin Club, Le Meridien's free kids' club, occupies a colorful building on the road side of the resort. It has a fenced-in playground area and offers morning and afternoon activities, with lunch in between. Note that the kids' club is closed on Sundays.

There are a handful of on-site shops ranging from diamond boutiques to souvenir shops selling seashells, sarongs, and traditional sega costumes. One store is dedicated to all-white clothing, like tiered full-length skirts and button-up shirts. The hotel's business center features an office area with computers and printers, plus eight audio-visual-equipped meeting rooms. Concierge, catering, flower, and and laundry services are available, and Wi-Fi is free throughout.

Explore Spa is one of Le Meridien's more notable features due to its hydrotherapy area with a sauna, steam room, hot tub, and cold plunge pool. Treatments can be held indoors or in outdoor massage cabins, set in a quiet backyard with a pond and Balinese-inspired statuary. There's also an ocean-facing stone patio for relaxation before or after treatments. Explore Spa's menu is quite extensive, with Ayurvedic therapies (including Abhyanga and Kati Basti massages), four-handed massages, oxygen and warm-basalt facials, and body scrubs using native ingredients like coconut, coffee and cardamom scrubs, and tamarind and brown sugar. Other services include mani/pedis, henna tattoos, waxing, threading, and hair and makeup. Honeymooners and wedding couple packages are available.

There are a four on-site restaurants, the main one being 180 Degrees, a vast and open buffet serving breakfast and dinner. (Meshing over the windows doesn't prevent birds from getting in and flying around the dining hall.) All three meals are all served at La Faya, a beachfront restaurant in a gazebo-like structure with Mediterranean and Mauritian cuisine. La Faya hosts weekly lobster dinners for an extra fee. The other beachfront restaurant, Shells, specializes in a la carte seafood and Mauritian fare. Once a week, Shells holds seafood buffets on the beach. Note that dinner requires reservations and Shells is closed on Sunday. An Indian restaurant called Cumin is open for dinner every night of the week.

Le Meridien's vast 24-hour room service menu features kids' items, like fish fingers and pasta Bolognese. Picnic baskets with sandwiches, crudites, fruit, juice, and bottled water are available with 24 hours notice.

Two bars offer offers cocktails, coffee, and live band or piano music at night. The lobby bar, Bois Cheri Bar, is open all day, and Bay View Bar, by the beach, opens in the afternoon. It features ping-pong, flat-screen TVs, and ocean views. Two pool bars offer swim-up seating, but the Nirvana pools is only for guests staying in that section of the resort.

Unsurprisingly, the resort’s wide and gorgeous beach is its biggest ticket item. Red-cushioned lounge chairs and palapa umbrellas are set up along the shoreline, which is long and sandy, but rocky in some parts (water shoes are a good idea). Free non-motorized water sports (windsurfing, kayaking, snorkeling, sailing, pedal-boating) are at the boathouse, and free motorized water sports (water-skiing, jet-skiing, glass-bottom boats trip) take off from the hotel's long wooden jetty. Excursions like deep-sea fishing, catamaran cruises, speedboat trips, and scuba diving are extra. A large section of the hotel's seafront is roped off for swimmers and waders -- the water is so calm, there are barely any waves -- and volleyball and bocce ball courts are set up in the sand.