We traveled to Mauritius for kiddo’s 5th birthday in Dec. This time we were joined by my sister in law and her husband too. We decided to book an entire apartment through Airbnb for the following reasons:

• Mauritius in general is an expensive destination and we wanted to spend more on experiences rather than on stay.
• We wanted to stay together as a family rather than stay in separate hotel rooms and meet for lunch/dinner. Booking an apartment gave us the privacy we wanted along with the family time we needed.
• Given kiddo is very active through the day on holidays, he gets sleepy by 7pm. Its too early for us to go for dinner at 6:30. Staying in an apartment meant we could cook something for him, feed him and then head out for dinner. It also gave us the flexibility to not rush kiddo for having milk/breakfast etc.
• With our earlier experiences with beach holidays, you can never pack enough of beach clothes. Even if they dry,they stink. Having a washing machine meant less of packing 🙂

Staying in an apartment had its own cons too. You miss the breakfast buffet at hotels, rooms don’t get cleaned every day and  you don’t have a room service for meals..but with all the above flexibility; it was worth it. We spent around 35000 INR for 6nights stay.

We had never booked an apartment earlier and checked out holiday rentals on tripadvisor and apartments on airbnb. First thing was to decide on the area we wanted to stay in. We decided on Flic en Flac since it was close to a good beach and was not very far either from north Mauritius or south (the activities we wanted to do were scattered in north and south). We started looking out in mid Aug for our stay in Dec. It maybe a good idea to start the process earlier; especially for booking during holiday season. Some of the rental places that we shortlisted were already booked for our dates. We mailed the ones we shortlisted with our queries and most of them were prompt with replies. We finally booked a 3BHK in Fortuna Beach Apartments on Flic en Flac Coastal Road. Click here for its link on airbnb. It goes by the name “Brand New Luxury Apt Across Beach”. Facebook page is here. If you are looking for a referral on airbnb to save Rs.1000, use this link to signup: www.airbnb.co.in/c/psinha38

The owner of Fortuna Beach Apartments, Mr.Anand runs a car rental agency by the name Easy World.He has many apartments in Flic en Flac to rent out, including studio apartments and smaller houses. We got a topmost floor and that had a good view too.

He told us on emails that he can rent us cars at good rate too. We booked his services for pickup and drop (3000 MUR for both pickup and drop for 4 adults and 1 kid). We hired a manual transmission small car (Viva) at 1000 MUR per day.

Fortuna beach apartment is located on the main coastal road itself, opposite Pasadena Shopping Mall/ Spar Supermarket. We landed in Mauritius at 12:15pm local time and were greeted by Mr.Satish from Easy Travel. It took us approx 1hr to reach the apartment. View on the way was good.

Our apartment was on the topmost(4th) floor. It had 2 bedrooms with kingsize beds, 1 bedroom with 2 single beds, 1 big living room with open kitchen, 1 attached and 1 common bathroom, 1 balcony with sitting area and 1 smaller balcony. There is a common swimming pool which was occupied most evenings.

The apartment was exactly as it was advertised on airbnb.

The apartment was well furnished. All the bedrooms had ACs, though there was only one remote for all. We had to ask Anand for another one. Living room has one pedestal fan which was a bit of pain if one person was in the kitchen and another in the hall.

In terms of amenities, the apartment had following:

1. Towels: One for each person. We took the same to beaches too. Don’t know if they replace them if asked for; we washed them regularly.
2. One soap in each bathroom.
3. One toilet paper roll.
4. Kitchen had microwave, oven, fridge, stove, kettle, 5kg rice cooker and a toaster. Some cooking vessels were available for use on stove. Enough microwave safe bowls, plates, glasses, spoons, knives etc. were available.

Things that one would need to buy as they reach are:

1. Toileteries – soap, shampoo etc.
2. Kitchen: Sugar, Milk, Tea/Coffee. Even if you plan to cook a little bit, then stock the kitchen accordingly.
3. Washing machine powder, utensil cleaning liquid.

They should atleast provide basic cleaning stuff like scrubs and detergents. Everything is available at Spar, but you do not get small quantities. We took quite a few things from India including some ready to eats. Prices of some basic items at Spar were:

• Milk: 34MUR per liter
• Bread: 31MUR (sufficient for 4adults+1kid)
• Sugar: 20MUR for 1/2kg
• Eggs: ~40MUR for 6 eggs
• Water: We took 6 1.5lt bottles together and it costed 93MUR. Its costlier if you buy separate bottles.
• Basmati Rice: 75MUR per kg.

MTR ready to eat items were available too, priced double that of India. Something that costs Rs.65 in India was 65MUR at Spar (current currency exhange 1MUR = Rs.1.8).

We had all breakfasts at the apartment itself. We had taken ready to eats which was convenient. Having bread everyday could be boring. Some ideas for quick ready to eat breakfast could be:

• MTR Upma
• MTR Khatta Meetha Poha
• Masala Oats
• Museli/ Cornflakes.

Things like idly, dosa mix etc should be avoided because the apartment does not have idly maker.

Airbnb terms said the apt is cleaned once a week so we got it done mid-week. Maybe if we had asked for more, the cleaning lady would have obliged.

Flic en flac beach, which is one of the cleanest beach was hardly 5-10min by walk. There was a pharmacy downstairs and everything required was located closeby.

Overall, we had a very good time at Mauritius and were happy with our stay at Fortuna Beach Apartments and would go back again if we are in Mauritius.

If you are looking for a referral on airbnb to save Rs.1000, use this link to signup: www.airbnb.co.in/c/psinha38