When writing about Mauritius, Mark Twain, as he so often did, hit the nail on the head. "Mauritius was made first and then heaven," the American author said; "and heaven was copied after Mauritius."
Getting the chance to visit the island for yourself proves he wasn't wrong. So beautiful it should be signed up by a modelling agency, Mauritius is perhaps the most ravishing island in the Indian Ocean.
Its enchanting characteristics are very much on display at Maradiva Villas Resort & Spa, an elegant, recently refurbished, villa-only hotel near the felicitously named village of Flic en Flac on the west coast of the island. This gorgeous property looks like it has walked straight out of the pages of a brochure.
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There are 64 individual villas at Maradiva, where privacy is clearly paramount. With its own heated pool and a terrace spacious enough to hold your own cocktail party, each villa is skilfully constructed so you are not overlooked by anyone else's accommodation. To add to that feeling of being swathed in your own secluded bubble, drones are not allowed on the property.
Recently remodelled with light pastel shades, custom-made Hermès wallpaper, intricately woven textiles and hammered bronze, the rooms are embellished by exquisite, golden-brown woods: palisander from the nearby island of Madagascar and teak from Burma.
Boasting spectacularly large windows, the interior of each villa capitalises on one of Mauritius's greatest assets: its almost perpetual sunshine.
Surrounded by 27 acres of meticulously tended gardens, Maradiva is located on a crescent-shaped bay, fringed by 750 metres of unspoiled beach.
Wherever you go on the property, you are tailed by the magnificent silhouette of Le Morne Brabant, a Unesco World Heritage site and a mountain that towers over the bay. It is very hard to resist photographing this iconic vista every time you catch sight of it. It is pure Instagram bait.
There is a smorgasbord of dining options at Maradiva. Among half a dozen excellent restaurants is Cilantro, which serves such delicious North Indian dishes as scallop tandoori with Kerala prawn.
Also highly recommended is Haiku. It is as much a theatrical as a dining experience. As you sit on the marble bar right beside the hotplate, the flamboyant and skilful teppanyaki chef executes a piece of flame-grilled performance art while preparing a dazzling selection of Asian fusion dishes.
Alternatively, you might fancy an evening in the wine and cigar cellar, an impressively sybaritic venue that houses more than 3,000 cigars.
If none of this whets your appetite, however, you can simply choose to be served a sumptuous dinner in your villa.
Facilities and experiences
A family-run business for many generations, Maradiva has a terrific array of facilities. As well as three swimming pools, it offers diving, waterskiing, kayaking, windsurfing, deep-sea fishing and glass-bottom boat trips.
Maradiva also provides the opportunity to swim with dolphins, an activity without which no bucket list is truly complete.
You can learn to cook like a local as well with a lesson from the hotel chefs. They will demonstrate how to use the ingredients you have just picked from the hotel's organic garden.
In addition, it is well worth taking some trips outside the property. You can, for instance, visit the splendiferous nearby plantation house, Le Château de Labourdonnais, constructed in 1856 by the Danish sugar baron Christian Wiehe.
Set in a grand garden planted with mighty banyan trees, butterfly palms, 52 varieties of mango, and the most eye-catching, blood-red flamboyant flame trees, it is an imposing, colonnaded colonial-era mansion. It could have been transplanted lock, stock and two smoking barrels of rum from the American Deep South. If you half-close your eyes, you could picture yourself at the gorgeous Tara mansion from the classic film "Gone with the Wind".
From the hotel, you can also travel to such sites as the breathtaking Black River Gorges National Park, the sobering Intercontinental Slavery Museum, the Champ de Mars, the oldest racecourse in the southern hemisphere, or the bustling market in the busy capital of Port Louis. All of these locations underline the vibrant culture of the island.
The national bird of Mauritius is the dodo, which was once endemic to the island. But the extinct creature is not an appropriate symbol because, unlike the dodo, Mauritius is very much alive and kicking. It simply pulsates with lively and compelling stories.
With guidance from the in-house Ayurvedic doctor, guests can select from a wide-ranging menu of massages, yoga and meditation at the Maradiva Spa.
This very restful place specialises in traditional Indian therapies. These include Ananda (a deep sports massage) Pada Abhyangam (a revitalising foot massage) and Champi (a de-stressing head massage).
The verdict
This is the perfect place to unwind. You couldn't get away anywhere more "get-away-from-it-all" than Maradiva.
Key to such a relaxing stay is the fact the hotel provides guests with extremely soothing scenery. It has more photogenic views than you can shake a selfie stick at.
While you relax on the hotel jetty marvelling at the sun setting over Le Morne, you can channel your inner James Bond. Sitting back sipping a martini cocktail that has been shaken, not stirred, you feel as if you're in 00 Heaven.
But above all, guests at Maradiva benefit from the most wondrous sense of peace and quiet. Serenity is valued above all else.
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