Hotel 20° Sud travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The pace is relaxed at 20°Sud, Mauritius‘s only boutique hotels: breakfast is served until 7 p.m. Most guests, however, rise a little before that. Truth to be told, there is a lot to get through. Windsurfers and sailors love the huge, sheltered bay with its perpetual light breeze. There is an excellent snorkeling around the nearby islands of Coin de Mire, Ile Ronde, and Ile Plate, as well as waterskiing, kayaking, and parasailing.

After lunch (served on the terrace just feet from the sea), you might be ready for a snooze by the pool, followed perhaps by a massage, a Turkish bath, or a gentle paddle in the waters of the hotel’s private beach. Maybe when the heat of the day subsides you might take a bicycle out into the surrounding lanes, or to the designer boutiques and chic bars of the buzzing village of Grand Baie. If a bicycle ride is too strenuous the hotel will shuttle you there in a canoe.

The hotel’s twenty-seven rooms and two suites all have views over the ocean and a terrace or balcony. Each has been individually created by Belgian interior designer Flamant with furnishings that give a historical vibe.

On the subject of history the hotels also owns the oldest motorboat in Mauritius, the MS Lady Lisbeth. Lovengly restored under the supervision of Michel Bourgeois, the proprietor, the hotel offers dining cruises to just eight guests at a time.

Photos by: jad_courbage and Cedricounet