Le Meridien Mauritius is a 261 room resort that stretches over about 1 km of beach near Pointe au Piments on the west side of Mauritius. The resort is family-friendly and also offers as an adults-only section called the Nirvana Retreat. We spent 5 nights in a 2^nd floor room at the Nirvana Retreat and share details about our stay in this post to help you decide if you want to stay here.

1. Location: 17/20

Le Meridien Mauritius is located about 1 hour from the airport, 30 minutes from Port Louis, and within 15 minutes from Grand Baie and other small towns. The hotel is about 20 minutes from: Cap Malheureux, the botanical gardens, “L’Aventure du Sucre” (free entry with hotel voucher), he Powder Mills Nature Walk, and Pereybere public beach (nice sandy and calm beach).

The beach directly in front of the hotel is nice but it is a little rocky and the surf can be rough but there is a nice sandy beach with good snorkeling about a 15 minute walk south in front of the Beachcomber Hotel. The walk itself is enjoyable but we did notice more broken glass than anywhere else in Mauritius.

Of all the places we stayed, it was the most convenient to access dining off resort and to explore the upper west coast area.

2. Bed & Sleep Quality: 18/20

We found the king bed to be very comfortable, there was a ceiling fan, and decent blinds, and we didn’t hear the other guests. The only thing that disturbed our sleep was a clicking sound made by the ceiling fan.

Overall, we experienced high sleep quality here.

3. Room and room amenities: 18/20

We stayed in an Adults Only Nirvana Premium located on the 2^nd floor. The room has an ocean view, a king bed, a mini fridge, is 56sqm/603sqft, , has a Nespresso style machine, and a 55in/140cm flatscreen TV (that we didn’t turn on).

The room also has a large balcony with a day bed, some chairs, and a table. The balcony is very private and it was our favorite balcony of the trip.

We were provided with 2 large bottles of water daily and a bottle of red wine from South Africa on arrival.

We were very happy that we were allocated a room on the 2^nd floor as there are stray dogs in the area. We also recommend bringing bug spray as Maxine got chomped sitting on the balcony one night.

Overall, the room was spacious and very comfortable. Despite its renovation recently, it is seeing some signs of wear and tear, due to some design issues. The mini-bar actually warms things up due to the cabinet it is stored in: you need to keep that door open so that the fridge can properly ventilate and cool things.  The other issue we had with the rooms were the lights as the controls are located at the entrance and they are tricky to figure out. We also had to figure out our own way to create a night light effect at night instead of keeping all the lights turned on in the bathroom.

4. Bathroom: 8/10

The bathroom had a shower room, a toilet room, a bathtub, two sinks, and a closet/wardrobe. No issues with the water pressure in the shower but the door was a little difficult to open and close and water did seep out of the shower.

5. Hotel public areas and amenities: 8/10

As the hotel is low-rise and has 261 rooms, it is quite large and spacious, and yes it can take time to walk around but it is pleasant to do so.

The resort has a main large pool for everyone, a gym, a spa, a boutique, about 4 restaurants, a water sports service, and a concierge near the front desk to help make dining reservations. The Nirvana area has its own pool, chairs and umbrellas, bar, and breakfast area.

We enjoyed spending some time at the Nirvana pool as it has a neat design of two levels and it had jets. The hotel did upgrade its water treatment facility but you can occasionally get a not-so-pleasant smell by the pool after heavy rains.

It can also be difficult to get a chair by the pool because people leave things and it is hard to tell if they are completely gone or intend to come back. This is not the hotel’s fault but something we noticed happens in Mauritius and at all the places we stayed at.

The hotel has some strange design choices: you need to walk in the sand to get to and from the shower to rinse your feet and body after swimming. The games area is also located in an area with no windows that open or air-conditioning. They also provide small bottles of water for the gym that are often not restocked fast enough to meet the demand. There are no filtered water dispensers on the property.

As for the food, we really enjoyed dining at the Indian restaurant one evening and found it to be very good and high quality. We did not enjoy our room service meal and found it to be tasteless and mis-represented on the menu. The breakfast at the main hotel was very chaotic and was a little small for the size of the hotel. Breakfast at Nirvana was much better due to the quiet and more peaceful setting with the a-la-carte options and buffet.

The hotel also provided a hat and a sarong as a welcome gift, which was a nice touch and very useful!

6. Service and staff: 8/10

Overall, the staff were fantastic and we have no complaints.

The housekeeping was really good and Sheila C, our housekeeper came to greet us every day and ask how things were going. On departure, she gave Maxine a flower pin for her hair. The housekeeping manager also checked in with us to make sure our room was serviced and we had everything we needed.

The staff at Paparazzi where we had breakfast every morning was also really awesome and we enjoyed talking with them everyday. Indu S made some really good iced coffees and was just lovely.

We do have complaints about some things about the resort in general.

Restaurant menus: The restaurant menus are not available online. You have to go to the booking desk and view them there/or take photos to view later.

Dining Reservations: It is very hard to get a dinner reservation unless you plan 1+ days in advance. They also have very limited early reservations for when dinner starts at 19:00.

Kudos to the resort for not having a strict dress code and for guests to have common sense in their chosen dinner attire!

7. Overall Value: 10/10

Overall, we were very happy with our stay at Le Meridien Mauritius. We used 88,000 Marriott points for our 5 night stay, making it one of the best deals we’ve come across in a long time. The hotel does market itself as “all-inclusive” and so we were probably some of the only people that weren’t on a half or full board meal plan. We really enjoyed the convenience of being in this area and having access to things nearby. We would stay again if we had the chance to.

OVERALL 87/100

Would weleavetoday to go back? Yes!