Extraordinary Africa>Mauritius>Royal Palm Beachcomber
The lovely Royal Palm has a timeless sort of luxury that comes from years of love. From the staff, more than half of whom have worked there for over 20 years, and from the guests- some of whom are on their 20th or 30th visit. This lends a very gentle, almost old-time atmosphere to the hotel, as if this is the way things have always been, with established tropical gardens, the grand piano tinkling in the evenings and parents and children pottering about on the shore. It’s very much the sort of place we can imagine 3 generations of a family coming to, and all having an absolute ball.
What’s Royal Palm really like?
There are 69 rooms here, so there’s an intimate, almost cosy feel to it. The standard rooms are Junior Suites, each with a bed and sitting area, and built in a staggered design to give guests a sense of privacy. Tropical suites are larger, on the 1st floor with a balcony. Larger still, the Palm Suites are on the ground floor with direct access to the garden, and even bigger are the lovely Ocean Suites which have a separate lounge. Garden Suites have a separate bedroom for kids, and senior suites have a prime location close to the water, away from the public areas. There’s also a very private Penthouse and the two-bedroom Presidential Suites all on the top floor. Lastly, the two-bedroom Royal Suite has its own private pool.
We thought the rooms were pleasant, with an almost Asian style to the décor. We probably wouldn’t describe this as cutting edge modern design (there are plenty of other hotels we can recommend if that’s your bag), just an elegant and homely feeling.
What can I do at Royal Palm?
Royal Palm has 3 restaurants- a fine dining restaurant, a beach restaurant, and an Italian restaurant. The location in Grand Baie also means that you can pop into town should you wish, though the restaurants here would take some beating! Please note that La Goélette, the fine dining restaurant, requires gentlemen to wear collars, trousers, and closed toe shoes in the evening. There’s also a bar right beside the beach, serving a good selection of cocktails.
After all of the lovely food, there’s an on-site sports centre, squash court, and 3 tennis courts as well as a boathouse where you can organise water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, sailing, SUPing and snorkelling. Your reviewer also really liked the rather tranquil spa. Despite the elegant, grown-up atmosphere, The Royal Palm really does welcome all members of the family, so there’s a kids club for children ages 3-11 and it’s possible to arrange additional babysitting if you want a bit of time to yourselves.
In all, we were rather charmed by the Royal Palm. It’s probably not a place for fans of modern design, Instagram influencers or adrenaline seekers, but for a warm, peaceful and discreet sort of luxury, it’s perfect.
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