SALT: Mauritius differently

The success of holidays in Mauritius appears timeless. Guaranteed by unalterable values, sublime hotels, service with a smile and delightful weather, it adapts season after season to the holiday style of the moment. Discreetly, efficiently. As a result, the "break in Mauritius" formula defies time without adding the slightest wrinkle, constantly regenerating its promise of deep blue happiness and golden sunshine. It integrates all the concepts- the grand chic class, the all-inclusive, the gastronomy of chefs, the immersion in local life, the love which, under the coconut trees, rhymes with forever (marriage is possible on site but without value), the lounge style for partygoers, the Robinson spirit, the green mantra… For each style, it has its perfect hotel. The importance of tourism for the income of the island obliges it to surf on the crest of desires, a new course, a state-of-the-art offer. SALT of Palmar (one of the five Mauritian addresses of the LUX* hotel group) is an illustration of this.

SALT concocts three recipes for success. The first concerns the rates: around 200 euros per night for a double room with breakfast included, so tasty and plentiful that they make you forget the lunch break. For an establishment of international standing , with the facilities of its kind, equipped beach, air conditioning, bar at the edge of the water as well as on the roof top, local musicians in the evening, yoga classes, charm of the swimming pool where aquagym is all the rage, sports hall…, observers open their eyes wide.

Secondly, SALT cultivates eco-responsibility. Declaring eco-friendly is more chic. Thirties and forties from all over Europe love it. Let's smile with the organic bathrobes made of coffee bean fibres or the beach baskets (gift) woven by hand from recycled plastic.  The style of the house also dispenses with a mini-bar, television and a coffee machine. More generally, the hotel promotes the local, from beauty products to restaurant ingredients (fish of course, as well as vegetables and fruits from the garden), this is an excellent approach. It is obviously accompanied by generalized recycling . Finally, we applaud the richness of the menu and the quality of the dishes, worthy of Mauritian tables of high reputation.

Between sunbathing around the swimming pool or if you prefer the beautiful beach meticulously raked each morning (umbrellas, deckchairs and mattresses available), don't resist the pleasures of exploration. The hotel owes its name to the ritual dear to Mauritians who grant salt virtues of wisdom and purification. The beautiful parable justifies going hand in hand as Paul and Virginie did (1788) on the paths of what was then called Isle de France. The small market town of Palmar is right next door. Rent a bicycle to explore further along the coast. Behind a curtain of casuarina trees, the coast alternates between beaches and fishing villages between Pointe de Flacq and Trou d'Eau Douce. A bouquet of hibiscus, a colourful little market, a shack where you can drink an ice-cold Phoenix, a neighbour to chat with while the waves beat time, a fisherman hauls his boat out, passes a saleswoman selling Indian fabrics... The life flows like the gentle breeze, far from the ups and downs of the world. It is reminiscent of the tasty French of the sailors of yesteryear. And if the local rupee (50 for one euro) shows the preeminence of the Indian community, when we speak of the surface of the house or the cane field, we always count in poles, in toises and in feet. Happiness of a world as proud of its history as of its children. At the SALT of Palmar , we would have stayed a little longer.