Mauritius, Madagascar & Seychelles

What's your honest opinion of Westin? Reviews on FlyerTalk complain its old and in poor condition
I would look at the 3 star reviews on tripadvisor when selecting resorts, possibly the four star ones too. They seem to indicate any issues with a property without the rose coloured glasses :)

We found going by the middle very helpful in choosing. And it took us months to settle on our final choice.
 
What's your honest opinion of Westin? Reviews on FlyerTalk complain its old and in poor condition
I like it - maybe because they have us a nice room upgraded. Admittedly it did not look modern but appeared to be well maintained.
Read some not good reviews on Hilton and Intercontinental.
We walked along the beach to the Intercontinental next door - 2 mins walk! - to book dinner for tomorrow night, dinner at the Westin tonight. Something different, but hubby not feeling well so it may be just me!
The ground and beach in front of both hotels are well kept.
 
I like it - maybe because they have us a nice room upgraded. Admittedly it did not look modern but appeared to be well maintained.
Read some not good reviews on Hilton and Intercontinental.
We walked along the beach to the Intercontinental next door - 2 mins walk! - to book dinner for tomorrow night, dinner at the Westin tonight. Something different, but hubby not feeling well so it may be just me!
The ground and beach in front of both hotels are well kept.

What is the beach like at the Westin?
 
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Madagascar we really enjoyed, although my wife got shigellosis - a notifiable disease, due to unsanitary cooking in some jungle camp!

We flew from Mauritius to Madagascar on Air Mauritius.

We did a weird routing that took us to a Safari camp in inland South Africa outside Port Elizabeth, and then to a slum in Mumbai India! And a stop in Singapore on way out and Bangkok on way home.

A trip report with many pix here -



sD19QWc.png


lHOhyv2.png


h7YNVdz.png



wvLDoOU.jpg


YonDTWn.jpg



bSXVA8c.jpg
 
Last edited:
Too rocky to swim?
According to the chatAI headline in google it says the rocks were placed there by the hotel to stop the waves. And it’s good for swimming and snorkelling.

But it’s not the traditional beach most people imagine when they think of mauritius. If you google Trouble aux biches, or Pereybere, of Blue Bay you’ll get the calm and clear lagoons. But i haven’t been to the Westin so can’t comment.

I have been to the beaches above, and also to Flic en Flac… which is the home to some f out resorts like La Priogue.

The top resorts on the island are Le Saint Geran and Royal Palm. With beaches to match, but you’re easy looking at €600 a night half board there.
 
All the beaches on this strip of resorts are not sandy like our beautiful ones. Hard to walk on, sand plus shell grits and coral. Very few people were swimming on the beach. Most are in resort pools.
It’s a good observation.

Research, and then research again before choosing a place in Mauritius! For anyone looking to go you need to compare the hotel’s pictures with tripadvisor and use google image searches and videos of the surrounds.

Many hotels might capture their beach view by standing in the water, looking back at the hotel. That doesn’t show things like rocks, or the condition of the sand.

Never take the hotel promo shots as a true indication.

A great beach makes all the difference. The place we stayed was beautiful clear water, even when you couldn’t stand you could still see the bottom!

Groups of guests would spend an hour at a time bobbing in the beautiful warm waters, chatting and floating. We’d do that two or more times a day, it was great.
 
Madagascar we really enjoyed, although my wife got shigellosis - a notifiable disease, due to unsanitary cooking in some jungle camp!

We flew from Mauritius to Madagascar on Air Mauritius.

We did a weird routing that took us to a Safari camp in inland South Africa outside Port Elizabeth, and then to a slum in Mumbai India! And a stop in Singapore on way out and Bangkok on way home.

A trip report with many pix here -



sD19QWc.png


lHOhyv2.png


h7YNVdz.png



wvLDoOU.jpg


YonDTWn.jpg



bSXVA8c.jpg
We are flying to Madagascar from Mauritius today - for 2 weeks. Thanks for your trip report with photos. We look forward to seeing many species of lemurs. We will visit at least 5 National parks, take 2 private flights and 1 commercial flight to minimise road travels. Not looking to roads full of pot holes and remote lodges (arrrgh mosquitoes). Neighbour kpc plus one will be here and Madagascar in 2 months time. We use same tour company in Madagascar,
 
After 3 days relaxing at the Westin in Mauritius, we flew Air Mauritius (MK) to Antananarivo (Madagascar) for our 13 days trip.

Air Mauritius lounge was very average for food. Had to hunt around for a charging point. Why is it so difficult to find these in airport lounges?

Business class seats on MK were very spacious, heaps of leg room for 2 hour flight. Flight left on time. Inflight service was polite and speedy. Food was good – maybe we were still hungry from not eating in the lounge.

Arrived at TNR we did not know we had to fill in a health form, so it took 15 mins to do this and queued for visa fee and visa stamp. Tour company rep met us to help to exchange money (instant millionaires with wads of cash) and sold us a physical sim card.

The 2 private plane flights were fantastic – with an excellent pilot. We really enjoyed them and forgot how much we had to pay for them 🤣. @Flashback: You were right about the nice MTA lounge at TNR! We had to go through normal security at TNR for the flight, and there were 4 men eagerly ‘helping’ us with our 2 cabin bags (!). We tipped them and I gave them my packed breakfast from the hotel.

The aircraft was a small 4 seater Cessnock 206. The first flight was from Antananarivo to Morondava – 2 ½ hours – including great views over the Tsingy rock formations and the Baobab trees. When we were there Tsingy park was closed due to flooding after the cyclone season. We did not want to trek / climb through it anyway, we left that for the younger kpc and kpc+1 when they visit Madagascar in early June.

We thought the pilot would return to Antananarivo and come back for our 2nd flight in 2 days time. However, he said he would stay in Morondava 2 nights waiting to take us to Fianarantsoa. This flight was 1 ½ hours over some beautiful lush green scenery.

We were glad that we took these 2 private plane flights as they saved us around 4 days driving. Well, I had read about how bad the roads in Madagascar were, but experiencing them was worse than I imagined. On the second day, our tour car broke down in a deep mud filled pothole – I freaked out as muddy water got into the car. The tour guide piggy backed each of us out of the car to the side of the road. The driver walked to the nearest village to get help from a large truck and the whole village came in the truck to watch the spectacle 😏

While waiting for a replacement car – 3 hours away in Morondava – the village truck managed to pull the broken down car out of the muddy pothole. While waiting on the side of the road for more than 3 hours in the heat and humidity I texted families and friends (including cove and Mrs cove) about the drama. I did not text kpc (they were in Europe at the time) until the next day after the drama was over, as I did not want to spoil their trip after ours. So, that was the ‘highlight’ of our road trip in Madagascar.

There was another tale when we travelled from Antananarivo to Andasibe. Half way a truck had tipped on its side, so an extra 3 hours was added to the trip – everything stopped and long queues of trucks!

We visited these parks and reserves: Kirindy Reserve, Ranomafana NP (did not enjoy this due to slippery path and I ended up with a twisted ankle), Anja Reserve, Isalo NP (really liked this canyon and mountain range), Zombitse NP, Reniala Reserve (interesting baobab trees), Analamazaotra NP, Lemur Island, and of course the famed Avenue de Baobabs between Kirindy and Morondava (kpc said kpc+1 could not wait to photograph these).

We took a commercial flight with Air Madagascar from Toliara to Antananarivo – about 2 hours. It was actually OK.

Most accommodation in remote villages, parks and reserves was adequate (we asked for the ‘best’ in the areas) – except for one. Most were in spectacular settings and locations (e.g. right on the beach). Thankfully we were not eaten by too many mozzies – some had mosquito nets over beds. We bought an insect repellent cream called Good Riddance and it actually worked well when we walked through the parks, reserves and rainforests.

While the roads were a real challenge for the body, we had a great trip around Madagascar. We came to see the lemurs and the baobabs and were delighted to see them all.

We were so glad to stay 2 nights at the Radisson Blu in Antananarivo where we got upgraded to a junior suite at the end of our Madagascar trip to recover from the road trips. The Air Mauritius flights back to Mauritius and later to Perth were good.

We took the train home from the airport, neighbour kpc picked us up at a local train station, saving us walking home and lugging our bags in the dark. Thank you, kpc 😆
 
@Myrna has wheted our appetite for Madagascar! We are due to leave for our trip in just over 4 weeks' time, starting in Seychelles, then Madagascar, then Reunion Island via Mauritius, then finishing up in Mauritius before coming home.

We almost certainly will have to abandon our plans to go to Reunion Island and will have to have to spend more time in Mauritius due to chikungunya virus :( (unless the French can mostly eradicate the outbreak by mid June!)

 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top