rosemaryp932
November 7, 2023
Long Beach Mauritius Long Beach - a SunLife resort is nestled on a heartbreakingly beautiful stretch of white sand on the north east Mauritius coast. Taxi transfer from the airport is around one hour depending in traffic. The east coast is the ‘windy’ side of the island but this proved nothing more than a light breeze while we stayed. Our beach access ground floor suite was neatly appointed, one of the largest and most practical suites we have stayed in with plenty of living and storage space. Restaurants, services and staff can not be faulted, it’s some of the freshest and best quality food we have ever had on an all inclusive holiday. Staff such as Singh - Tides, Jalaish M - Sappori, Annabelle and Joy - Sapori Breakfast were absolutely wonderful during our stay. Both Sapori and Tides were wonderful for long lunches with a glass of wine or for an evening meal. Please don’t expect to gobble and go. Meals can take an hour to an hour and a half. Just sit back relax and enjoy. Chopsticks is a lovely evening venue with a small but tasty menu (our 12 year old’s favourite place). Restaurants can be booked in the app, see F&B concierge to complete access (you will also be logged out every time you leave resort) we used the app a little but just spoke to concierge most mornings for the next day. This hotel is perfect for pretty much everyone, do as much or as little as you like. There are plenty of free water sports activities provided by the hotel which aren’t championed enough. Take advantage of them. Glass bottom boat trip, snorkelling, paddle board and kayaking. There was rumour of a nighttime crabbing trip but nothing openly advertised…Water skiing lessons were short and not the cheapest but great fun. The central piazza is a great place day or night, a glorious back drop or shady corner during the day or a lively place at night. Singers are great but loud. Twice weekly markets interesting. The main pool was popular but never over crowded, sun loungers could be found anytime. We toured the southern island, took the 5 Islands tour, local splash park and visited Casela - all reviewed separately. There are a few little bits that prevent it from being a 5* review. Our beach access room was probably 50 yards through gardens to the beach, no problem, but it’s just a garden view room really. Some of the nice touches dressing gowns (three of us in the room, only two dressing gowns - every hotel does this) disappeared after a day or two along with the fluffy bath mat and even face cloths stopped being replaced by day 12. The patio doors were super stiff to open, secured with a hastily added catch. But we couldn’t for one second fault the cleanliness of our room the housekeeping team were superb. Check in is a little underwhelming - it might just be after 22 hours travelling we hoped for a little more. Check out is time consuming it took three attempts to collect our luggage - slightly over a hour. Sat in reception waiting to check out