Shangri-La's Le Touessrok Resort & Spa

Le Touessrok, long vying (with the upscale Le Saint Géran) for the title of It Resort on Mauritius, has gone under the knife for a multi-million-dollar renovation, and a slight name change. Habitual guests will find Shangri-La’s Le Touessrok Resort & Spa looking quite a bit more dashing than they left it, the resort having traded its elegant but dated interiors for an all-new contemporary minimal look.

Not that it has to try all that hard to attract the beautiful people; if you've seen their faces on the newsstands, then you will have seen them here, both before and after the renovation — models, actors, even some of that old-fashioned sort of royalty that you had to be born into.

And why not? If ever there were a place with more attentive and effortless service, we haven't heard of it; and the location, amidst miles and miles of sparkling blue Indian Ocean, is certainly not a drawback. In fact the only danger here is that the butlers will practically crawl all over you, if you let them, possibly impeding your stunning sea view.

The rooms are handsome, simple and relaxing, and all have at very least a balcony overlooking the sea, while some of the better suites have vast bay windows. The renovation has added ninety-eight new suites on Frangipani Island, accessible by a wooden footbridge, and these new suites must be seen to be believed, not just for the views but for the stand-alone bathtubs, like a hardboiled egg sliced in half in the middle of the room.

As for activities, if it can be done at any island resort, it can be done here. Water sports may appeal to some, but to us it seems the point of a place like this is relaxation, not exertion. And with service this obsessive, you almost don't have to stand up if you don't want to — the restaurants, remarkable as they are, will of course deliver, but try as they might the staff can't bring the Givenchy spa into your room. Pity.

How to get there:
Shangri-La’s Le Touessrok Resort & Spa is approximately a 1-hour drive from the Mauritius-Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport and 50 minutes from the Capital, Port Louis.