Mauritius with Children: Choosing a Resort for Your Wedding or Honeymoon

Planning a wedding or honeymoon in Mauritius with your children coming along? Then choosing your resort deserves a little more thought than it would for a holiday for two. The children want a beach, a pool, new friends and adventures. You want to enjoy your wedding, find a little romance and perhaps have some peace and quiet as well.

Happy children make happy parents. Absolutely. But on your wedding day or honeymoon, your own romance and peace of mind are just as important.

Our experience organising weddings and honeymoons has taught us that a resort which is great for children isn’t necessarily the best place for a wedding with children. A good kids’ club matters, of course. But so do the atmosphere, the size of the property and, most importantly, how everything is laid out. You won’t learn much about those things from the star rating.

Which Type of Resort Is Right for Your Family?

There are three broad types of resort in Mauritius, and each offers a different sort of holiday.

Adults-only resorts. Look closely at the minimum age, because adults only doesn’t always mean 18 and over. Seasense Boutique Hotel & Spa, for example, is adults-only but welcomes guests from the age of 12. Attitude’s adults-only resorts, by contrast, have a minimum age of 18. If you’re travelling with teenagers, that’s a very important distinction.

Resorts that welcome families with children. These are often our favourite choice for a wedding or honeymoon with kids. Children have activities and facilities of their own, but the entire resort doesn’t revolve around them. There are quieter corners where you can enjoy some romance too.

Resorts designed primarily for families. Children’s pools, playgrounds, organised activities and plenty of other families. Wonderful for a family holiday. But if you’re also planning a wedding ceremony, romantic photographs and some time alone together, they may not always be the ideal setting.

None of these types is inherently better than the others. What matters is what you want from your stay.

The Kids’ Club: Tucked Away or Right in the Middle?

This is one of the most important things we look at when choosing a resort.

At some hotels, the kids’ club sits away from the busiest areas. Children have their own world, and everyone else gets a little peace. At others, the playground is at the heart of the resort, the main pool is busy all day and you can’t go far without meeting another pushchair.

The children may love either arrangement. But now picture your ceremony, your first photographs together or a romantic dinner. Would you rather be in the middle of all that family activity, or have a little room to yourselves?

We sometimes joke that you don’t want to arrive for your wedding only to discover you’re getting married in the middle of a playground.

That’s why we look beyond whether a resort has a kids’ club and ask where it is. How much greenery and shade is there? How far are the children’s activities from the quieter areas? Is there enough space for families to have fun without the whole resort feeling like one enormous play area?

The children’s ages matter too. A young child might be perfectly happy with a comfortable beach, some shade and a pool. An older child may want a proper club, excursions and friends to play with. And always check the club’s age range: a kids’ club that starts at three isn’t much help if your child is two.

Great for Family Holidays — But Not Always Our First Wedding Choice

Friday Attitude and Victoria Beachcomber are good examples of resorts with a strong family focus. They’re lovely places for a holiday built around the children. For couples looking for a quieter, more romantic wedding, though, they’re not usually at the top of our recommendations.

That’s not a criticism. They’re simply a different kind of resort. Friday Attitude has a kids’ club for children aged 3–12, along with plenty of family activities. Victoria Beachcomber offers a kids’ club, activities for teenagers and a separate adults-only concept called Victoria for 2.

Victoria is a particularly good example of how much different areas of one hotel can vary. Its adults-only accommodation may be appealing to couples travelling without children, but a family needs to judge the resort by the spaces they can actually enjoy together.

Resorts We Recommend for Children and Wedding Romance

These are resorts we like because they combine plenty for children to do with surroundings where the parents can enjoy themselves as well. Each has its own character, so the best choice depends on your children’s ages and personalities.

Zilwa Attitude — Pirate Treasure on an Island

Zilwa Attitude is one of our favourite Mauritius resorts for families. We love its imaginative children’s activities, including a kids’ club with the feel of an old sailing ship and treasure hunts on the little island of Gran Zil.

That’s the sort of adventure children remember long after they’ve forgotten how many stars their hotel had. The kids’ club caters for ages 3–12, and Zilwa offers a lovely setting for a family holiday. It’s a wonderful example of children having adventures of their own while their parents enjoy the island too.

The Ravenala Attitude — Gardens, Shade and Space

What we particularly like about The Ravenala Attitude is its spacious setting, beautiful greenery, plentiful shade and lovely surroundings by the lagoon. And in Mauritius, shade is genuinely important when you’re travelling with little ones.

The resort has an excellent kids’ club for ages 3–12, facilities for younger children and babysitting that can be arranged. Its size and layout give families room for activities while leaving quieter places to relax. For couples travelling with young children, that’s a very attractive combination.

Crystals Beach Resort Belle Mare — Mauritius’s Only Hotel Waterpark

Crystals Beach Resort Belle Mare, which you may remember as Maritim Crystals Beach, has a beautiful beach, the Ti Dodo kids’ club and, best of all for water-loving children, Aqualand — the only hotel waterpark in Mauritius.

Waterslides, pools and water attractions can be a huge hit with the kids. If your children love spending hours in the water, this is a fantastic option.

For your wedding, we’d simply choose the ceremony setting and time carefully, so you can have all that family fun and still enjoy a romantic part of the day.

La Pirogue — Little Smurf Houses Among the Palms

La Pirogue has a charm all its own. Its distinctive thatched-roof bungalows nestle among the palms like a little fairy-tale village — we affectionately call them ‘Smurf houses’. And there is plenty of space for children to play and couples to find some romance.

Another big advantage is Sugar Beach right next door. Guests at La Pirogue can enjoy facilities and restaurants at its sister resort, giving the family even more choice. Both hotels have kids’ clubs with activities for different age groups.

It’s that combination of space, palms, a lovely beach and good family facilities that makes La Pirogue one of our favourite choices for a honeymoon with children.

Le Méridien Île Maurice — A Long Beach and Room for Everyone

Le Méridien Île Maurice has roughly a kilometre of sandy beachfront and a spacious resort where families and couples alike can find room to relax.

There’s a kids’ club for ages 4–12, while the separate Nirvana wing is reserved for adults. Families travelling with children won’t be staying in that adults-only area, but the layout shows how one hotel can cater for different kinds of holiday.

What we love about Le Méridien is the space. When you’re combining a family trip with a romantic honeymoon, that’s one of its biggest advantages.

Heritage Awali — A Wonderful Choice with a Baby

Heritage Awali is one of our recommendations for couples travelling with very young children. It has a beautiful, spacious setting, a lovely beach and excellent facilities for families.

Its particular strength is Baby Timomo, a baby club for children from birth to 35 months, with trained carers looking after the little ones. Older children have a separate kids’ club.

That makes a world of difference compared with a hotel whose children’s club starts at three or four. If you’re getting married in Mauritius with a baby, proper infant facilities can make the whole stay much easier. We recommend arranging baby care before you travel.

Smaller Resorts: Look at the Space, but Don’t Miss the Exceptions

Smaller hotels can be wonderfully personal and welcoming. But with less land, there’s often less room to separate the children’s activities from the places where other guests want to relax.

That’s why we pay particular attention to a smaller resort’s character and layout. It certainly doesn’t mean that a three-star hotel can’t be excellent for a honeymoon with children. You simply need to look beyond the star rating.

Coin de Mire Attitude is a great example of a smaller resort that welcomes families without making children’s attractions the centre of everything. It has a kids’ club for ages 3–12 and a lovely atmosphere. These are exactly the sorts of places we like for travelling as a family.

Another appealing option is Veranda Belle Mare (formerly Veranda Palmar Beach), on the beautiful Belle Mare beach. It has good facilities for families, the Timomo kids’ club and an atmosphere that suits honeymooning couples as well.

We’ve had very good feedback about this resort from our clients travelling with children and from newlyweds. That’s one of the reasons we recommend it to couples who want to combine a family holiday with a little romance.

So, How Do You Choose the Right Resort?

Try seeing the hotel through your children’s eyes — and your own.

The kids will be thinking about the beach, the pool, the club and all the things they can do. You should also be thinking about where you’ll have your ceremony, where you’ll take your wedding photographs and whether there’s somewhere peaceful for dinner together or a walk along the beach.

The location of the children’s facilities matters just as much as what they offer. So do shade, space, distances between different parts of the resort and the children’s ages. With babies and toddlers, look closely at the babysitting and childcare arrangements too.

Every family is different, and no one knows your children better than you do. Some couples will love a lively family resort from morning to night. Others will prefer somewhere the children can have adventures while the parents slip away to relax under the palms.

Don’t just choose a resort that’s good for children. Choose somewhere the whole family will be happy — and where the two of you can enjoy your wedding or honeymoon as well.