COUPLES' RETREAT

Tropical weather, luxury accommodation and relaxing rituals make Mauritius the perfect babymoon destination

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The beachfront pool at Le M eridien Ile Maurice

Looking for a holiday destination for one last trip as a two before our baby arrived, we found our options surprisingly limited.

We didn’t want to chance potential bad weather in Europe off-season, and with the risk of mosquito-borne virus Zika, which is particularly dangerous to pregnant women, ruling out most of the Caribbean and Asia, there was a clear frontrunner that ticked all of our boxes: Mauritius.

Our aim was simple: to enjoy all the things we’d probably struggle to do once our baby arrived, on what would potentially be our last relaxing holiday for a while. And it certainly delivered.

ADULTS-ONLY HIDEAWAY

Our first stop was the vast, colourful Le Méridien Ile Maurice on the island's northwest coast. It's one of Mauritius’s leading family hotels — perfect for showing us what to expect from our future holidays — but its hidden gem is its adults-only section, Nirvana, at the end of the kilometre-long beach, which has its own rooms, reception, restaurant, beach area and infinity pool scattered with squishy floating beanbags.