Staying At Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay Beach🔵, Indian Ocean🇮🇳🏝, Mauritius🇲🇺

“Now the sun’s gone to hell; and the moon’s riding high” – Mark Knopfler.

Although Mauritius is a small island, I still decided to stay relatively close to the main international airport – Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. I was here on a stopover between France and Reunion Island and the way things worked out Mauritius was a bonus ball and was my 4th African M country in the space of 5 weeks.

I had already backpacked Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique (“The Bake”) on an MMM tour by the time my virtually empty Air Mauritius flight landed here from Reunion Island. I’m still putting my footsteps on the globe.

I booked Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay Beach for two main reasons…
1.It’s near the beach. 2 minutes walk.
2.It’s near the airport. 20 minutes drive.

As you can also see in the map below – this is ALL of Blue Bay so the area is not that big. You can tour the whole place very quickly.

I then realised that in the past, I rarely booked accommodation based on proximity. I used to go for price, or quirkiness, or if it was a famous place, or if it was an unusual place or if it was already part of a tour or deal, or as a blogger if I was reviewing it, getting a sponsored stay or being paid to stay there. This time I had not much time to organise and I actually booked this place less than 24 hours before I landed in Mauritius! It was a perfect choice given that I usually travel fast now. I’m not really doing long term backpacking any more. I’m doing short but fast and intense trips now and I’m loving that shift.

COVID changed me in that regard for sure, as did my new projects in Poland and my four latest income streams outside the monster of Don’t Stop Living:
1.Writing about Poland for clients.
2.Teaching Business and Travel English for clients in Poland.
3.Having a newish blog called Northern Irishman In Poland.
4.Releasing Books. And lots of them!

After landing in Mauritius I was visa free on a Northern Irish passport. I just needed to fill in two documents. Immigration was a bit slow but here I was in country 218. Stamp me in.

There are no clear or easy buses from the airport to Blue Bay Beach. This time as it was raining, I got a taxi from the airport to Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay for 400 Rupees. You can probably get it cheaper but I was buoyant and not in bargaining mood. Take me there asap.

I was quoted 7,000 Rupees to hire a car for 24 hours and declined as I didn’t want to spend my entire time in Mauritius behind the wheel. The car company also led to a freak as it was called Ola, a blast from the past and a girl’s name in Poland.

In fact I was actually really only in Mauritius and Reunion Island to chill out and have some time to myself as well as planning my 11th book. And that’s what I did well apart from my trip to Saint Gilles Les Bains in Reunion Island and a pub crawl of both Saint Denis (Reunion Island) and a pub crawl of Blue Bay (here in Mauritius).

I even had some afternoon nap and chill time here at Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay Beach in Mauritius. Here is a little bit about this abode and yes I’d recommend it.

I arrived just after midday and got checked in immediately. Within 10 minutes I had the Wi-Fi password, a cold beer (Phoenix) and was lying on my bed.

I was in Room B1 upstairs. One day, I’ll make a list of all the exact beds/rooms I stayed in the exact hotels or hostels in the exact towns, cities, or villages in countries! The double bed was cosy.

My room had Wi-Fi and the downstairs also had Wi-Fi and both worked very well.

I had an ensuite bathroom with shower (hot water), soap, toilet, sink and towels.

I made use of the tea and coffee too and they also provide you with a torch if you go out at night and are coming back home late.

I  had a view out the window to the beach.

The swimming pool is small but calm. There were only a few other guests here.

The garden also has some darts and games.

The front courtyard (open) and internal lounge (indoors) are chill out zones.

There’s also an open plan upstairs zone where you can relax, drink, play card games, or (if desperate) watch television or videos. Behind that is also a kitchen, which we are also free to use at our leisure.

The downstairs poolside bar is theoretically open all the time even if you want a beer at 2 or 3 am just tell them. Meals can be ordered for dinner and lunch (do it in advance also) but I didn’t have lunch or dinner here. Instead I ate by the sea at Blue Bay including an excellent chicken egg fried rice dish at Blue Bay Snack Shack.

Breakfast was served in the courtyard. I had apple juice, an apple, an orange, coffee with milk, two slices of bread with three slices of cheese, three slices of ham and a dallop of butter, a natural yoghurt and a chocolate wafer.

Here are some more photos from my stay at Explora Prestige Guest House, as well as from in and around Blue Bay.

Here are the details for booking a room or a bed at the Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay Beach in Mauritius:

Here are some videos from my stay at the Explora Prestige Guest House by Blue Bay Beach in Mauritius: