La Pirogue Review

Overall Rating

Unique Accommodation, White Sandy Beach, crystal clear water, great entertainment.

Cold pool, 1 hour transfer from airport.

We have just returned from La Pirogue and must admit it is a wonderful location and hotel. Set long a white sandy beach with crystal clear waters it is protected by a reef which means it's a simply stunning setting.

La Pirogue is the oldest hotel on that stretch of beach (shared with Sugar Beach and the Hilton), but has been recently renovated with great success, the grounds a wonderful with big palm trees all around and the unique bungalows certainly give a more intimate setting, in our opinion it's far better than other hotels in the area (which we visited) for character and charm.

Food at La Pirogue is the usual buffer style for breakfast but generally cover all that you could want from full English, to fruit, to more specialist items such as omelettes cooked to order.

Lunch can be obtained from the Beach bar or from the Pizza Bike (highly recommended); good quality snacks are also server.

Dinner is again a buffet style, with a wide selection rotated on a daily basis, so there's always something you fancy. You can also choose to visit the two other restaurants on the site which do more formal meals but as we went All Inclusive only once did we go for something different. They do a BBQ seafood dinner on the beach once a week and make a real effort on presentation with LOg beach fires and the BBQ done to represent a sailing ship. Music is also provided by the resident entertainment team.

Facilities are good with lots to do both on and off water. Tennis is excellent but don't purchase the balls required on site .. go to the local supermarket where they sell them half price.

A recommended activity is the horse riding which isn't run by the hotel, but is next door. At £11 for 45 minutes is excellent value and is great fun. The horses are ex-race horse and are keen to please. We went 3 times during our stay.

The evening entertainment is first rate, they have a show most evenings with a resident band and dance team. We checked the hotels around and certainly the La Pirogue team can better by far and play a wide selection of music to everyone's taste over the course of a week. Dancing is lively and the costumes are wonderful, the group work hard to put on a show and seem to enjoy what they do.

Staff at the hotel are pleasant and often reserved but watch out for some real characters that welcome you and seem to genuinely care about there jobs and making sure you are welcome.

Watch out for "Jeewan" on the Beach Bar, "Vinod" at dinner and "Sanjay" and "Sebastian" at the blue bar, they are a credit to the hotel and remember names, room numbers and always have a first rate welcome, these folks really do go that extra mile to please. Spend the time to get to know them!

The rooms are very comfortable and the standard rooms are well equipped. The do a superior room and a royal suite, but spend the extra money on a longer stay as the standard are good enough to please and besides, who needs a sea view when you can spend 2 minutes walking to the beach for the whole day !

At 5pm go to the beach bar, watch the volleyball match (or join in), then sit back and enjoy the sunset that follows while drink a glass of wine .. perfect!

In the evenings park up against the beach fires that they light with your partner and enjoy the flames and the waves as they compete for your ears and eyes.

La Pirogue certain has the best section of beach down that part of the coast; it has the best accommodation to (if you like more self contained buildings). You also get the chance to exchange a night at the Sugar Beach resort, but we didn't, why would you, La Pirogue is much nicer in our opinion.

The downsides are that the pool was very cold in the first week that we where there, it was certainly warmer to swim in the sea. Also for All Inclusive you still have to sign bills and they do the justments. You need to be careful what you sign and ensure that it is correct as sometimes the staff do get the bills wrong. Saying this they do also correct without much hassle and often try to save you money.

We also had an issue with one of the tour desks (not run by La Pirogue) which was on-site who overcharged us for Quad Biking. We got very little help from the tour operator (not Mauritours) so decided to approach the hotel resident manager. He sorted the problem out within the hour and resolved the issue to our satisfaction without question .. excellent!

Our bottom line is that La Pirogue is an excellent hotel in a wonderful location, worth the money and perhaps worth the All Inclusive if you make use of the facilities.

Well recommended.

Members' Comments onMrDixonHill's Review

• toriaoxford on 28th Oct 2005

  Hi, glad to hear you had such a wonderful time at La Pirogue! We did too and in fact it was so good, we're going back for a third time (well, 4th for my husband)! The staff as you say are very helpful - I didn't come across the ones you mentioned but VJ in the Blue Bar and Lobin (waiter with a tash!) were wonderful and, as you say, remembered our names and room numbers and couldn't do enough for us. We were lucky enough to stay in one of the superior rooms but as you say, I'm sure they're not that different to the standard rooms and of course it takes no time to walk to or even see the beautiful beach and sea! We're going again in January 06 and I can't wait - it will be our first wedding anniversary holiday and certainly needed after the lausy few months we've had. Do go again if you can - we love it but I think next year will be our last - at least for a while! Regards, Toria (Oxford)