First impressions. Go with them or reserve judgment? Let's go with them. From the air, Mauritius is beautiful: verdant and bountiful, with turquoise seas, beach-fringed shores, fertile uplands and spectacular mountains. I think I'm going to like it.
Yet people I know who have visited have often been oddly non-committal on their return, talking of ghetto-like resorts that you never leave, and dismissive of the island as little more than a setting for hotels that could be anywhere.
But they must be wrong, I think, as we come in to land. Looking down I have the same sense I have when flying over Tuscany, say – of a place that, even from several thousand feet, appears to speak of beauty, charm and relaxed, pastoral perfection.
And so it proves as first impressions are confirmed on the short drive from the airport to the new Four Seasons Resort at Anahita. Balmy, tropical air drifts through the car's open windows as we pass through neat, flower-decked villages and wind along an unspoilt coast chequered with sugar cane and sparkling bays.
Now, there's no shortage of resorts on Mauritius, so does the island need another one? Well, when it's a Four Seasons resort, yes, because Four Seasons inevitably ups the ante when it comes to hotels, often trumping the opposition with its attention to detail, service and all-round finesse.
Here is no exception. All the components you'd expect are present – beaches, activities, a tremendous spa, very good food and spacious, well-designed villas. There is also a golf course, but not just any golf course. This one was designed by Ernie Els, and built to US PGA standards – the only such course on the island. Unlike some of the island's resorts, though, the course is not intrusive – you could stay here and never know it was there. The golf is good, but it's not the be-all and end-all. Far from it. These days, resorts need to keep the whole family happy, and there is an excellent Kids' Club for the under-12s, with its own "village", pool, playground, bakery, quiet room and an imaginative supervised programme of crafts, treasure hunts and other activities.
There's also a Young Adults' Centre for all those sulky teenagers who like to pretend they'd rather not be on holiday with their parents. Apparently it has computers, Wii, Xbox, pool, table football, table tennis and a disco with DJ balcony. I say apparently, because I didn't dare go in…
Leaving the teens to their Wii and sulks, what of life beyond the resort? Well, contrary to the gripes of some, there's plenty of it. Mauritius is just 40 miles long by 30 miles wide, with a population of 1.2 million, yet it has 22 languages and 90 religious faiths. If nothing else, this speaks of a rich contemporary culture and a colourful history, the latter illuminated by the Dutch, liberated African slaves, pirates, maverick adventurers, the Chinese, French, British and more.
French is still widely spoken, even though Britain captured it from France in 1810, but the most common "foreign" language is Hindi. When the British took the island from the French, they also took away the French plantation owners' "rights" to keep slaves. The owners' response was to bring in Indian labourers – more than 200,000 between 1840 to 1870.
As a result, much of the modern population is of Indian descent, and when we visit Port Louis, the island's quaint capital, it occurs to me that there is more of a hint of India in Mauritius, and not just because of the women in saris and other echoes of the subcontinent. But it is India with the volume turned down. Thus the main market has all India's colour and life, but is a manageable assault on the senses, and with a remarkable profusion of produce; remarkable, because the island's verdant veneer, so startling from the air, seems to consist entirely of sugar cane. In the countryside I saw no crop, no other living thing, in fact: no beasts of burden, no sheep, cattle; not even goats. Perhaps they went the way of the dodo, Mauritius's most celebrated former inhabitant.
So much for leaving the resort by day (and there's more to see than just Port Louis), what about leaving it by night? To its credit, the Four Seasons does not want you to spend every minute (and every last penny) in its restaurants, and the concierge's suggestion to have dinner at the Café des Arts, a former 1840 sugar mill, was a winner. Hard to describe either the colourful setting or its bohemian owners, but suffice to say, you'll have an evening to remember.
Final thoughts? Well, I was right to go with my first impressions. There's not much wrong with Mauritius – it has scenery, charm and culture aplenty – and not much wrong with the Four Seasons. Maybe my morning coffee could have been stronger, but that's about it. More to the point, I'd like to have climbed one of those mountains. Next time, perhaps.
