Paradise Cove

Shunning the east-coast, five-star scrum, Paradise Cove keeps itself to itself, as it has since it opened, eight years ago, amid Day-Glo flora in the island's far north. Smaller than its closest competitors Royal Palm and Oberoi, the 67-room Relais and Chateaux property curls seductively around the bijou topaz inlet of its name, sequestered from the open sea. With discreet suites of Raj infusion and a disdain for buffet catering, it's the very cocoon for honeymoon consummation (at least 20 couples arrive each week), while geared also towards other exertions (undersea walks, catamaran voyages and game fishing). Flaunting the Mauritian vernacular, the place feels becalmed, unfolding through a spreading foyer of boxy claret colonial seating, past a resolutely untrendy, turquoise (!) round (!!) pool, to a strictly residents' only crescent shore, overlooked by the seafood La Cocteraie, its ingenious trio of intimate dining pavilions for two stilted over the briny. From £1,816 through Carrier (01625 547030).