Sands Resort & Spa

Initially while booking for my honeymoon i as stuck between 'the maritime and 'the sands. .but after reading reviews on various travel sites including this one and speaking to travellers who have stayed at 'the sands i opted for this resort. And i am not regretting a bit. The resort is just wonderful. More so the ppl out there..i wonder if they ever get tired of smiling :o).. i just loved the check-in they have at the hotel.. The rooms are all sea facing and similar, so there is no question of bad rooms ...room service was wonderful..we opted for half board so breakfast's and dinners were excellent..they have a particular cuisine each night alongwith some music and dance shows.. best thing was if you are in your room and want to rest, the music is not at all disturbing or irritating...the spa is also pretty good.. excellent place for honeymooners and ppl who want peace and calm during their holidays.. would definitely like to visit it again whenever i can.. till then cheers n regards

I and my wife went for our honeymoon to the Sands Resort & Spa from Feb 13 to Feb 21 '08.I had asked for specific bookings for this hotel after reading the reviews on tripadvisor.com.My travel agent initially insisted that I stay at one of the hotels of the Apavou group such as Indian Resort and La Plantation, which are the most frequented by Indian tourists. However I was totally smitten by the reviews of the hotel and its satellite image on www.wikimapia.org.Both of us are strict vegetarians and moreover my wife abstains from onion & garlic too;our worries were put to rest as soon as we sat down for our first meal as Chef Naveen prepared a special surprise dish for her everynight.Sands resort has everything you would dream about from very friendly staff, an excellent swimming pool, a private beach and the beautiful Mauritian soul. Most of the guests were European and we made lots of friends. There was unique entertainment every night after dinner including jazz, DJs and even a Bollywood night.All rooms are sea facing and the amenities in the room are par excellence.There must be a hundred small things which sweep you of your feet such as the housekeeping lady would bring two chocolates to your room every evening.

My travel agent had initially suggested some different 4* hotel in Mauritius. But after reading reviews on this hotel on TravelAdvisor I was convinced that this is the hotel I wanted to spend my honeymoon in. My wife and I had a great stay out there for 9 days. The hotel staff was very courteous. They were very helpful and full of life always around even if you are sitting on the beach or lying around on the hammock. The food was excellent and they kept changing the menus very nicely. The beach is very clean and well maintained and is not crowded which is perfect if you are on your honeymoon. The hotel also provided us with a special four course honeymoon dinner at the spice restaurant which was just superb. I quite liked everything about the hotel. The only thing that might be mentioning out here is the cocktails we not up to the mark. For a four star restaurant it was of very bad quality. Note that water is expensive at the hotel so it would be a good idea to carry a pack of 6 bottle from some shop before you reach the hotel. If you visit Adamas diamond factory the currency used out there is dollars (USD) so you might be better off trading in dollars as the rate is very good (even better than thomascook). Quad biking at Casela is a MUST. We had very good fun going around in open on a quad bike. It was a bit scary to start with but once u get a hang of it (takes 15 mins) you would really start to enjoy it. They take you high up a mountain and then down you get some excellent views.

What an absolutely beautiful hotel, small, quiet but not boring. The location of this resort is by far the best, each day I walked on the beach and you can get a good indication of the other hotels, all very lovely, but busy, crowded and not as private as The Sands. Check-in is a pleasure as the staff personally take you to your room and go over all relevant details with you, a lovely personal touch. The rooms were very spacious and clean, the pillows were very soft, so if you like a firm pillow don’t be afraid to ask because they will be happy to provide you with them (don’t do what we did & leave it to the last few days of our trip before we requested them). The resort offers a full range of free water sports that are excellent, so if you think you will get bored of lazing by the pool, think again. My fiancé did some diving (organized through the resort) and said it was one of the best dives he has ever done and that is saying a lot considering we are from Australia where diving would have to be high in the ratings. The diving trip left from a nearby hotel so you don’t have to worry about the long bus drive to the location and back, really the convenience was 10/10. We opted for half board with breakfast and dinner included, I would highly recommend this option as it is nice not to have to think about what you are going to eat, the food is overall very good and each night there is a theme so you never get tired of the same food. We stayed over Christmas and the atmosphere amongst the hotel was lovely, a Christmas spirit without all the fuss. The pool area is lovely and whilst it is not massive it never seemed crowded. Honestly do not hesitate with this hotel, it will not disappoint, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

This place was lovely, I agree with all the good reviews. Great value, great staff and made for a perfect honeymoon.

We spend, in Nov 07, 10 nights in The Sands resort hotel. I agree with all positive reviews written on this hotel over the past months - location is great, grounds are well kept, staff is very friendly, rooms and bathrooms are of a good size and kept very clean, etc... Breakfast is fine, lunches are good and variation in dinner is fine ... but..... The only remark on the hotel is related to the evening dinners : when dinner is served with the table service (during the non-self service buffet days) the food on the plate is mostly, when arriving at your table, not hot.... We made a number of remarks on this to the staff and head waiter, but they didn't succeed in solving the issue..... Apart from the above everything at this place was great !

My wife and I stayed at the Sands for our Honeymoon and couldn't have been more pleased. The room, location and standards were all that we could have wished for and more. We had half board accommodation, and found the breakfasts and dinners to be excellent. They serve different style of dinner every night, and always fantastic. The location is perfect for a honeymoon getaway, a bit of distance from town but not too far. Everything you need is easy to get to if need be. Rooms are cleaned twice a day, can't want any better than that, and were very spacious. Massages were fantastic. Service was fantastic too. The beach can be a bit rocky at places, but it's hardly sharp and was great for swimming as far as I was concerned. I suppose those with soft feet might not like it? We've nothing bad to say really! Would go back & recommend to anyone.

We wanted complete rest and relaxation with good service and we certainly got it. The Sands Resort is smaller than most of the neighbouring hotels and therefore appeared much less crowded than the others although it was said to be 94% full. Because it is relatiively small, all facilities and the beach or pool are all very handy. The appartments are almost all the same size - very spacious, well equipped and spotlessly clean- and ours was on the ground floor which is best. Others are first or second floor. It looked out over well kept lawns with trees and then the beach which was only about 60 yards away. The service was highly professional and very polite and friendly everywhere - at reception, in the dining area, the bar and on the beach. Only once was the service at dinner a little slow. Although the hotel was full, it never appeared crowded and there was always plenty of room on the beach or in the bar. Very discreet live music was laid on every night from about 1830 until 2030 and then usually more lively and slightly louder music until 2300. The hotel does its best to entertain without causing loss of sleep for those retiring early. The beach was raked daily and was clean. swimming was ok with a sheltered area protected by a string of large rocks but snorkelling was not brilliant close to the beach. There were twice daily snorkelling trips - free - to outside the reef as long as the sea was calm enough so on our stay this only happened on about half the days. The infinity pool was excellent and never seemed overcrowded. For really good snorkelling we took a trip [75 minutes] to Blue Bay at the South end of the Island and just past the airport. We took a glass- bottomed boat from the public beach to look at fantastic coral and then there was a snorkelling area in the Marine Park with a mass of different fish. Taxis were always available at fixed competitive rates if we wished to visit other parts of the island and all very reliable. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. We never heard any of the other guests complaining about anything.

We stayed for 10 days in this hotel in October for my husbands 30th and have to say it was better than we ever expected. From arriving the staff were unbelievably helpful, from check-in, evening meals and chefs, breakfast ladies, pool waiters, bar staff, Spices staff etc etc. The food was excellent, one of the best we have had. We decided to go half board and unless you are a HUGE eater would recommend this option. The breakfasts are immense- anything from serial and fruit to a fresh omlette and pancake stand. This filled us up to later on and the evening buffets were 'not just a buffet', had so many options every night we wanted to try a bit of everything and never had a bad meal. Every other night there was a la carte which was also lovely. We went to the Spices restaurant that was also nice but to be honest the buffet was just a nice and even had some of the dishes from the Spices on so seemed a bit pointless going more than once (although they do credit you some euros for going, 10 euro per person so works out cheap). Nice for a quieter romantic evening. As for drinks, no point going AI as they were cheap enough- 3.75 euros for Mojitos, good wines for 20-30 euros etc. Our total bill for all drinks, the extra restaurant etc only came to just over £400 and we werent being careful. Beach lovely, great views and watersports included. They even bring pizza bites out to the sunbathers and clean your glasses!We went snorkelling on a private boat for an hour, all included. Rooms although not luxurious, are large, clean and comfortable. Only small niggle is there were more kids than expected however we did go away at half term, and still great for older and younger couples. Great entertainment on the evening including dancers, singers etc. Definately recommended- 5 * service!

When we decided to have a 'destination wedding' I was a little bit worried as most of the organising is left to the last minute, but we could not have asked for anything more. The wedding co-ordinator was fantastic and very organised which allowed us to just enjoy the day. The ceremony was simple, relaxed and very romantic. The photos were beautiful (especially the sunset one's). In terms of the resort itself, it was wonderful. I cannot fault it. I was in a beautiful location, quite small and intimate and the food etc was lovely. I think that the Sands has to have to best location in Mauritius.The service staff (ie. waiters, bar staff etc) were the best that I have ever come across. The only hesitation that I have in writing such a wonderful review is that more and more people will want to go there. Thanks to all the staff at the Sands we had the best wedding and honeymoon ever!