Mauritius, for British travellers, is a long-haul alternative to the Maldives — and the east coast, facing the trade winds, is the island's wildest and most beautiful. Constance Belle Mare Plage, set on a two-kilometre stretch of that coast, is the island's most established luxury all-inclusive, and one of the few where 'all-inclusive' genuinely means a comprehensive experience rather than a meal plan.
The Constance All-Inclusive
The all-inclusive here is structured around the Constance 'Serenity' package: meals across the resort's several restaurants, selected wines and spirits, and — unusually — free green fees on the championship golf course. The wine cellar, one of the deepest in the Indian Ocean, holds over 20,000 bottles and 1,000 references; the sommelier-led tastings are a genuine feature, not a token, and the wine list at dinner is the most generous of any all-inclusive we have reviewed outside Europe.
The Beach, and the Golf
The two-kilometre beach is the resort's defining asset — a sweep of white sand, shaded by casuarina trees, with a lagoon calm enough for swimming and a reef break for the more adventurous. The golf course, an 18-hole championship layout by Rodney Wright, is one of the best in the Indian Ocean, and the inclusion of green fees in the all-inclusive is a genuine differentiator — golf can be the hidden cost of a Mauritius holiday elsewhere.
Most all-inclusives measure value in meals. This one measures it in a handicap and a wine list.
Five Restaurants, One Cellar
The dining, across five restaurants, ranges from Mauritian-Creole to French fine dining, and the quality is consistent across them. The flagship, Deer Hunter, works to a French tasting menu; the beachfront Blue Penny Café does Mauritian classics — octopus curry, gateau piment — with real respect. The wine pairings, drawn from the cellar, are where the all-inclusive here most decisively separates itself from the competition.
Why It Matters
Constance Belle Mare Plage is the proof that long-haul all-inclusive can be a serious proposition rather than a mass-market one. For travellers who want the convenience of a single price, the freedom of an included golf course and a serious wine cellar, and the beauty of Mauritius' east coast, it is one of the best-value luxury propositions in the Indian Ocean — and a useful corrective to the assumption that all-inclusive is, by definition, a compromise.
