La Pirogue — Hotel in Flic en Flac

What a genuine wonderful place! I travelled to La Pirogue with husband, teenage daughter and group of friends to celebrate some special birthdays and can say everyone had a fantastic time.

I loved the bungalow style accommodation, which opened to the palm tree gardens and the beach. The rooms was very clean and spacious enough for the 3 of us, although I can see wardrobe space being an issue ( trying to get the luggage of 3 people away, even though we only travelled with hand luggage) but this was definitely not a problem. The cleaning team were fantastic.

The swimming pool and beach areas were well looked after, you did not see any rubbish around and it never felt too crowded. The sea was amazing, what a colour, and despite being European summer holidays ( we were there end of August/ beginning of September) the beach never felt crowded or there was lack of sun loungers as the stretch of beach belonging to the hotel was so long. We were always able to get a space close enough to the bar!

When you stay at La Pirogue you can use the facilities of their sister hotel next door, Sugar Beach, which is a 5 star hotel. We had dinner there twice, which had to be booked in advance. They had the option of their own buffet with theme nights and a la carte Mare Mare which were included in the all in. And Buddha Bar which was included in the all in for drinks but any food had the be paid extra. And I have to say, despite Sugar Beach being the posher of the 2 hotels, the service at La Pirogue was million times superior than the service as Sugar Beach. So having tried each of their restaurant once we decided to stay at La Pirogue for the rest of our stay. I felt nothing was too much trouble for the La Pirogue staff, wheres the booking for the Sugar Beach restaurants always felt like they were doing us a favour. Maybe being a large group didn't help and a smaller group wouldn't have this problem.

The Tennis Courts and the Spa were also in the Sugar Beach site but very easy to use and book. But make sure you book anything a day before in the Spa, even the steam room. At the tennis court, we could hire rackets for 250 rupees per hour. They also have a paddle court, but we didn't try.

Finally our stay was magic mostly because of the wonderful service we received at La Pirogue. On arrival, Sandy looked after us, and Jean-Luc and Jake were always ready, with smile and a lot of banter at the Medine bar. On the buffet restaurant, Prayag looked after us every evening, and I didn't even need to order a drink, I would arrive for dinner and my glass was already full! I tried convincing Prayag to come back to the UK with me but his family won :) . And then we were unlucky that 3 of our party of 10 felt ill 2 days after the end of our holiday and Desire and his staff went out of their way to make sure they were well. You could see the staff was very concerned and, and took all measures to make sure the food was not the source of the illness( which it wasn't) We saw onsite nurses, my friend had a doctor in her room to look after her, and Desire was there to make sure we got everything we could to make the situation better. The people of La Pirogue were wonderful and made our fantastic holiday even more special. Not only the names I have mentioned, but everyone and everywhere. So if you have any doubts whether to stay at La Pirogue or Sugar Beach, go with the personal touch and choose La Pirogue as the staff there were genuinely nice and attentive. Desire, thank you for making our stay wonderful even with sickness at the end!

We...

Us|This was our second visit to La Pirogue, the last one being 25 years ago when we got married there, we were a little nervous about returning as you never know if something is going to have changed for the better or worse. we had no need to worry as although a few bits had changed the heart of the hotel (the staff) remained fantastic. We stayed for 10 nights all inclusive in September 2025||The hotel|Spread over a mature coconut plantation it is a series of small bungalows with thatched rooves that had not really changed much and although they had aged by 25 years were still maintained well and everything was clean and worked as it should.||We stayed in a superior garden room with a king sized bed and well equiped bathroom, mini bar (included if you are all inclusive) it also had a Tv and hair dryer, coffee machine. ||The staff|We met a number of staff who were working there 25 years ago during our previous visit, they were all friendly and very helpful||The food|The main restaurant|Is a typical buffet style restaurant in lay out and facilities, with different themed nights such as Asian, Mexican, Mauritian etc, being Mauritius there is always fish available including smoked Marlin. The dishes were very flavoursome but not too spicy. There was a good selection to suite all tastes||Coconut Cafe|We ate here at lunch time a number of times and once in the evening, this is a great restaurant with a good selction of food, well worth a visit and the lunch noodles are excellent.||Magenta|This was just reopeneing and I believe is going to be renamed, but is the restaurant that flows around the pool area. This was also a great restaurant which was a bit more intimate as the areas are smaller and spead out more, the food was great||Mare Mare|You can use this restaurant at Sugar Beach hotel next door - Don't bother its terrible. We were there about 2.5hrs and only had 2 courses, the starter came and was nice but the main course didn't arrive for another 1.5hrs, after that we'd had enough and left, so didn't have a sweet or coffee||The Bar|We used the Madine bar, the staff there were superb, service good and close to the entertainment, there was a good selection of cocktails, so try a few and see what you like, I can recommend the Planters Punch||All Inclusive|The all inclusive package is one if the best we've experienced, most things are included, including cocktails, mini bar and all meals||The beach|A lond white sand beach and calm lagoon, good snorkelling if you go out a little, but you need you own equipment.||The best bits|The staff - they were all brilliant, friendly, helpful and accommodating|The beach - Lots of sun beds and no problems finding somewhere to settle for the day, there was a drinks station and you can even order lunch to be delivered if you don't feel like going to a restaurant||Bits that I would like to have seen|The first time we went there was a guy who combed the beach every day, so when you went down there you felt like the first person to ever step on it, they don't do that any more and its a shame|You could not borrow snorkelling equipment unless you went on an organised trip, that was a shame||Summary|This place is great, friendly, relaxing, great staff, good food and a good all inclusive package, we would go back for a third time...

Compared to previous experiences with service and quality of food there has been a surprisingly steep decline regarding same. The staff is all about procedures rather than listening to either residents or visitors, and there seems to be a certain level of rudeness. A few samples... Prior to check-in, so while waiting for the front desk, it seems impossible to chill out at the bar to enjoy a refreshing drink. Something most obvious after travelling from abroad. Procedures: without room number no service/drinks. Bell boy remains at the door inside the room, looking annoyed and demanding to receive a tip or whatsoever instant reward. I mean obviously one has local currency in the pockets just arriving from the airport. And given hotel policy that this is not expected. As for receiving friends to hang out at the bar or for dinner, obviously booked onto the room extra as expected, there are procedures no one explains to the guests. Hint: you have to inform the front desk that you're having friends coming. Oh, and sharing the room number is important, because otherwise procedures say that the guard isn't allowed to let the car in, or it takes another 10 minutes to figure it out. Getting an unpleasant attitude from staff towards visiting friends - what do you want here? - instead of a warm welcome to the hotel. A useless assistant to the manager that either is not capable to listen or to understand. "Hi, I am bla. How are you doing?" "Well, I have a bit of a problem enjoying my evening here at the hotel." "Ahh, that's good. Have a good day." And walks away from a group of people expecting his attention. As for the quality of food, one should avoid the buffet. Seriously, the food is literally dead and buried. Any street food dealer in Mauritius offers better quality than buffet catering. Ooh, and don't be surprised to get charged different prices for the same drink or meal depending on your conditions of accommodation. Did I mention procedures? Did I mention rudeness? "Room number?!" - "Uhm, what do you offer?" - "That depends on your package. What's your room number?"

It is really a shame to see how such a prestigious gem of hotel in Mauritius even in the Indian Ocean has been run in the ground. Probably even six feet under.

It used to be better previously. Way better, more warm and welcoming, classy to say at least.

Not sure what happened during and after the pandemic but La Pirogue made it from our top recommendation to black listed in shortest record time. For an établissement with such rich history very saddening.

I hope this review will be helpful on several sides. For future travelers to reconsider their decision of stay, for locals to choose wisely for a dining experience, and for the management, well, whatever you want.

PS: I'm also going to formally request Google to unlist the hotel from their list of choices (out of three) as an option for associates travelling to Mauritius for speaking/attending...