Anantara Iko Mauritius Resort & Villas

At the wild southern tip of Mauritius, where the Indian Ocean swells meet rugged basalt headlands, Anantara Iko stands apart from every other luxury resort on the island. The setting is deliberately dramatic — exposed to the wind, ringed by cliffs and the crashing surf of the Blue Bay Marine Park — and Anantara has leaned into it rather than tamed it. Opened in 2021, the resort's 68 pavilions and 14 villas are arranged along a broad beach of dark volcanic sand and pale coral fragments, each with a private pool and outdoor shower. Interiors reference the island's colonial Indo-French heritage through hand-block printed fabrics, rattan ceiling fans, and warm timber floors. Dining here is ambitious: MIZU is the all-day restaurant with a live cooking theatre; Blooms focuses on plant-forward cuisine drawing from the resort's own organic garden; and the overwater bungalow bar serves sunset cocktails above the lagoon. The Six Senses-style spa runs a personalised wellness journey programme of three or five days incorporating yoga, Ayurvedic consultations, and cold-press juice fasting. For adventure seekers, the resort partners with local guides for kitesurfing at the nearby Le Morne peninsula and diving at the Blue Bay Marine Park coral garden. The southern location is genuinely remote — Mahebourg is 20 minutes by car, the airport 25 — and that isolation is the point. Anantara Iko is for guests who want Mauritius at its most elemental, not its most manicured.