Stella Rina

Stella Rina is a small boutique guesthouse on the north coast between Grand Baie and Trou aux Biches, a property that occupies the comfortable middle ground between a self-catering apartment and a proper hotel. The ten or so rooms are decorated with local batik and rattan in a cheerful Indo-Mauritian style, each with a terrace or balcony and air conditioning. The communal pool is small and shaded by a mature frangipanier. The beach, a three-minute walk, is the public strand at Pointe aux Canonniers — a wide, casuarina-shaded stretch of the northern lagoon. What Stella Rina offers that larger properties cannot is simplicity and genuine owner-guest hospitality: the family who runs the property knows their guests' names by the second morning, prepares breakfast from locally sourced fruit, and will happily arrange a taxi, book a restaurant, or recommend the best local rum shop with equal enthusiasm. It suits independent travellers and couples on a modest budget who want a clean, pleasant base on the north coast without the impersonal scale of a resort hotel.