Mauritius

Mauritius is sold as a honeymoon beach but works best when you treat the lagoon as the base camp and not the whole trip. Rent a car and the island opens up: a mountain national park, a town market that smells of cumin and frangipani, coloured earth in the hills, and a food culture that mixes Indian, Creole, French, and Chinese on the same plate. The beaches are genuinely good; the interior is the surprise.

A week here splits neatly. Half of it goes to the water — a resort or villa on the calm north or west coast, snorkelling the lagoon, a catamaran day out to the islets. The other half is a road trip: south to the Le Morne peninsula under its sheer basalt mountain, into Black River Gorges for waterfalls and forest, up to the seven coloured earths at Chamarel, and into Port Louis to eat dholl puri at the central market for the price of a coffee back home. Food is where this island quietly outperforms its rivals.

The honest part: Mauritius is resort-heavy and priced like it, and the lagoon-front strips can feel sealed off from the actual country. It also rains more than the brochures admit — the central plateau is wet much of the year and the summer months bring real downpours and the occasional cyclone. Service can be slow, and without a car you will be stuck in your resort. If you want only a lounger and a buffet, you are overpaying for the interior you will never see. Hire the car.