Mauritius all-inclusive vs half-board golf — what’s actually included

The honest answer to the most-asked Mauritius question: does the all-inclusive upgrade pay, or is half-board the smarter buy? See all our Mauritius golf packages.

Almost every Mauritius golf enquiry that lands on my desk turns, eventually, on the same question. Mauritius all-inclusive golf or half-board? The swing between board bases runs from £156 to £844 per person across a week. Once you factor in how each resort defines “all-inclusive,” the maths can flip either way. This is the answer I give clients on the phone, written down. Resort by resort: Tamarina, Anahita, Heritage Le Telfair, Heritage Awali and Constance Belle Mare Plage. I’m Simon Crawley, and I’ve been pricing Mauritius golf for Golf Planet Holidays since 1981.

Why this matters more than it looks

Mauritius isn’t Spain. You can’t pop down to a beach bar at the end of the road for an €8 glass of wine. These resorts are remote. Bel Ombre on the south coast, Beau Champ on the east, Belle Mare further north. The food and drink you’ll have is what the resort serves you. So the choice between board bases isn’t a budgeting nicety. It’s the architecture of your week.

What “all-inclusive” actually means in Mauritius

Forget the Costa del Sol mental model. A Mauritian all-inclusive package at a 4★ or 5★ resort typically covers full board across the resort’s restaurants (not just the buffet), premium-brand drinks, in-room minibar, water sports on the lagoon, and at some properties golf buggies. Top-shelf spirits, vintage wines and certain à-la-carte signature restaurants usually carry a supplement even on all-inclusive. Ask before you assume. Half-board is the Mauritian default for golf travellers. Bed and breakfast is the East-coast 5★ default, because the assumption is you’ll roam between restaurants on the estate. That assumption costs.

Tamarina. The cleanest all-inclusive maths on the island

At Tamarina, on Tamarin Bay at the foot of Mount Rempart, half-board with daily golf on Rodney Wright’s par-72 runs £649pp for the week. All-inclusive is from £805pp. That’s a £156 lift across the week, about £22 a day. For a 4★ resort with three working restaurants (La Madrague for the exotic-buffet breakfast and themed-buffet dinner, Le Dix-Neuf at the clubhouse for bol renversé and prawn curry, the Halfway House between 9 and 10) and a mixology bar open 07:30 till late, that’s the smallest all-inclusive premium on the island.

If you’ll eat dinner at the resort most nights, the upgrade pays for itself by Wednesday. If you’ll be out exploring Tamarin and Black River, half-board’s the right answer. Tamarina’s the only resort here where I’d call it a toss-up. Reciprocal green-fee privileges at Sugar Beach, Maradiva, Paradis and Sofitel So Mauritius are unaffected by board basis.

Anahita. The heaviest all-inclusive premium on the island

At Anahita Golf & Spa Resort, now The Bay Club at Anahita, the base board basis is bed and breakfast, not half-board. Seven nights with unlimited golf on Ernie Els’s lagoon-edge layout and Bernhard Langer’s island course at Île aux Cerfs runs £775pp. The all-inclusive upgrade kicks in from £1,619pp. That’s an £844 jump per person for the week. For two of you, £1,688. It’s the heaviest all-inclusive premium of any property I sell in Mauritius.

Why so much? Anahita’s restaurant lineup is six covers strong. Signature, Origine, Bliss on the beach, Il Forno at the clubhouse, Flibustier for the bento lunch on Île aux Cerfs, plus the Vu Bar. There’s also a Dial-A-Chef service for in-villa cooking. All-inclusive opens all of it and pours premium drinks across the lot. For most clients, that isn’t worth £844pp. The lagoon-front setting opposite Île aux Cerfs pulls people out. To the boat shuttle, to Flibustier, to a half-day in Bras d’Eau. Bed and breakfast is the package I sell most often here.

Heritage Le Telfair. Middle of the road, with caveats

At Heritage Le Telfair on the Bel Ombre estate, bed and breakfast with both Heritage courses (Peter Matkovich’s Le Château and the award-winning La Réserve Links co-designed with Louis Oosthuizen) sits at £889pp. All-inclusive is from £1,445pp. A £556 premium across the week.

The estate has Annabella’s, Gin’Ja, Le Palmier, the Cavendish Bar & Lounge, C Beach Club, Le Château de Bel Ombre (with Michelin-starred Christian Têtedoie consulting), and both clubhouses. The rum house pour is Chamarel, St Aubin and New Grove. Three of the better Mauritian rums. The Têtedoie restaurant at Le Château is the one to ask about. Some à-la-carte menus sit outside the all-inclusive envelope.

My honest read: Le Telfair all-inclusive works for the wellness-led couple who’ll eat on the estate every night, sit through a Sega evening and take the Seven Colours Signature Massage at the 3,000 m² spa without thinking about it. Bed and breakfast works for the curious. Le Telfair was named World’s Best Golf Hotel 2025, and it earns the title on either board basis.

Heritage Awali. The one-bill resort

Heritage Awali is the cleanest answer on this whole page, because it isn’t a choice. Awali is all-inclusive only. From £939pp for the week with golf on the Heritage Golf Club. £50 a head more than Le Telfair on bed and breakfast, for a simpler holiday.

You’re buying the African-inspired sister to Le Telfair (Swahili for “a return to what is meaningful”), six restaurants of its own (Savana, Zafarani, Infinity Blue, Le Boma, Kizuri, Zenzi Bar), plus access across the Bel Ombre estate to C Beach Club, Le Château de Bel Ombre and both clubhouses. One bill at the start. Golf shared with the next-door sister at Le Château and La Réserve. It’s the resort I recommend to clients who say, “I don’t want to be doing arithmetic on holiday.”

Heritage Le Telfair was named World’s Best Golf Hotel 2025 at the World Golf Awards. The estate’s La Réserve Links, shared by Awali, is World’s Best New Golf Course 2024 and Golfweek’s No. 1 in Africa for 2026.

The estate, the table, the bar. Where the all-inclusive bill actually lands

Three rooms, three holidays. Le Palmier at Le Telfair, Zenzi Bar at Awali after dark, the Tamarina table-for-two. Your choice of board basis is really a choice between these rooms, and how often you’ll be in them.

Constance Belle Mare Plage. The buggy point that changes the maths

At Constance Belle Mare Plage, half-board with unlimited golf on Hugh Baiocchi’s Legend and Rodney Wright & Peter Alliss’s Links course runs £919pp. All-inclusive is from £1,689pp. On paper, £770pp. A hefty premium.

But Belle Mare does something the others don’t. Green fees are complimentary for hotel guests on every package. Buggies are chargeable, except on the all-inclusive upgrade, where they’re included. On a six-round week with two couples sharing carts, that’s a ~the buggies that lands straight back on the all-inclusive side of the ledger.

Then there’s the food. Belle Mare has eight restaurants and eight bars: Blue Penny Cellar (30,000 bottles), La Citronelle after its 2025 rebuild, La Spiaggia, Deer Hunter, Blu Sushi Lounge, Le Swing, Lakaze, Indigo. If you’ll use the estate seriously, all-inclusive here is the most defensible on the page once you add the buggies. And Constance Spa’s Sisley Golden Harmony Ritual rolls into the all-inclusive bill too.

The comparison table. Five resorts at a glance

This is the table I send clients before the call. Same trip length (7 nights), same golf-on-package assumption, same single source. What flips is the board basis and what the all-inclusive actually includes.

Scroll horizontally to see all columns; the resort name stays in view.

What’s never included, at any resort, on any package

None of these packages (half-board, bed and breakfast or all-inclusive) include flights or airport transfers. We quote those separately. They also don’t include green fees at courses outside the resort’s own. Most importantly Île aux Cerfs Golf Club, Bernhard Langer’s island course opposite Anahita, which is a separate visitor green fee (the 24-seater shuttle from Pointe Maurice jetty is bundled in; the round itself isn’t covered by any resort all-inclusive). Buggies are chargeable at every resort except Belle Mare on the all-inclusive upgrade.

The honest verdict. When all-inclusive saves you money, when it doesn’t

All-inclusive pays at Tamarina (cheap entry, small premium), at Belle Mare with the buggy maths if you’re a heavy golf week, and at Awali by default. It’s harder to justify at Anahita unless you really do plan to stay put for the week. And it’s a coin-flip at Le Telfair depending on whether wellness or exploration is the holiday’s centre of gravity.

What I tell clients on the phone is simpler than the spreadsheet. If asking how much a glass of wine costs will spoil your dinner, go all-inclusive. If you’d rather taste-test the estate and pay as you go, half-board or bed and breakfast every time. The wider Mauritius destination page has the rest of the picture.

Simon’s quick take

• Best for all-inclusive without thinking: Heritage Awali. From £939pp, one bill, sister to Le Telfair, full estate access.
• Worth knowing: Belle Mare’s all-inclusive is the only Mauritius package that includes golf buggies, a ~the buggies.
• Simon’s tip: If you’re at Anahita and the all-inclusive quote shocks you, that’s the signal. Bed and breakfast plus the bento lunch at Flibustier on Île aux Cerfs is the trip the lagoon-front setting was designed for.

By Simon Crawley, Golf Planet Holidays specialist since 1981.