Île aux Cerfs Golf Club — How to play Mauritius’s only island golf course

An 18-hole Bernhard Langer par 72 on its own island, reached by a 24-seater boat from Pointe Maurice. Yes, the transfer is in the green fee.

If you are putting together a Mauritius golf itinerary and wondering whether Ile aux Cerfs golf deserves a half-day of it, the honest answer is yes. Not for the reason most brochures give. The course is not famous because it sits on an island. It is famous because Bernhard Langer was handed 38 hectares of the southern half of that island, with lagoon visible from every hole, and asked to build something that played as a proper championship par 72 rather than a postcard. He did. We send clients across to Pointe Maurice with the same one-line instruction: get the early boat, take the camera, leave time for Langer’s Bar afterwards. See all our Mauritius golf packages for the full picture; here is how the Ile aux Cerfs day itself actually works.

The island, the course, and what Langer was asked to do

Ile aux Cerfs sits in the lagoon off Mauritius’s east coast, opposite Beau Champ. The northern half is the day-trip island most Mauritius visitors know: catamarans, parasailing, a beach bar or three. The southern half belongs to the golf course. 38 hectares of fairway, nine natural ponds, volcanic-rock outcrops poking through the rough, and bands of endemic flora that the routing was designed around rather than cleared out. Lagoon water is visible from all 18 holes, which is the line the marketing leans on, but the more useful thing to know is that the course plays as a real par 72, not a novelty layout dressed up by its postcode.

The architect’s name is on the clubhouse bar for a reason. This is the only course Langer has designed in the Indian Ocean, and the routing reflects a German pro’s preference for greens that reward shape and angle over length alone.

18 holes, par 72, 38 hectares across the southern half of Ile aux Cerfs. Designed by Bernhard Langer, with lagoon views from every hole.

How to play Ile aux Cerfs: the boat shuttle from Pointe Maurice

Here is the bit most first-time visitors get wrong. You do not board the boat at your hotel. The shuttle leaves from Pointe Maurice jetty, a short drive south of Beau Champ. From there a dedicated 24-seater golf boat runs across to the island roughly every 20 minutes, from 06:40 in the morning until 17:30 in the late afternoon. The crossing itself is short. Lagoon water, no swell to speak of, ten minutes give or take. It lands you a couple of minutes’ buggy ride from the clubhouse.

The Pointe Maurice golf shuttle is the part of the day that catches people out. If your tee time is 08:00, you want to be on the 07:20 boat at the latest. There is no overflow boat, no half-hourly back-up. Miss your shuttle and your tee time goes with it. We tend to steer clients onto the second sailing of the morning: breakfast eaten, warmed up, fairways still in shadow on the back nine. From The Bay Club at Anahita that is a fifteen-minute transfer to the jetty. From Constance Belle Mare Plage further up the coast it is more like 35 minutes, and from Heritage Le Telfair on the south coast roughly an hour.

The 18 holes: Seashore Paspalum, nine ponds, lagoon from every tee

The playing surface is Seashore Paspalum throughout. If you have not played it before, expect a tighter, grainier lie than the bent-grass greens at home. It holds approach shots better than it looks like it should, and putts roll a touch slower than a UK members’ club in summer. It is the grass of choice for coastal Indian Ocean courses because it tolerates saline irrigation. Useful on an island where the only water on tap is the kind you see on the cards.

The nine natural ponds do most of the strategic work. The routing uses them as the primary hazards rather than digging lakes from scratch. Add the volcanic-rock outcrops that come straight up through the rough on dogleg corners, and you have a course where the trouble is mostly visible from the tee but the smart play is not always the obvious one. The course is laid out across the southern half of the 38-hectare island, so each hole sits well apart from the next. You are not playing parallel fairways.

The tees: Langer 7,115 yd down to Forward 5,054 yd

There are four tee options and they are honest about which one you should be playing. From the back, the Langer tees stretch to 7,115 yards, set up for the man whose name is on them. Below that, the Championship tees at 6,576 yards are the realistic option for a low-handicap UK club golfer in good nick. The Tournament tees at 5,992 yards are where most of our clients end up, and they make for a proper test without being punishing. The Forward tees sit at 5,054 yards. Still a par 72, but one that lets a mid-handicapper enjoy the views rather than reload from the lagoon.

Buggies are essential. The 38 hectares are not flat, the heat between October and April is real, and there is no walking-only old-school etiquette to honour here.

Where to base yourself to play Ile aux Cerfs

The obvious answer is Anahita Golf & Spa Resort, now The Bay Club at Anahita, the Sunlife five-star at Beau Champ sitting directly opposite the island. Its position is the point. The Bay Club is a 30 to 40-minute drive from SSR airport, runs along the lagoon, and gives guests reciprocal play across both the on-site Ernie Els course and Ile aux Cerfs. Lunch on the island comes from Flibustier, the bento-style spot reserved for Bay Club guests. If you are doing a week of unlimited golf, this is the package that pairs the two courses together properly, and the shuttle from Pointe Maurice is a short transfer rather than a long drive across the country.

From £775pp. 7 nights bed and breakfast at The Bay Club at Anahita with unlimited golf on the Ernie Els course and Ile aux Cerfs included. All-inclusive upgrade from £1,619pp.

It is not the only option. You can play Ile aux Cerfs from Constance Belle Mare Plage further north on the Belle Mare coast. The resort is beachfront, two kilometres of white sand, and holds the on-site Legend and Links courses as your everyday rounds. Ile aux Cerfs then sits as the variety day.

From £919pp. 7 nights half-board at Constance Belle Mare Plage with unlimited golf on the Legend and Links courses. All-inclusive upgrade from £1,689pp, buggies included.

Further south at Bel Ombre, Heritage Le Telfair is the third base worth a serious look. The hotel won World’s Best Golf Hotel 2025 at the World Golf Awards on the back of the Le Chateau and La Reserve courses. The latter is the Matkovich + Oosthuizen links that opened in December 2023 and went straight to Golfweek’s No.1 spot in Africa for 2026. We tend to slot Ile aux Cerfs in as the third or fourth round of a Heritage week, once clients have the on-site loops under their belt and want a change. The hour each way to Pointe Maurice is the price of mixing in an island round, and most reckon it is worth paying.

From £889pp. 7 nights bed and breakfast at Heritage Le Telfair with both Heritage courses included. All-inclusive upgrade from £1,445pp; the sister Heritage Awali all-inclusive starts at £939pp.

Langer’s Bar & Grill: the clubhouse

The clubhouse restaurant is called Langer’s Bar & Grill, and it is where you want to eat after your round. Lagoon-facing terrace, set so the 18th green is the view from your table, and a menu pitched at people who have just played 18 holes in 25-degree heat. Proper plates, cold drinks, sensible portions. The Flibustier bento lunch served on the island is tied to The Bay Club at Anahita; for everyone else, Langer’s is the round-end stop.

The boat back runs to the same schedule as the inbound, so there is no need to rush the lunch. If your tee time was the second wave of the morning, you can sit down to eat at one, be on the 14:30 boat back, and be in your room with feet up by mid-afternoon.

The helicopter alternative

If the boat shuttle is not for you, there is a helicopter option via Air Mauritius. It is a private transfer rather than a scheduled service, priced and booked individually, and the case for it is mostly time: a few minutes door-to-door from a hotel helipad rather than the drive-plus-boat combination. Most golfers do not bother. The 24-seater shuttle is part of what makes the day feel like Ile aux Cerfs.

What is included in the green fee

This is the question we get most often, and the answer is the simple part of the whole arrangement: the boat transfer is included in the green fee. You pay one price, you board the shuttle at Pointe Maurice, you play 18 holes, you come back. Buggies are charged separately, as are clubs if you are hiring rather than bringing your own. Green-fee numbers move around between high and low season and between hotel-guest and visitor rates, so we quote the current figure when we put a package together. The boat is never an extra line.

For UK golfers planning a week on the island, the simplest way to add Ile aux Cerfs is to book a package that bundles it with one of the resort-side courses. The Bay Club at Anahita‘s unlimited-golf option covers both the on-site Ernie Els course and Ile aux Cerfs across the same stay. The longer-drive options from Belle Mare or Bel Ombre work better as fixed one-day add-ons. Either way, it is a half-day, which leaves the afternoon free for the beach or the spa.

Simon’s quick take

• Best for: UK golfers already on a Mauritius week who want a variety round, and anyone staying at The Bay Club at Anahita with both courses bundled in the package.
• Worth knowing: the boat goes from Pointe Maurice jetty, not from your hotel. Build the drive into your tee-time maths and aim for the boat two sailings before your slot.
• Simon’s tip: play the Tournament tees at 5,992 yards unless you play off single figures. Save the energy for lunch on the Langer’s Bar & Grill terrace.

By Simon Crawley, Manager, Golf Planet Holidays · 27 Years in Golf Travel.