SALT of Palmar

Camille Walala, a London designer who works in bold pattern and colour, was handed a hotel built in 2005 on the Palmar lagoon, and in 2018 it reopened as SALT of Palmar in her palette. The wings are peach, with balconies railed in cobalt blue. The courtyard is laid out like a riad: columns striped black and white round a square of water tiled in the same stripes, lilac and yellow walls behind, and at the far end a doorway with nothing in it but white sand and turquoise sea. The rooms turn the volume down: white walls, zigzags only on the cushions, and a handmade Carpe Diem bed and a Roberts radio in each.

Recommended for couples, or any two grown-ups, who want Mauritius on adult terms: nobody under 16, and no buffet, since the kitchens cook everything to order. SALT Bakery roasts its own coffee and does breakfast, and the dinner to book is Tek Tek, ten seats and a seasonal tasting menu of six or eight courses, presented by the chef. Days go to the lagoon, with kayaks, paddleboards, snorkelling and a glass-bottom boat included, or to the skill swap, which pairs guests with local artisans for pottery, fishing or cooking. Belle Mare's long beach is twenty minutes on foot, and Trou d'Eau Douce, where the catamarans leave for Ile aux Cerfs, five minutes' drive. Single-use plastic is banned, and the hotel's NORDAQ water, by its own count, saves 50,000 plastic bottles a year. The Rooftop Bar has the view for the last drink: yellow cushions, silver-leaved trees in pots, the reef breaking white across the lagoon, and far out a single island, the one thing in sight the hotel has not painted.