(From top): A plane lands at Male International Airport while a sail boat makes its way through a lagoon; the La Digue island in Seychelles; a view of the beautiful Mauritius coastline

Why would anyone holiday on a distant island in the Indian Ocean? For starters, how about white beaches, clear lagoons and sea that’s like warm bath water. Sri Lanka’s fine but it’s a bit too much like India. How about travelling a bit further afield and putting a stretch of ocean between you and the sub-continent?

Keeping that in mind, how about choosing between lonely islands like Mauritius, Seychelles or the Maldives? The honeymoon crowd has already discovered these spots but that’s no bar even if your own period of honeymooning bliss ended ages ago.

The fact is that all these island have come a long way as holiday spots in recent years. They offer all kinds of water activity like diving, water-skiing and more. Okay, it’s a good idea to learn swimming before getting here. But there are restaurants and discotheques to pass your evenings.

Mauritius

You knew Mauritius as the home of the now extinct Dodo and as the locale of innumerable film shoots. Surrounded by a tropical sea, enhanced by golden beaches, covered with swaying fields of sugar cane and fringed with exotic palms and casuarinas ? it is in every sense of the phrase, sheer paradise. There are other factors that’ll help you feel at home. Eighty per cent of Mauritians are of Indian heritage, people who came over in the mid- to late 18th century to work on the sugar plantations for a small French ruling class. “Mauritius is the most popular of the islands because of its ethnic community. It offers value-for-money vis-a-vis Maldives and Seychelles,” says Nikhil Kumar, head, Outbound Tourism Abercrombie and Kent.

The interior of the island is full of surprises, like Eureka, an 1836 plantation house that calls itself “La maison Cr?ole”. The house is a recreation of 19th-century life for the wealthy Franco-Mauritian upper classes. Or “L’Aventure du Sucre” (The Adventure of Sugar), a huge sugar processing plant that is now a museum.

Travel operators like SOTC have packages that give you the choice of staying at four hotels ? Hotel Le Grand Bleu, Tarisa Resort, Hotel La Plantation, Le Meridien Ile Maurice ? a 3-night, 4-day tour on twin-sharing basis costs Rs 32,900. A 6-night, 7-day package in the same hotels costs Rs 36,900. These packages include airfares by Air Mauritius, coach tours, breakfast and dinner. Also, thrown in are entrance fees to tourist sites, airport transfers and visa charges. Both prices exclude taxes and medical insurance. In addition, there’s time for shopping in the Port Louis market and other options like an undersea walk and Blue Safari Submarine experiences.

If you go for a Thomas Cook package, a 4-night stay in Mauritius is approximately $209 per person with transfers, stay, three full-day sightseeing tours, breakfasts and dinners at a standard 3-star hotel like Pearl Beach Resort or Tarisa Resort and $590 per person in 5-star hotels such as Le Meridien and Berjaya. This does not include airfare.

Air Mauritius and Air-India fly here from Delhi.

Maldives

Situated off the coast of South-west India, the Maldives is a clutch of islands that have been transformed into a playground for rich tourists. You can have it all here but for a hefty price. The archipelago of 1,190 islands are grouped into natural atolls that are protected from the rough seas by coral reefs.

Male, the capital of Maldives, is the commercial centre. There are exciting trips on offer through the atolls to famous dive sites, resorts, villages and desert islands.

Five-star hotels like Kurumba Village Resort (North Male Atoll) provide deluxe rooms for two adults for $481 while at the Mookai Hotel, the standard room on bed and breakfast basis for two adults, comes for $153.

Tour operator Abercrombie and Kent’s packages comprises a choice of five hotels ? Kanuhura, Angsana Resort and Spa, Banyan Tree Resort, Four Seasons Resort and The Hilton. The price of a package ranges between $650 to $3,365. Included in the package are water sports facilities, excursions and private yacht charter. Airfares are not included.

Meanwhile Thomas Cook offers a 4-night stay for $1,019 per head at 5-star hotels like Laguna Beach Resort and Full Moon Beach Resort. The package includes transfers, stay, breakfast and dinners. Airfares are not included.

Seychelles

Or, if you’d like something even more exotic, how about Seychelles, right in the heart of the Indian Ocean between the East coast of Africa and India. Seychelles is a group of 115 islands. It’s famous for being the only granitic islands in the world (the others are volcanic or biological in origin) which accounts for its unusual rock formations. Mah? is the biggest island and it is dominated by a mountain range. The highest peak, Morne Seychellois, reaches a height of 905m and provides a perfect backdrop to the capital city Victoria. The best way to Seychelles is via Dubai by Emirates.

Praslin is the second biggest island. A century ago, General Gordon (of Khartoum) visited Praslin and became convinced that it was the location of the original earthly paradise, the Garden of Eden. But La Digue (30 minutes from Praslin) is the most beautiful island.

Accommodation at Seychelles by Thomas Cook is provided at the 3-star Berjaya Mahe Beach Resort for four nights at $500 per person. A stay at the 4-star Beau Vallon Bay for 4 nights comes at $595 per person. Otherwise you can stay at the 5-star hotels of Saint Anne Resort and Lemuria Resort that come anywhere between 920 euros to 1,590 euros.

A holiday lounging on the beach reading, swimming, snorkelling and hiking. It probably doesn’t get any better than this. So get packed for a trip in the tropical climes of the warmest ocean of all.

My favourite holiday

Arjun Chakraborty,
actor

Of all the places in India and abroad that I’ve been to, the one that stands out most vividly in my mind is Mt. Abu. I was born and bred in Rajasthan, with my college years spent in Udaipur, and that’s how I got to experience the true essence of the place.

Till you actually go to Mt. Abu, it’s hard to believe that such an incredible hill-station could actually exist in a desert state. Apart from its stunning natural beauty, its mountains, its waterfalls and even its temples, Mt. Abu has still managed to retain its rustic essence, despite the onslaught of so many tourists. The locals have managed to hold on to the Rajasthani culture, so there are still melas there, and pujas celebrated with fervour, which have colourfully-dressed people, snake-charmers, et al turning up by the droves. It’s a slice of Rajasthan at its finest, so much so, that I’m planning a trip this May itself to explore the place once again with my family.

Route map

The holiday season is on and no doubt you are scouting for somewhere to chill out and usher in Christmas and the New Year. It’s a season of good offers — especially if you choose to travel overseas. Get a load of this: by month-end, India will have clocked 6.5 million overseas travellers during the year!

Those of you opting for warmer climes (as opposed to sub-zero temps of the US and Europe) are truly spoilt for choice. Go Mauritius on a Christmas and New Year package that starts at Rs 38,000 for 4 nights/5 days and goes up to Rs 70,000 for 6 nights/7 days. The celebrations in Kenya (the new find as it were) come at an average package cost of Rs 60,000 for 5 days/4 nights. Customise it and the cost escalates. Ring in the festivities in Malaysia for upwards of Rs 25,000 and more for 5 days/4 nights, which includes airfare, star category accommodation and sightseeing. You can also customise the trip to include entry tickets (also at a special price) to hip nightclubs or theme parks. Sri Lanka for 4 nights and 5 days will cost a minimum of Rs 32,500 and will include airfare and airport transfers.

All the package costs (per person) include airfares, airport transfers, with breakfast and dinner, sightseeing tours and even entry tickets to gala dinners for Christmas and New Year celebrations. (For more, contact TRAC Representations at 2335 2550).