Hotel 20 Degres Sud

What a lovely experience at 20 Degrés Sud! We went for lunch and a spa treatment, and genuinely enjoyed every moment.

It’s a small, classy boutique hotel with so much charm, but what really stood out for me was the warmth of the Mauritian hospitality. You can feel it everywhere from the welcome to the restaurant and all the way to the spa. It feels personal, genuine and effortless.

The food was excellent, the service impeccable, and the spa was exactly what we needed peaceful, relaxing and beautifully done.

A big bravo to Lindley and the entire team for the wonderful atmosphere they have created. Special thanks to Michael for taking such good care of the organisation, Frederick in the kitchen, Saeed at the restaurant and Christine at the spa. You all made our visit truly special.

We left relaxed, happy and already looking forward to coming back. 100% recommended! 👏🇲🇺❤️

Last week we had a few days at 20 degrees sud to celebrate my husband's birthday. On arrival our chosen room was not ready due to another guest unable to leave the room on time. However the room manager showed us another room which was equally as nice. The room is very spacious, very clean ,comfortable bed with a large terrace and a jacuzzi. The atmosphere at the hotel is calm and unhurried, ideal for relaxing. Food is excellent at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chef Sanjeve took very good care of us and prepared us some beautiful dishes. We also had a two hour spa treatments which was fabulous. Our therapists Kreety and Deena were very caring and friendly. The hotel also serves wonderful cocktails 🍸 and ice tea. Evening entertainment was provided by Julius at the piano and his beautiful singing. We had a wonderful stay thank you all for taking such good care of us. Thank you to Frederick, Mohamed,Laval,Denis to name but a few. You are all wonderful. Hope to return soon.

The setting of 20° Sud is absolutely beautiful. The communal areas are stunning and very much live up to the gorgeous, Instagram-worthy images you see online. Unfortunately, our experience beyond that was quite mixed.

Our room was fairly small and felt tired in comparison with the rest of the hotel. There were passion fruits waiting for us on arrival, which would have been a lovely touch, but unfortunately they were crawling with ants. The bathroom was also disappointing. The shower looked quite grotty, with visible mould and staining (photos included). There was also an outdoor shower, but this was essentially just a shower in a bare, enclosed concrete space with no view or planting, so we didn’t really understand the purpose of it.

The food in the restaurant was very inconsistent. I always find it disappointing when a half-board menu has a number of dishes carrying supplements, particularly at a hotel of this standard, as it can leave you feeling that you need to pay extra to have the better options. We did have some genuinely lovely dishes — particularly the lobster and the rum baba — but others fell well below what we expected.

One beetroot starter came with fried cheese that was still frozen in the centre. The beef biryani consisted of four pieces of beef with a huge bowl of rice, accompanied by a chutney containing pieces of tamarind that were rock hard and inedible. We did raise this with the staff. We were offered an alternative dish once we’d finished, which we declined, and were offered some drinks instead.

The spa was a real highlight. We both had massages and they were excellent.

Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment was the service. Throughout our stay we regularly waited 20–40 minutes for drinks, which became increasingly frustrating. There seemed to be a real disconnect between the level of service you’d expect from a hotel positioning itself at this end of the market and what was actually delivered.

What summed it up for us was our departure. Nobody asked how our stay had been or whether we’d enjoyed ourselves. It’s a small thing, but in a boutique luxury hotel where you’d expect the experience to feel personal, it was noticeable.

There is no question that 20° Sud is in a beautiful location and photographs incredibly well. There were things we really enjoyed, particularly the spa and some of the food, but overall the rooms, inconsistent dining and particularly the service meant the experience didn’t live up to the setting or our expectations.