Overview

Like Seychelles, its neighbor to the northwest, Mauritius enters the 21st century as an exotic alternative to more traditional sun-and-fun beach destinations. This Indian Ocean crossroads has seen its share of cultural collisions - Dutch, French, British, Indian, and Creole - and today those influences flavor the island's colorful mix of religious festivals, as well as its spicy cuisine.

French colonial buildings line the streets of the capital, Port Louis (where the Natural History Museum exhibits include a replica of the ill-fated, extinct dodo bird), and hikers can explore a world of trails, notably in Black River Gorges National Park.

But if you make the long journey to Mauritius, it's usually because of the stunning, white-sand beaches, and the full gamut of activities that come with them - diving, surfing, kayaking, windsurfing, deep-sea fishing (marlin and yellowfin tuna abound). Besides, how can you not love a place with a beach named Flic en Flac?

ISLAND THERAPY
Indulge in a ylang-ylang purity body treatment at Oberoi Spa by Banyan Tree on Mauritius. $137 for 90 minutes. If you choose to stay there, room rates from $878, including breakfast, oberoihotels.com. At the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Mauritius, the spa's solarium is made from the bricks of an old nearby sugar factory. Spring for a full-body treatment using essential oils such as palmarosa, ylang-ylang, lemon grass and raventsara. Room rates from $742, including breakfast and dinner, movenpick-hotels .com. Whiff!, which was once at Mövenpick, is currently closed and has no plans to reopen as of press time.

RÉUNION'S FIELDS
La Distillerie du Mäido near Petite France in northwest Réunion offers 30-minute tours of its geranium fields, distilleriedumaido.com. Also on Réunion, the Coopérative de Vanille plantation in Bras-Panon will teach you about vanilla through a film and a tour. The tour costs $6 per person. coopvanille-braspanon.com

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SURFING

On the west coast, laid-back Tamarin has been a favorite with traveling surfers ever since it was featured 30 years ago in a surf flick called The Forgotten Island of Santosha. The break is a big left (6-to-10 foot), a speed-run down a long line over a reef. Surfable year round, it's at its best June through August.

CULTURE

For a moveable feast of another kind, just look at the calendar of festivals on Mauritius. Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Maha Shivratee, a Hindu celebration honoring the god Shiva are important events, but the most exotic is Cavadee. This Tamil fete in January features processions of devotees whose bodies are pierced with silver needles, their tongues and cheeks with skewers, as they carry pots of milk on a flower-bedecked arched wooden frame to a temple.

DINING

Like Singapore, Mauritian dishes reflect a distinctive medley of cuisines. Here in the Indian Ocean, those cultural influences include French, Chinese, Creole, and Indian. Most dishes start with seafood, and tomatoes are the key ingredient in most Creole recipes, notably in rougaille (a sauce of tomatoes, onions, ginger and garlic). Whether your main course leans toward Indian curries or Chinese sweet-and-sour fish, you'll likely top off the meal with gajak, savory cakes found in both fine restaurants and street stalls.

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