A very special place - Thank You Zilwa
Sep 19, 2026 fays2022 Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Please read until the end - this hotels deserves it!
We have been extremely lucky to travel to many places around the world, but I can genuinely say that Zilwa Attitude is one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. There is something incredibly special about this place.
We got engaged during our stay, which means Zilwa and Mauritius will…
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Please read until the end - this hotels deserves it!
We have been extremely lucky to travel to many places around the world, but I can genuinely say that Zilwa Attitude is one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. There is something incredibly special about this place.
We got engaged during our stay, which means Zilwa and Mauritius will forever hold a very special place in our hearts, but I want to make clear that our experience of this hotel goes far beyond that. Even without the engagement, I would still be writing this review and giving Zilwa 10/10.
From the moment we arrived, we were blown away.
As you walk through the hotel and turn the corner into the main lobby/bar area, the view almost stops you in your tracks. The ocean, the mountains, the island out at sea, the palm trees – it genuinely looks like a postcard. It was the most incredible first impression, and somehow the rest of the hotel lived up to it too.
The hotel and grounds
The whole concept of Zilwa being inspired by a traditional Mauritian fisherman’s village is beautifully executed. You can tell that an enormous amount of thought has gone into the design and layout of the resort and, more importantly, into how guests actually experience it.
The grounds are immaculate, with lush green landscaping, beautiful palm trees and incredible ocean views almost everywhere you look. It never felt overwhelming or overly busy.
The private island is also such a special touch. Taking the little boat across for the day, enjoying the lunchtime barbecue and seeing the resort and ocean from a completely different perspective was wonderful.
Our sea-view room was spacious, comfortable and full of lovely Mauritian details. We later learnt more about the traditional flooring, walls and decorative touches, including the plates on the wall, which are designed to recreate elements of an authentic Mauritian home. These little details give Zilwa so much character and stop it feeling like a generic resort.
If I had to find one single thing to improve – and I genuinely am scraping the barrel here – it would be slightly better lighting in the rooms for us ladies getting ready and doing makeup in the evening! That is honestly about as critical as I can be.
The food – absolutely five star
The food at Zilwa is exceptional.
There is so much variety, with authentic Mauritian food alongside Indian and Thai influences and plenty of other choices. Even the main evening buffet – which can sometimes become repetitive at all-inclusive resorts – was one of the best all-inclusive buffets we have experienced.
Every evening felt different. There was huge variety, but importantly there was still real care and attention given to individual dishes rather than simply producing large quantities of food.
Breakfast was equally brilliant – lots of fresh food, eggs and omelettes cooked to order, plenty of choice and the opportunity to try Mauritian-style breakfast dishes too.
Lunchtime was another thing Zilwa did incredibly well because there were so many different options depending on what you fancied that day.
You could stay down by the beach and have your more typical relaxed all-inclusive lunch where you could simply pick what you wanted, or head up to the main restaurant where lunch was table service with a really good and varied menu.
There was also the Mauritian street-food truck, which we loved. The menu changed regularly and we had things like amazing fried rice and chicken wraps – another brilliant way of bringing some of the local Mauritian influence into the resort.
And if you didn't want to leave your spot on the beach, that wasn't a problem either! You could order from the main restaurant and they would package your food into recyclable takeaway boxes for you to take back down to the beach. Pizzas, wraps, chips, salads – pretty much whatever you fancied. It sounds like a small thing, but having that flexibility was such a lovely touch and meant you never felt restricted about where or how you had to eat.
Another fantastic service that is really worth knowing about is the picnic option for days out. If you have an excursion planned, you can arrange it with the hotel the day before and they'll prepare a picnic for you to take with you, including sandwiches, fruit, cakes and drinks. We thought this was such a thoughtful touch and another example of how Zilwa seems to think about what will actually make its guests' holidays easier.
What impressed us most throughout the whole food experience, though, was how accommodating everyone was. If we wanted to amend something or ask for something slightly different, it was never a problem. On our final day, we were even told at lunch that if there was anything in particular we wanted before going home, they would cook it for us. Where do you get service like that?!
The all-inclusive drinks package was also excellent, with a really good range and quality. There are a small number of drinks with a supplement, such as Aperol Spritz and Espresso Martinis, but even these were priced extremely reasonably – around £3 in some cases. It never felt as though the hotel was trying to make extra money from you.
For an all-inclusive resort, the quality, choice and flexibility around food genuinely exceeded our expectations.
The atmosphere – complete zen
One of the things we loved most about Zilwa was the atmosphere.
This isn't your stereotypical all-inclusive resort with loud music playing around the pool all day. The best way I can describe Zilwa is zen.
We have honestly never felt so relaxed.
It isn't adults-only and there are families and children at the resort, but it still has a wonderfully grown-up, peaceful feel. Everything just feels calm.
The evening entertainment was lovely, with fantastic singers and musicians, and the music created such a beautiful atmosphere without ever becoming intrusive.
The entire resort was also absolutely spotless. There always seemed to be somebody quietly maintaining or cleaning something, and throughout our stay we barely saw so much as a piece of rubbish.
The spa – so good we went FOUR times!
The spa deserves its own mention because it was genuinely one of the best we have ever experienced – so much so that we ended up having treatments four times during our stay!
The setting is beautiful and the whole team made us feel incredibly looked after. On the day we got engaged, my partner had arranged for us to travel across to a tiny secluded part of the private island for a couples massage. It was honestly magical and something we'll remember forever.
A very special mention has to go to Neena. Both I and members of my family had treatments with her and, quite simply, she gave us some of the best massages we have ever had. She is attentive, warm, incredibly talented and seems to work magic with her hands! Neena absolutely deserves recognition.
But the thing that REALLY makes Zilwa special is its people
I could talk all day about the views, food, rooms and facilities, but the biggest reason we fell in love with Zilwa is the service.
It is exceptional.
From the people cleaning the pools and grounds, to housekeeping, breakfast staff, bartenders, restaurant teams and the people taking guests across on the boats – we did not have a single interaction with a member of staff that wasn't warm, friendly and helpful.
Everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles. Nothing ever felt like too much trouble. More than anything, it genuinely feels as though the people working at Zilwa care about the hotel, enjoy what they do and want every guest to have an amazing experience.
I wish I could name everybody because the entire team deserves recognition, but there are a few people who made our stay particularly special.
Ardash looked after us throughout the day and also when we visited the Thai restaurant. Super friendly, incredibly helpful and just phenomenal service throughout. He is a real asset to the Zilwa team.
Ashley and Sharlene looked after us on three visits to Lor Disab, the beautiful beach restaurant, and were impeccable every time. They were so friendly, happily helped us make amendments to dishes and played a huge part in making each of those evenings feel special.
Kunal looked after us regularly at breakfast and at the Thai restaurant. Nothing was ever too much trouble. He remembered our drinks orders, happily accommodated requests and was consistently warm and helpful.
A huge, huge thank you also has to go to Nitish. His passion for the food and restaurant experience at Zilwa is obvious. He checked in with us on so many evenings to make sure we were enjoying everything and would regularly bring additional dishes for us to experience.
During our Mauritian meal, he arranged an incredible authentic shrimp and chicken dish for us to try, which was absolutely delicious. He clearly cares deeply about the experience his guests receive and went above and beyond for us throughout the holiday.
The food at Zilwa is outstanding and Nitish and his teams deserve enormous credit for that. His service was five-star and you can see how much he genuinely wants every guest to have the very best experience possible.
Then there is Kevin, Head of Entertainment.
From practically the moment we arrived until literally minutes before we left, Kevin was checking in with us, chatting to us and sharing stories and insights about Mauritius and Zilwa. He is just an extremely lovely guy who clearly cares enormously about the hotel and its guests.
And his DJ sets deserve a review of their own!
The music he played in the evenings was genuinely world-class and created such a fantastic atmosphere around the hotel. Finding out about his history as a DJ suddenly made complete sense! He seemed to know exactly what to play and when, and the music became part of our memories of Zilwa.
More importantly, though, he was just an incredibly nice person who genuinely cared about whether we were enjoying ourselves. He is another huge asset to the hotel.
And finally, Gregory.
It's difficult to put into words how grateful we are to him.
Unknown to me, before we even arrived in Mauritius, Gregory had been helping my partner Andy organise what would eventually become our proposal day.
Throughout our stay, he was incredible. He gave us a tour of the resort so we could understand more about Zilwa, its story and everything it offers. We could contact him on WhatsApp if we needed anything. He arranged our late checkout, constantly checked that we were enjoying ourselves and, behind the scenes, helped Andy make one of the most important days of our lives absolutely perfect.
That, to me, is hospitality at its absolute finest.
Gregory will forever be part of our memories of Mauritius and our engagement because of the care he put into making it so special.
Zilwa has an absolute asset in him and I genuinely hope that one day we return and find him running the hotel!
And if you want to explore Mauritius – find Victor!
I also want to give a huge recommendation to Victor, who isn't part of Zilwa but made our experience of Mauritius itself even more special.
We actually found Victor through Facebook around a year before our holiday after reading his fantastic reviews. His prices were extremely fair and what impressed us was that even throughout the year leading up to our trip, he kept us updated about Mauritius, excursions we could do, the weather and anything else that might help us plan our holiday.
When we finally met him, he was every bit as good as we'd hoped.
We had two trips arranged with Victor and his approach summed him up perfectly. On the day we were originally due to explore the south, the weather wasn't looking good. Rather than simply taking our money and doing the trip anyway, Victor contacted us and suggested rearranging it because he wanted us to experience the south at its best.
He moved everything around to work with the weather, and that tells you everything about the level of service he provides.
Our Five Islands trip was incredible and something I would absolutely recommend. Crystal-clear blue ocean, dolphins, turtles, monkeys, birds, snorkelling and a barbecue – just an amazing day and one of the highlights of our holiday.
Our second trip exploring the south of Mauritius was equally brilliant. We visited temples and tea plantations and, because it happened to be a public holiday, Victor took us to a local street market where we had some of the best chapatis and local food of the holiday.
We also visited 23 Valleys, where we did quad biking and karting, which was so much fun.
But what made the experience particularly special was Victor himself. During the journeys he gave us such a lovely insight into Mauritius, its people and everyday life on the island.
These weren't huge coach excursions where you're following a crowd around all day. We had private transfers and private experiences, which made everything feel so much more personal.
I cannot speak highly enough of Victor. If you're planning a trip to Mauritius, I would absolutely recommend finding him on Facebook and seeing what he offers. His service was five-star from a year before we arrived right through to the trips themselves.
A very special place
Mauritius itself is beautiful and its people are incredibly warm, but there is something particularly special about what has been created at Zilwa.
Everybody who works there should be incredibly proud.
We arrived hoping for a wonderful holiday and left feeling as though we'd discovered somewhere we will talk about for years.
Yes, we also happened to leave engaged, which made an already incredible holiday unforgettable, but it was the people, atmosphere, service, food and sheer beauty of Zilwa that made us fall in love with the place.
There genuinely isn't anything meaningful I would change.
The setting: 10/10.
The food: 10/10.
The atmosphere: 10/10.
The service: beyond 10/10.
To every single person at Zilwa who looked after us: thank you.
You made us feel so welcome and gave us an experience we will never forget.
This is a special, special place.
We left a little piece of our hearts in Mauritius – and particularly at Zilwa.
We will absolutely be back. ❤️
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