Golf guide • Mauritius • Southern Mauritius

Golf in Bel Ombre: a sugar-estate château and a links above the ocean

Bel Ombre, on the south coast of Mauritius about fifty minutes from the airport, is home to the two courses of Heritage Golf Club: Le Château, laid out by Peter Matkovich in 2004 around a 19th-century sugar planter's house, and La Réserve Golf Links, a contemporary links co-designed by Louis Oosthuizen and opened in late 2023 on the hills facing the ocean. Golfers come for the pair, for the lagoon and for a 1,300-hectare nature reserve. The best periods are April to June and September to November.

Plan this tripUpdated 11 October 2026

On the south coast of Mauritius, between the lagoon and the first hills of the interior, Bel Ombre is a former sugar estate that has become a place for golf and holidays. Cane fields still climb towards the wooded hills, and the estate lies within a UNESCO biosphere reserve recognised as early as 1977, which brings together forest, savannah and coastline. The village has barely 2,500 inhabitants; you hear the surf more than the traffic.

The golf comes down to two very different courses under the Heritage Golf Club banner. Below, Le Château runs its fairways between rivers, lakes and great trees around a 19th-century house. Above, La Réserve Golf Links occupies former cane fields returned to native grasses, with a first tee perched almost 190 metres above the clubhouse. The first has hosted several Mauritius Opens; the second staged the December 2023 edition.

Everything is on site: the estate's hotels, the château turned restaurant, the beach, the nature reserve and a free shuttle linking them all. Five to eight nights leave time to play each course at least twice, to explore the Black River Gorges to the north or Chamarel to the west, and to keep some mornings for the lagoon.

The courses

River edged with volcanic stones beside a green, a large banyan tree, palms and a wooded mountain in the distance

Heritage Golf Club, Le Château Golf Course

Architect: Peter Matkovich
Opened 2004
18 holes
Par 72

Opened in 2004 and designed by the South African Peter Matkovich, Le Château covers around a hundred hectares of the estate. Its two loops of nine holes circle the Château de Bel Ombre and its French formal gardens, among century-old trees and the Citronniers and Saint-Martin rivers, which cross the fairways and guard several greens. Measuring 6,498 metres from the back tees, this par 72 hosted the Mauritius Open in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Five sets of tees make it enjoyable for every level; the water mostly asks you to choose your shots well.

Signature hole. The 9th, a par 4, entered the record books at the 2015 Mauritius Open, when Javier Colomo made a hole-in-one there, the first on a par 4 in the combined history of the Sunshine, European and Asian tours.

Official website

Heritage Golf Club, La Réserve Golf Links

Architect: Peter Matkovich; Louis Oosthuizen
Opened 2023
18 holes
Par 72

Opened in late 2023, La Réserve Golf Links is the work of Peter Matkovich and Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the Open Championship. The club presents it as the first contemporary links in the Indian Ocean: rolling fairways, pot bunkers and tall native grasses on former cane fields. The course descends from the hills towards the sea, with almost 190 metres of drop between the first tee and the clubhouse, and the ocean in view from nearly every hole. In December 2023, Oosthuizen won the Mauritius Open here. A course for players who enjoy the ground game and the wind.

Signature hole. The 3rd, a par 4, finishes on a raised green whose edge seems to melt into the ocean below, like an infinity pool.

Official website

Where to stay

Heritage Le Telfair Golf & Wellness Resort

Named after the botanist Charles Telfair, the hotel borrows the architecture of the planters' houses, with deep verandas and steep roofs, on the edge of the lagoon. A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, it is the natural golf base: both courses are on the same estate, linked all day by a free shuttle. Ask for a beachfront suite; several categories are adults-only, away from the children's clubs.

Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge

In 1997 a Mauritian family bought an overgrown plot at Piton Canot, above Chamarel, with no road or electricity, built a weekend house there and opened three rooms in 2004. Lakaz, Creole for "the house", now spreads suites and villas through a garden of endemic trees, around 400 metres up. Ask for a sea-view pool suite and book Thursday evening, when Makak serves a Mauritian buffet with live sega. The courses are about 35 minutes away.

Colonial-style house with a white veranda, lawn and palms beside a lagoon beach at dusk

Where to dine

Le Château de Bel Ombre

In the 19th-century house that gives the course its name, with its circular veranda and French formal gardens, the kitchen cooks seasonal Mauritian produce, from garden to plate, with a cellar looked after by a sommelier. Take an aperitif on the terrace at sunset, facing the ocean and the fairways, then move to a table on the veranda. In the evening, trousers, a shirt and closed shoes are required.

Le Palais de Barbizon

On the little road to Chamarel's church, Rico L'Intelligent's family serves a Creole table d'hôte at home, with no menu: rice, fish or chicken rougaille, curries, island vegetables, chilli on the side and rum punch. What is served depends on the market. It opens for lunch only, until mid-afternoon; if your driver suggests somewhere else, insist. Half an hour from the courses, it is the natural stop on a day in Chamarel.

Clubhouse de La Réserve Golf Links

Designed by the French architect Florent Richard, the La Réserve clubhouse opens onto the ocean and the coast. The restaurant cooks fresh produce, fish and local ingredients, with a carefully chosen wine list. It opens for lunch only, apart from the odd gala evening: take a morning tee time and finish your round at the table, straight after the eighteenth hole.

Beyond golf

Bel Ombre Nature Reserve

At 1,300 hectares, the Bel Ombre Nature Reserve is the largest on the island. Hiking trails and outings by 4x4, quad bike or buggy lead to waterfalls where you can swim and to a lookout for watching the sun go down. The Frédérica reserve preserves the remains of a sugar mill that operated from 1855 to 1874, and you may spot the pink pigeon or the Mauritius kestrel.

Black River Gorges and Chamarel

North of the estate, Black River Gorges National Park, created in 1994, is the largest in Mauritius: some sixty kilometres of trails through native forest, a refuge for endemic birds. Further west, the Chamarel plateau brings together the Seven Coloured Earths, a 95-metre waterfall and a rum distillery opened in 2008, with tastings and a restaurant on site.

The lagoon and the wild coast

The Bel Ombre lagoon offers flat water inside the reef and waves beyond it, making it an uncrowded kitesurfing spot, with a school and equipment hire on site. To the east, Souillac has the black Gris-Gris cliffs pounded by the swell, the house of the poet Robert Edward Hart and the Rochester Falls.

Waterfall dropping into a rocky pool in a wooded valley, cane fields in the foreground and the ocean in the distance

When to go

Golf is played all year round, at around 25 °C on average. The club recommends April to June and September to November: drier weather and bearable heat. July and August, in the depths of the southern winter, are the coolest months, between 18 and 24 °C, with steady trade winds on the south coast. From December to March, summer is hot and humid, showers are more frequent and the cyclone risk peaks between January and March.

Getting there

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU), in the south-east of the island, is about forty kilometres away, roughly 50 minutes by road to Bel Ombre via the south of the island and Souillac. The hotels arrange transfers on request; on site, the estate shuttle links hotels, restaurants and courses, and a car with driver is all you need for excursions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best golf course in Bel Ombre?

La Réserve Golf Links, opened in late 2023 by Peter Matkovich and Louis Oosthuizen, features in Golfweek's 2026 ranking of the best courses outside the United States. Le Château, older and more sheltered, has hosted three editions of the Mauritius Open.

How many golf courses are there in Bel Ombre?

Two eighteen-hole courses at Heritage Golf Club, Le Château and La Réserve Golf Links, plus a nine-hole pitch and putt on the estate.

When is the best time to play golf in Bel Ombre?

From April to June and from September to November, when the weather is drier and the heat moderate. July and August are cooler and windier; from December to March it is hot and humid, with a risk of cyclones.

How long is the transfer from the airport to Bel Ombre?

About 50 minutes for some forty kilometres from Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport (MRU).

Are green fees included at Bel Ombre hotels?

It depends on the package. At Le Telfair, the Gourmet Bliss and premium all-inclusive plans include, for stays of seven nights or more, one round on each course with a shared buggy; otherwise green fees are paid at the club. Check the conditions when you book.

Tailor-made

Your golf trip: Bel Ombre

Tee times, suites, transfers and tables: your concierge replies within 24 hours with a proposal shaped around you.

Green edged with casuarinas and black volcanic rocks beside a turquoise lagoon, mountains on the horizon at sunset

Eastern Mauritius

Flacq

4 courses

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