Bijoux Villas
2 nights in Antananarivo with breakfast
7 or 10 nights in Bijoux Villa (based on 8 adults sharing)
The finest accommodation available on the stunningly beautiful island of Ile aux Nattes, Bijoux Villas are a couple of gorgeously rustic 4-bedroomed villas set in amidst palm trees on a gorgeous white coral sand beach – a fantastic option for a group of friends or family!
You can’t get any closer to the water's edge than this - you literally step out of the 2 lovely master suites onto the powder-soft white sand of the beach! The villas are beautifully tucked away in the tropical forest lining the beach (the villas were designed in such a way as to avoid cutting down the gorgeous trees) making them blissfully cool and shaded from the afternoon sun
The kitchen staff cook up tasty food made with wonderfully fresh ingredients (they're an absolute wizard with seafood in particular!) without you ever having to set foot in the kitchen (other than to help yourself to a beer or pour yourself a G&T of course!)
The best beach on Ile aux Nattes (rated as one of the Top 10 in the Indian Ocean) is literally around the corner from the villa, whilst the best snorkeling on the island is on the coral reef directly in front of Bijoux (and if you’re too lazy to swim out the 100 m or so then get a lift out on one of the villa’s kayaks instead!)
The family of lemurs resident in the north of the island are regular daily visitors to Bijoux – ever eager to be fed a banana or three – the kids will delight in getting so close to these gentle and beautiful animals
You can simply laze about the villa or enjoy one of the many activities available – from swimming and snorkeling, kayaking, pirogue trips around the island, quad biking or hiring a scooter to explore St Marie, or enjoying a blissful massage at the excellent Spa at Princesse Bora to name just a few
Quite simply one of THE best beach holidays around – so good in fact, that we bought into Bijoux personally so that we can have our annual holiday here every summer!
Like the rest of Ile aux Nattes, Bijoux doesn’t have electricity and runs on a solar system, so don’t expect air-con and television! (that said there is an effective fridge to keep your drinks cold, as well as Starlink Wi-Fi for the desperate souls who need to stay connected and we take along a Bluetooth speaker to listen to our music)
The rooms are quite rustically decorated and fairly dark inside - don't expect 5 star contemporary luxury style
The biggest expense is getting there as the flights to St Marie are expensive – once there though, it’s excellent value compared to just about all the other Indian Ocean islands, hence why we recommend going for longer than a week if possible
with crystal clear water and powder-soft white coral sand and with untouched rain forest forming a stunning backdrop, this is one of the most gorgeous beaches we’ve ever seen!
4 - 2 master bedrooms with king-size beds and 2 bedrooms with twin beds (all en-suite)
The charming and stunningly beautiful little island of Ile aux Nattes has to be the best kept secret in the entire Indian Ocean, and the Bijoux Villas – two lovely villas with 4-bedrooms each (all of them en-suite) are unquestionably the finest accommodation available on the island! At this point we have a disclosure to make: we as owners of Barefoot Breaks love both Ile aux Nattes and Bijoux so much that we've actually bought a couple of months's ownership at one of the villas and this is where we spend our own annual holiday every December!
Bijoux was originally developed by Ockie Snyman – the near-legendary South African who was resident on the island from the early 90's and who previously ran the much-loved La Petite Traversee lodge (sadly now closed). He built these 2 stunning villas on the northern-western tip of the island along a superb stretch of white coral sand beach and then sold them on a fractional ownership basis – the good news for those people not lucky enough to own a stake though, is that the villas are available to rent when the various owners are not in residence.
The 2 identical villas are absolutely beautiful (even if they're almost impossible to photograph nicely as they are literally hidden away in a patch of tropical forest right on the edge of the beach!) Each villa boasts 2 master bedrooms – stunning spacious rooms that open out directly onto the softest white coral sand imaginable – as well as 2 smaller twin bedrooms suitable for kids. In front of the villa lies a level sandy garden area (which is perfect for some competitive games of boules!) dotted with palm trees and accompanying hammocks to laze about in, and from there you step over a protective sea wall down onto the beach itself - many lodges call themselves "beachfront" but Bijoux puts the vast majority of these to shame with the water's edge being literally 15 metres or less from your front bedrooms! Also located at the front of the villas is a covered veranda area with built-in seating - this is where a huge amount of your time as a group will be spent relaxing and socializing between activities.
One of our favorite things is to wake up in the morning and lie on the massive (and hugely comfortable) king size bed with the large French front doors open, whilst watching Ile aux Nattes' equivalent of their “morning traffic”: the procession of traditional wooden canoes being poled gently past in front of the villa! Another highlight of these 2 front bedrooms are the attractive open showers opening out onto a lovely small private walled courtyard garden filled with ferns and orchids. You're also likely to spend more than a few restful hours in the comfy chairs on your deck reading a book or just watching the passing boat traffic!