Spdf Seychelles Contact Number
Germaine Greenweig
First stop on your trip will be the island of Mahe, and our itinerary has you spending four nights on Mahe, two nights on Praslin and one night on La Digue. Of course, one of the main attractions of the islands are the spectacular beaches, and you are welcome to focus on visiting those on your trip if you prefer.
Mahe is the most populated island in the Seychelles, and also the largest granitic island in the Seychelles archipelago. The Seychelles islands are unique in that they are the only oceanic granitic islands in the world.
They were formed when the Seychelles plateau sank, so the islands that exist today are in fact 70 million year old mountain tops. In some places, the land sank just below the sea, and here coral islands have formed, which are totally flat.
Anyway, back to Mahe. As the largest and most populous island in the Seychelles, with around 80,000 Seychellois calling it home, Mahe is the island you will arrive on as all international flights to and from the Seychelles arrive here.
From Victoria, we suggest taking the mountain road known as Sans Souci, which will give you a different perspective of the island. This road leads high up into the mountains, and there are a number of attractions along the way. Those of you who love hiking will appreciate the fairly strenuous hike known as Capolia, which takes 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your fitness.
Further along the Sans Souci road you will come to the Mission Lodge, which was the site of a school for liberated African slaves on the islands. There is not a lot left to see of the school, but the scenery is beautiful as are the views.
For your third day on Mahe, we think you should explore the south of the island, which is one of my favourite parts of Mahe. This part of the island, being a little further away from the capital, is a little less developed, but has many attractions to explore. In terms of geography, generally the south can be thought of as being anywhere south of the airport.
Their far flung location means they get very few visitors (except for locals on the weekends!), and here you can really live the dream of having your own white sand paradise beach location to yourself. Just heed the warning signs regarding the currents as it can be dangerous to swim here at certain times of the year.
Petit Anse is now the location of the Seychelles Four Seasons, but the beach is open to non-guests of the hotel although they do limit the number of visitors. You just need to sign in at the security gate and then park and walk down from the parking area.
Other pretty beaches in this area include Anse Takamaka, Baie Lazare and Anse Louis. In terms of food in this part of the world, popular and recommended stops include Surfers Cafe and the Anchor Cafe.
On the morning of your fourth day, we suggest you take the early morning ferry across to Praslin (the main ferry provider is Cat Cocos) . This takes around an hour, and leaves from the Inter Island ferry port in Victoria.
For your fifth day in the Seychelles, we recommend taking a boat tour of some of the islands around Praslin (you can also do similar boat tours from Mahe as well). The Seychelles archipelago has over 100 islands, each of which is unique, so we think that exploring some of the smaller ones is an essential part of any trip to the Seychelles.
There are a number of boat tours that operate from Praslin which visit a number of the islands around Praslin. The itineraries vary slightly, as do the islands visited, but most of them are a full day trip, such as this one, that includes lunch, soft drinks and transfers from your hotel to the jetty at Baie St. Anne.
An appealing island for many visitors is Curieuse as this is the best place to meet the Aldabra Giant Land Tortoise. This is a massive tortoise species, endemic to the Seychelles, which can grow to an excess of 600lb and 200 years in age.
Curieuse is probably the best place to see them on this itinerary as they are not fenced in and can roam freely. Fans of wildlife, and in particular bird lovers, may also want to visit Cousine, as this is an excellent place to see a number of the birds of Seychelles, including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Fairy terns, white tailed tropic birds, and more.
Traditionally, the best time to visit Seychelles for the hottest and driest weather has been around April, however, changing global climates mean that this is not as predictable as it used to be. Rain is possible at any time of year, especially on Mahe, where even in the dry season you might expect to get a passing rain shower in the afternoon. However it is unusual for rain to set in, and most rain will clear up fairly quickly.
The South East season runs for the rest of the year, with the driest part of the year typically from June through to September. The south east is a stronger wind, which means that it feels cooler on the islands, however this also means that the oceans are more disturbed, so the seas are a bit rougher, the water visibility for snorkelling and diving is reduced, and seaweed can wash up on the beaches as well.
The south east trade winds blow from around April through to October. At this time of year, beaches on the south and east of Mahe and Praslin are more likely to be affected by seaweed, so you will want to stay on the north and west side of the islands.
A hire car will make getting to all the sights and attractions on the islands at your own pace much more pleasurable. Car hire can be booked in advance, at rental counters at the airport, or many hotels and guesthouses will also offer car hire.
On Mahe and Praslin, there is also a regular public bus service which runs all around the island and covers the majority of destinations. This costs around 7 rupees per journey and is definitely going to be the cheapest way to get around, although it will take longer, and you are at the mercy of the bus service timetable of course. More remote locations, such as those off the beaten path beaches, might be harder to get a bus to.
The other option for travelling between the islands is to take a boat, with a fast ferry service (Cat Cocos) operating between Mahe and Praslin (about 1 hour journey time), and Praslin and La Digue (15 minute journey time).
Travellers from countries which use a 110v system, such as the USA, will need to check that their equipment is compatible with 240v. In our experience, electrical items like camera chargers and laptops are compatible, but higher power items like hair dryers, hair straighteners, and kettles are not.
Internet in the Seychelles is a relatively expensive commodity. That said, all the properties that we stayed at in the Seychelles included free Wi-Fi, which varied in speed from relatively slow to quite fast.
The Seychelles are a relatively safe destination to visit, with violent crime being uncommon. In recent years there has been a rise in petty thefts however, and visitors need to be mindful of their belongings.
Unlike many African nations, the Seychelles has no tropical diseases to worry about like Malaria or Yellow Fever. If you are visiting from a country which suffers from certain diseases, or have recently travelled through these nations, you might need to show proof of vaccinations. This is particularly the case with Yellow Fever.
In general though, food in the Seychelles is a mix of Creole and Indian flavours, and heavily features fresh seafood, as well as chicken and pork. Naturally ther are also lots of fruits and fresh fruit juices to try, with availability depending on the season you visit.
There is a huge range of options when it comes to accommodation in the Seychelles, although this tends to fall into the midrange through to luxury category. Camping is illegal, and there are no hostel style accommodation options.
The majority of these are in the budget to mid-range category, with a lot of self-catering and guesthouse style accommodation on offer. However, there are also some mid and high end properties to choose from as well.
Of course, there are lots of options when it comes to accommodation in the Seychelles. We usually advise looking on booking.com, as we find they have the best prices, most options, and they have everything from hotels through to apartments.
On Mahe, we spent a week at Villa Kordia, which is a nice self catering property located at Pointe Au Sel, around ten minutes from the airport and fifty metres from the beach. They helped us to arrange our hire car, and they also offered meals, which is a fantastic way to sample the local Seychellois cuisine.
Finally, on La Digue, we stayed at Oceane Self Catering. This was five minutes walk from the jetty, and we had a lovely big room with self catering facilities. They also offered meals in the evening, and the Creole food on offer here was excellent value and very authentic.
However, if you prefer to take a tour, and leave the hassle of driving and planning to someone else, then there are a few tours that we suggest that line up well with our itinerary. The ones we have chosen include hotel pickups and generally last a full day.
Hi Laurence,wow what a blog. answered all the questions we had about visiting Seychelles. we are a group of 6,ie 3 couples and we planning a trip to the country in October and we loved your blog. We have agreed to go as per your itenerary,thats how good we found it to be.Great job.
Great,regarding the car rental based on our itenerary,how can we plan that since we will be moving around the islands? The plan is to rent in Mahe and Praslin.Would we also need a rental on our last day from La Digue?
very well explained! great detailing, my sincere compliments to you. we will be visiting from 28/10 till 3/11 this year for our 25th wedding anniversary. 2n in praslin at acajou hotel, 1 night at LA digue Island Lodge and 3 nights at savoy at Mahe and will try to cover as per your itinerary. in Praslin and Mahe we will take car on rent but
wanted to check what is the best way to transfer at La digue ferry point to LA digue Island Lodge as we will be having luggage.
further are credit cards acceptable at eateries or we need to have euro in cash.
any other suggestion to make the trip more enjoyable will be helpful.
thanks