Seychelles is an exotic island destination located east of Africa which will figure in most people’s bucket list. It is made up of multiple beautiful islands with Mahe being the main one. It is home to some of the top rated beaches in the world. It is also quite pricey considering it doesn’t have any local produce of its own and relies on imports entirely.
By early 2020, Covid hit all of us badly forcing us to be wary, watchful and very restricted in our movements/travels. Just like many others, we were itching to travel again in 2022 when things had improved considerably. Coincidently, this period was also the phase where we had a baby in early 2020. By mid 2022, we felt safe to travel again, even with the kid.
Our original plan was to travel to countries in the UK – covering London, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland in May 2022. Since our visa application got delayed (took 3 months instead of customary 2-3 weeks), we had to reschedule our trip to later that year. This opened up an opportunity to squeeze in an additional trip and we chose Seychelles. Since Seychelles was welcoming of people from India (free visa) who had completed 3 doses of approved covid vaccinations, it made for a good choice for a destination to visit. And since its a beach location, so we could travel around leisurely and pace ourselves as we see fit.
Seychelles as a country is not well connected to the world (or India) through flights. Options were/are limited and we had to rely on Air Seychelles which flies direct to and from Mumbai. Since all airlines had made huge losses during covid, naturally we found the prices to be on the higher side as they opened up borders and restarted the flights. Flights from Mumbai are also not daily, they run 3 times a week. After researching on how long we would need to cover places we wanted, we decided to do 4 nights in Seychelles.
Mauritius is another island country on the east of Africa, fairly close to Seychelles. We felt it would be a waste of money if we did only one destination paying that kind of price. Incidently, Mauritius was also just about opening up their borders for travelers from around the world by late June. We decided to club these 2 countries for better bang for buck. More about Mauritius experience in a different blog.
Each country on its own was coming to around 60k round trip per pax, where as we paid roughly 75k for both of them combined for a 8 night itinerary covering both these countries.
Our Itinerary
Day 1: Fly from Mumbai to Mahe via Air Seychelles. Continue onto Praslin via ferry. In the evening,drive to Cote D’Or/Anse Lazio beach for sunset.
Day 2: Visit Anse Georgette in the morning. Take the11:30 AM InterIsland Ferry to La Digue. Visit the L’Union Estate(plantation tour and giant tortoises), Anse Source D’Argent beach. Return to Praslin in the evening.
Day 3: Ferry or fly from Praslin to Mahe. Visit Petite Anse beach for sunset.
Day 4: Drive around Mahe visiting beaches – Anse Takamaka, Anse Intendance,Anse Royale , Grand Anse etc. Also visit Takamaka Rum distillery, Sauzier waterfall, Victoria (through the scenic road).
Best time to visit
They say, the best time to visit the island nation is between April and May or October to November. Any other time, you run the risk of having a lot of sea weeds washed to the shores by the trade winds. But throughout the year, the weather is pleasant (hovering around 30 degree) with possibility of scattered showers for short period in the day. When we went in July, the weather was good, with some rains here and there which cleared fairly quickly, and there wasnt much of sea weeds also on the beaches. But the sea tends to be very rough during that time. That made it almost impossible to survive ferries between Mahe and Praslin. More on that experience later in the post.
Entry restrictions (in 2022)
Indians got a free entry/visa to the country as long as they were vaccinated with 3 doses of approved covid vaccination. We had to fill out a Health card declaration, costing us $30 per pax before entering the country.
Currency
The official currency is Seychelles Rupee (SCR). But lot of places do accept Euros. We took US dollars and exchanged there. Card acceptance is limited. ATMs are sparse. The network connectivity itself overall is flaky.
Car Rental
Best way to explore Seychelles is through renting a car. Cab rides are very expensive. Roads aren’t too big, and so, the rentals you get tend to be small cars only, which is sufficient. Mainstream rental companies from the west don’t have much presence in the island and you have to rely on renting through local companies or you can contact your hotel for arranging one for you. These can be picked up and dropped off an any place (airport/ferry terminals etc) without any additional charge. Availability of rental cars with a child seat could be low in supply and so, if you are in need of one, better to book early. No need for International Drivers Permit, our Indian license worked just fine.
Transfers between Islands
The main tourist circuit consists of exploring 3 main islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. There are mainly 2 ways to transfer between islands.
Ferry transfers
The fast ferry companies of Cat Cocos and Inter Island Ferry are the leading ferry operators in Seychelles. Between them, they offer multiple daily services between the tropical paradise islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. Seychellesbookings.com is a good starting point to search and book these ferries. You could also go to direct websites if you are more comfortable booking directly. These companies run transfers multiple times a day (usually around 4 to 5 times) and the schedule keeps changing based on the season. Make sure to check the schedule before planning your itinerary.
Make sure to carry physical printout of the tickets and report about an hour before the journey. We paid roughly 1,700 SCR per adult for round trip transfer between Mahe and Praslin. Children aged between 2-12 years are charged half the price. They offer 2 categories of seating on this ferry – Main cabin and Upper deck cabin. Since the sea tends to be very rough, its best to book the upper deck at a slight extra cost, which offers fresh air in the hope that it will come in handy when dealing with this nightmarish 75 mins ride 😉
Even though we had read a lot about the struggles of multiple people due to sea sickness on this ferry ride and prepared as much as we could, we couldn’t have imagined what transpired. It felt they they put us inside a washing machine and switched it on, on a 75 mins washing cycle. Except a handful of brave souls on the ferry, almost everyone was impacted. We felt sorry for putting our little kid through such a journey where even she vomitted multiple times. As soon as we landed and got back to our senses, we decided we are not going back on this journey again, on our way back to Mahe and immediately booked a return flight to Mahe, albeit at a higher cost considering how late we booked and had to forego the refund on this return ferry journey.
Luckily, ferry between Praslin and La Digue is just 15 mins and we could handle that easily.
Flights
Air Seychelles runs flights between Mahe and Praslin very frequently and these are the smaller bombardier planes with lower seating capacity. These tend to be pricey for the distance they cover, but does offer beautiful aerial views of the islands. If you are traveling during the seasons where seas are rough, I would strongly suggest to take the flights both ways to avoid dealing with the rough ferry ride.
Best beaches we visited
As I mentioned before, Seychelles is blessed with a lot of beautiful beaches and it’s almost impossible to cover all of them in the limited time you spend there. We explored the below ones during our travel. I have also posted other some notable mentions below, which one could explore as well.
Anse Source d’Argent, La Digue
Crowned as the world’s most photographic beach by National Geographic some years ago, Anse Source d’Argent is the most beautiful beach of La Digue islands and probably the best in entire of Seychelles. It isn’t a very big stretch of sand, but the smooth white sand along with granite boulders on both the sides make for a spectacular setting. The path to reach here goes through the L’Union Estate where one can also see the giant tortoises.
Anse Georgette, Praslin
Anse Georgette is one of the top beaches in Praslin. The gorgeous turquoise water, the pristine white sand and the surrounding palm trees make for a mesmerizing experience. This stretch of sand is almost a private beach of Lemuria resort, one of the top resorts in Praslin. But since by law, they can’t make any beach as private in Seychelles, the resort is required to allow visitors. The guests of the resort get a free buggy ride to the beach, but outside visitors need to walk along the cobble path which is a 30 min walk one way. The resort does restrict the number of outside visitors each day and so, its best to call up before and reserve your spot for the day visit. We went there early morning and had the entire beach to ourselves. It was such a fairytale moment, too bad we had to return back early since we had a ferry to catch to La Digue.
Petite Anse, Mahe
Another beautiful stretch of sand in Mahe is Petite Anse. Similar to Anse Georgette, even this beach lies inside a resort – Four Seasons, Mahe. Once you reach there, you can inform the security guard and they let you in as outside guests. It has a short walk to the beach and sometimes they do offer free buggy to the beach if they are running empty at that time. Plan to visit here during sunsets for beautiful shots of the sunset.
Grand Anse, Mahe
The last notable beach we visited was the the Grand Anse in Mahe. This is a long stretch of sand, nothing comparable to the above ones, but still very beautiful in comparison to the beaches around the world.
Few other beaches to consider
- Anse Lazio, Praslin
- Cote D’Or, Praslin
- Anse Intendance, Mahe
Other noteworthy points of interest
- The scenic road we took to Victoria from south Mahe cuts through a thick cover of trees and offers a view into completely different side of Seychelles. Just be aware that it can get a bit lonely on the road as it not a path well travelled.
- The east coast road in Mahe going through the Takamaka distillery can get very busy at certain times of the day. Traffic jams and long waits are not uncommon during peak office hours. Make sure to account for that while you plan your trip back to Airport.
- Takamaka is a famous distillery in Seychelles making rum. This is another thing one can explore with some tasting sessions as well.
- Victoria is a small city in the north of Mahe. We spent a few hours there searching for some souveniers, snacks and sightseeing. Beware of severe parking issues in the city.
- Sauzier waterfall is a small waterfall accessible within 5 mins of walking from the parking lot. One can easily avoid this if they are short on time.
- Best way to explore La Digue is to rent a bicycle. You can also get ones with child seats and even the ones with 3 wheels for those not so comfortable riding one.
Cost sheet (July 2022)
| Sim card (Airport) | 200 SCR |
| Taxi to Jetty from Mahe airport | 45 Euros |
| Car rentals | 45 Euros/day |
| La Digue cycle rental | 200 SCR for normal, 300 for 3 wheeled ones |
Our Experience in Pics
Parting Thoughts
Seychelles undoubtedly lived up to its reputation of an exotic beach destination. Its an expensive place, but its beauty is unmatched. What made it better for us is the fact that it was just opening up for tourists and we didn’t find many around while we were there. It’s a destination everyone should explore, budget permitting.
Unending Vacations 