Trip Report: Seychelles
Visited in September 2023
As you descend over Mahé, the main island of Seychelles, you glimpse what many would call paradise. Green islands surrounded by white beaches and turquoise blue waters. And I must admit, even after seeing many places in the world, this view makes you think: wow!
This is exactly how Seychelles markets itself, as a paradise and a luxury destination. Many people consider the Seychelles the perfect place for a honeymoon, on par with the Maldives or Mauritius. While some fulfill their desire to visit this country someday, for many, Seychelles also remains an unreached place. For some, the country is too far away in the end, some think they can’t afford it, and for some, that’s probably also true.
To be honest with you, Seychelles always triggered the opposite feelings in me. It was a country that never really interested me. A typical boring couples’ destination that doesn’t offer much except beach and sea, I imagined. Sometimes people told me that I had a wrong image and that you could do other things like hiking. ‘Nice try’ I always thought, but it didn’t really make Seychelles more interesting for me. That’s why I always planned to visit the Seychelles only briefly on my journey to every country in the world. Two days maybe.
In September 2023, the time had finally come. After ten days on mainland Africa, namely in Burundi and Uganda, Kati and I flew to the remote country somewhere in the Indian Ocean. It was my 158th country. And my 38th in Africa. Supposedly, Seychellois don’t like being called African. Considering the location of the country, this is not surprising, as Seychelles lies somewhere between Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Subcontinent.
Nevertheless, Seychelles is located on the African continental plate and is the smallest African country. Furthermore, the capital city Victoria is one of the smallest capitals in the world. Only 28,000 people live there and there are apparently only two traffic lights in the whole city. In total, the Seychelles consist of 115 islands. The three most famous are Mahé, Praslin and La Digue. As the names of these islands suggest, French is the national language in Seychelles along with their own Creole.
In the weeks leading up to this trip, something strange happened. In fact, Seychelles slowly started to arouse my interest. After a little research, I had to agree with those who had always claimed that Seychelles was more than just beach and ocean. Although Uganda and Burundi were new countries for me, I had the feeling that both countries would be rather repeats from other trips in East Africa. For this reason, I shortened the time in these two countries and planned more time for Seychelles.
In the end it should be five days in the Seychelles. Much more than originally planned. But even with five days, I wasn’t sure if it was enough time for everything I wanted to do. Actually, it was four full days and two half days. For Kati, it was important to have one or two do-nothing days at our resort. And for me it was important to see the country. So we decided to spend two days each at the resort and two days for excursions.
Ethiopian Airlines took us from Uganda to the Seychelles. In fact, Seychelles is not so well connected to the rest of the world. There are two flights to Europe: to Frankfurt (twice a week) and to Zurich (once a week). There are also daily flights to/from Dubai, Doha, Mauritius or Addis Ababa, plus a few other destinations.
The first little shock came right after arrival. A 20-minute cab ride from the airport to our hotel on Beau Vallon beach cost more than €50 (800 rupees). In Seychelles, you can use the bus as a tourist, but they don’t allow suitcases or any other large baggage. With this, the country protects its cab industry and forces tourists to either rent a car or take the cab, which costs about the same for a 20-minute ride as a rental car for a whole day. But since we didn’t need a rental car at the beginning, we bit the bullet and paid the cab.
A strict rule of mine is: when I’m in a luxury destination, I splurge on accommodation, because I consider it as part of the experience. I don’t see the point of staying in some Airbnb in the interior of the country to save a few bucks. Therefore, we booked a 5-star resort for our whole stay. That resort was dreamlike, or how you imagine a resort in Seychelles. We chose the STORY Seychelles, one of many luxury resorts in the country. Not far from it, by the way, is the smallest Hilton hotel in the world.
What kind of people do you meet in such resorts? Couples mainly. Young, old, heterosexual, homosexual, everything was there. There were also a few families. The only thing the guests had in common was that they didn’t particularly like contact with other guests. Here in this resort, everyone seemed to be on their own. Were they rich guests? Not necessarily. I think most people from Western countries can afford a few days in such a resort. But yes, most behaved as if they were something better.
I found Beau Vallon Beach, which is considered one of the best beaches on Mahé and where our hotel was located, nice but not world class. At least I have seen much better beaches in the past one or two years. In addition, a flag indicated that there were stingrays and jellyfish in the sea and you had to be careful. It is interesting to note that all beaches in the Seychelles are public. Some may find that annoying, but at our section of the beach there didn’t seem to be any people who weren’t guests of the hotel.
That afternoon and the next day, we hardly left the hotel. There was also no reason for it. After all, the resort offered everything a guest could wish for. Many tourists in the Seychelles also do exactly that during their two-week stay. They spend all their time in a resort and make maybe one or the other excursion. There is nothing wrong with that either, because for this kind of vacation the Seychelles are certainly a great country.
Although this is not my kind of vacation, I actually found this rest day at the resort more than okay. Ten days in Burundi and Uganda meant relatively little comfort and short nights, as we often had to wake up at 6am or even earlier. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with a pool and beach day.
However, we still had a lot planned for the remaining days. On the one hand, I wanted to see the two islands of La Digue and Praslin and on the other hand, the giant tortoises, for which the Seychelles are famous. I also wanted to do a hike where I could see Mahé from above. And another hike along the coast. Of course, I wanted to see the best spots of Mahé as well. Kati wanted an extra day at the resort. So quite a lot of program for four days.
For the next day we booked a tour that would take us half a day to La Digue and half a day to Praslin. According to the lady who booked this tour for us, one day was enough time to see both islands. Originally I planned one day per island, but since our time was short, we followed this recommendation and decided to see both islands in one day.
What also made the case for doing both islands in one day was the distance to Mahé. The boat ride from Mahé to Praslin and La Digue takes about 90 minutes, whereas Praslin and La Digue are only 15 minutes apart. However, the sea between Mahé and the other two islands is quite rough, which often makes the boat ride a puke fest. So I thought, if we’re going to do this catamaran ride, let’s see both islands right away.
On the catamaran we actually saw a lot of people fighting against vomiting. We had bought a motion sickness pill at a pharmacy in Mahé (highly recommended) and had no problems. But it reminded me a bit of the Galapagos Islands, where the boat rides between the islands were also nasty and rows and rows of people threw up.
What also reminded me of the Galapagos Islands were the giant tortoises. We saw many on La Digue. Not in the wild, but at the L’Union Estate Tortoise Farm. Some of these tortoises get over 200 years old. Just imagine what these tortoises have experienced: both World Wars, Napoleon’s conquests, the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the European Revolutions…
Later we visited the famous Anse Source d’Argent beach, known for its rock formations. The pictures from this beach are probably the most famous from the Seychelles. Thus, it is almost mandatory to visit this beach during a Seychelles trip.
Funny was how our guide warned several times that we should in no case climb on the rocks, because they are slippery and therefore you can hurt yourself badly. Now imagine the following situation: over a hundred people on this beach next to these rocks. What will happen next? And what happens after that? Exactly, your imagination is absolutely correct. You should never underestimate the stupidity of people.
In the afternoon we first visited the Vallée de Mai National Park on Praslin, where you can see the famous Coco de Mer on trees. This huge coconut grows only in the Seychelles and cannot be exported unless the flesh is cut out beforehand.
We walked around the national park for about an hour. That did not cover the whole park but still gave us some good impressions. Anyway, for the visit you pay 450 Seychellois Rupees, which is about 35 euros. Worth it or not? I would say it’s definitely too expensive (like almost everything in Seychelles).
Afterwards, we went to Anse Lazio, which has been named the best beach in the world several times. And I agree, it is definitely the prettiest beach we have seen in the country. There we had exactly 55 minutes before we went back on the boat and drove back to Mahé.
To be honest, this tour was mediocre at best and I would not recommend doing both islands in one day. It was too rushed and we have not really seen the islands. I would be lying if I didn’t suspect that both islands in one day would probably be a bad idea. However, I had FOMO and with all the things I still wanted to do in the Seychelles, I thought we better risk it. The lady at the tour office also said that this is the tour most people do. So it cannot be that bad then, right?
With €220 this day trip is also not exactly cheap. As a day trip I would recommend visiting La Digue only. On our tour, there were people who did that and skipped the Praslin part. They also only paid €140, which was the much better deal in my opinion. Then you also get a bike and can explore the island without stress.
That was also the end of our Seychelles trip. More or less. Because the next three days it rained practically non-stop. As I mentioned before, we wanted to do so many more things, but actually we only did the Anse Major Trail under pouring rain.
The rainy season in the Seychelles is from November to March. We were in a September, which belongs to the dry season. Dry season in the Seychelles does not mean that it does not rain. It simply means that instead of 15 days it rains only 8. So in the end our Seychelles stay looked like this: two days of sunshine and three days of rain.
Needless to say, this was totally unsatisfying. I would even go so far as to say that this Seychelles was a big disappointment. Were we just unlucky and caught the three worst days of the month? Honestly, I don’t think so. Weeks before this trip, I occasionally looked at stories on Instagram and noticed that the sky was almost always gray. Besides, the day we arrived, the receptionist said, “Thank goodness you weren’t here last week, it rained most of the time.”
Is that what they call dry season in this country? Honestly, what would you do if a friend told you they had had more rain than sun in a country during the dry season? As an extreme traveler, as I am, I would probably go anyway. As someone who wants to go somewhere sunny 1-2 times a year, I would most likely rule out such a country. To be fair, I’ve heard from two people now that they were in the Seychelles during the rainy season and didn’t have a single day of rain.
For my conclusion about the Seychelles, however, I would like to exclude the weather. But I must also say that I think the Seychelles is a beautiful country, but also a little overrated. This has several reasons.
First of all, I find that there are many places with much better value for money. It goes without saying that the Seychelles are not cheap. However, this is because the country also likes to squeeze tourists like a lemon. For example, I already told you that tourists are forced to take the very expensive taxi from the airport instead of taking the bus, since they don’t allow luggage on it. It’s not that Seychelles is expensive per se. It is simply to ensure that tourists pay three or four times the price of the locals.
You should avoid cabs anyway and take a rental car, which usually costs €50-60 per day and is a fair price. The roads of the Seychelles are a bit mean though. At least on Mahé you drive up and down the hills on very narrow roads. The many tight curves are an additional challenge. At the same time, it must be mentioned that there is no fully comprehensive insurance in the Seychelles. With Sixt, for example, there is a excess fee of €1500.
Another problem is crime in Seychelles. “Be careful that no one breaks into your car if you leave it unattended.” We heard this from both the car rental company and a police officer. Seychelles may be a paradise, it is the country with the highest GDP in Africa and I would also say the most developed country on the continent. However, it also has the highest rate of heroin addicts in the world. 10% of adults are addicted to heroin, just imagine!
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t happen every day!” both the car rental company and the police officer tried to reassure us. “They will only break the car open if they see valuable items inside.” In response, we asked Sixt who would be liable if such a case occurred. “Unfortunately, theft is not insured, which means you guys will cover the damage if it happens.”
Last but not least, the Seychelles are not a country where you can do very much. A bit of beach, some hikes (but they are usually rather short and rather pass as strolls), a little snorkeling and then the one or other boat trip. But honestly, I wouldn’t know how to keep myself entertain during two weeks in this country. Well, if it rains half the time, I probably wouldn’t even have to ask myself that question.
Do not get me wrong. Seychelles is a beautiful country and if you’re into resort vacations, which also offer one or the other exciting excursion, you will like it here. For me personally, visiting the country once was okay, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to go a second time. Let’s hope that Mauritius and Maldives will be better.
Click here to find the trip reports of the 170+ other countries I have visited so far!
