A Holiday in Paradise

In November 2016, the time had finally come, and we spent 11 wonderful days on La Digue. We landed on Mahé early in the morning and, after completing the immigration formalities, were able to continue straight to the ferry port. To our delight, the tropical downpour that greeted us soon cleared and made way for sunshine. The sea was quite rough that day, so we could not really enjoy the crossing on the upper deck and were glad to arrive in Praslin after around 1 hour.

Changing to the ferry for La Digue was somewhat chaotic by Central European standards – but, amazingly, everything worked out. The short crossing and beautiful view of La Digue heightened our sense of anticipation. At the harbour, we took a taxi to Maison Charme de l´lle, where we received a warm welcome from Jeanette, the housekeeper. We really liked this small complex of just 4 terraced bungalows. The bungalows are very tastefully furnished, and the grounds are also beautifully landscaped with plants. There is even a small pool with 2 sun loungers in the garden, perfect for cooling off. Maison Charme de l´Ile is not far from the world-famous Anse Source d´Argent.

Us at Anse Source d’Argent It takes only around 3 minutes by bicycle to reach L’Union Estate. Our tip: you can leave your bicycle by the helicopter landing pad and walk along the beach to Anse Source d’Argent without having to pay the estate entrance fee. This means you can visit the most beautiful beach every day. It really is breathtaking.

L’Union Estate However, it would be a great shame to focus solely on this beach and miss the island’s other beautiful beaches. There are plenty of them, and the advantage is that each one is different, so it never gets boring. If you are looking for peace and quiet, head to the east coast, where you are almost guaranteed to have the beach to yourself. Even the impressively long Grand Anse attracts relatively few people. In our opinion, Grand Anse is the most spectacular beach on the island. The sand is dazzlingly white and, as the name suggests, the beach really is ‘grand’.

Grand Anse, La Digue If you would like to go snorkelling, Anse Severe is highly recommended. You can see plenty of fish there and, if you are lucky, turtles and tuna. Snorkelling is safe at this spot. We experienced the most beautiful sunsets at Anse Reunion. The atmosphere was indescribably lovely every time. As a rule, we were alone – apart from a few friendly dogs that also wanted to admire the sunset. On some evenings, there were a few more spectators. Anyone interested should not miss a visit to the vanilla plantation at L’Union Estate. It is fascinating to see how vanilla pods grow. You can also buy high-quality vanilla pods from the souvenir shop.

L’Union Estate Vanilla La Digue is relatively small but remarkably diverse. In the island’s interior, you will find beautiful, jungle-like rainforest, with huge mango, papaya and frangipani trees everywhere. There are also plenty of banana plants. Giant tortoises regularly cross the roads and are happy to be fed and stroked on the head. Along the roads towards Grand Anse and Anse Severe, there are numerous small stalls where you can refresh yourself with fruit juice or a coconut and chat with local people. Our tip: the best juice at a fair price is available from Simon’s Fruit Shop on the way to Grand Anse. We found the restaurants overpriced.

View of Praslin Road on La Digue Giant tortoise Our tip: for breakfast, we recommend buying a loaf of sliced bread in a plastic bag from one of the many supermarkets. To our surprise, it was very good, and there is a toaster at Maison Charme de l´lle. For lunch and dinner, we bought Creole food from one of the 3–4 takeaways, with meals costing around €4. Our tip: GALA Takeaway, around 7 minutes away, offers a changing daily menu, delicious food and generous portions. The microwave at Maison Charme de l´lle is also very convenient.

GALA Takeaway After so much praise, however, the question remains: was there anything to criticise? We felt that the bicycles at Maison Charme de l´lle were in rather poor condition considering the daily hire price of around €10 each. We politely declined Jeanette’s offer to cook for us for around €30 per person, as we simply found this too expensive. Apart from that, we had nothing to criticise.

Summary:
We had a wonderful holiday and would love to return. We were very satisfied with the service provided by SeyVillas and would book Maison Charme de l´lle again. We can recommend it with a clear conscience.