An Absolute Dream Holiday on Mahé and Praslin

My wife and I simply wanted to get away somewhere warm over Christmas and enjoy some sunshine, so we spontaneously decided on the Seychelles – which was absolutely the right choice. We first landed on Mahé and then took the ferry across to Praslin, where we spent 5 nights at the beautiful Berjaya Beach Hotel. Directly in front of our hotel was the beautiful, wide, white sandy beach of Cote d Or.

Cote d` Or It is also a very popular beach with the locals – Anse Volbert (Cote d' Or) is considered one of Praslin’s most beautiful sandy beaches. Countless palm trees and other tropical plants line the beach. The temperature climbed above 30°C every day. The water was around 27°C – an absolute dream. After 1½ days of relaxing on the beach, we booked an excursion to the nearby islands of Curieuse and St Pierre.

Around 250 giant tortoises live on Curieuse, and visitors can feed and stroke them. This was definitely one of the highlights of our holiday, as we both love animals. And giant tortoises at that – nowhere else can you get as close to these animals as on Curieuse Island.

Aldabra giant tortoise After a short walk through the island’s jungle, we emerged onto a stunning beach with fine, white sand, which was also a wonderful place for snorkelling. A short while later, our guide collected us there by motorboat and took us to St Pierre, where we spent around 1 hour snorkelling in the gorgeous turquoise water and saw numerous colourful, rare fish. We captured some of them with our underwater camera.

St. Pierre Island Underwater camera – fish Underwater camera – fish The following day, we took a day trip to La Digue, where we explored the island on hired bicycles. This was another unforgettable day of our holiday. La Digue also has beautiful sandy beaches and bays.

After 5 days on Praslin, our journey continued with a scheduled flight back to Mahé. It was the shortest and cheapest flight of our lives – it lasted just 20 minutes and cost €51 per person. By comparison, the ferry, which takes 1 hour, costs €49 per person.

After arriving on Mahé, we continued straight to our hotel, the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino. On our first day, we explored the vast hotel grounds before walking along the fine, white sandy beach directly beside the hotel. After a short while, we came across a small, secluded bay, where we spent the rest of the day. The sea here was once again perfect for snorkelling.

47|Beau Vallon, Mahé On our third day on Mahé, we used the hotel’s complimentary shuttle service to reach Victoria, the capital of Mahé. After an exciting visit to the famous Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market, where we bought fresh spices including curry powder, cinnamon, chilli and vanilla, we returned to the hotel by public bus. On 24 December, we hired a car and explored the entire southern side of the island. Along the way, we visited numerous beautiful beaches, including what is probably the best-known and most beautiful sandy beach on the island, if not in the Seychelles – Anse Intendance.

That evening, we enjoyed a lovely meal before ending the day with a visit to the casino at our hotel. On the final day of our dream holiday in the Seychelles, we explored the northern part of the island in our hire car. That evening, it was time to say ‘Au revoir, Seychelles’ – until next time!