Island Hopping: Praslin, La Digue and Mahé
I recently travelled to the Seychelles with my mother. It was beautiful! We booked an island-hopping trip through SeyVillas, which still seems to us to have been a good choice. We were able to choose our accommodation from a wide range of options and add transfers, so we did not have to organise anything ourselves. The local travel agency, Creole, took us from one guest house to the next.
We first spent 4 days on Praslin. Praslin was our favourite. There is so much to see. We travelled around by bus, which worked very well. Each journey costs 5 rupees, and you can travel as far as you like. The size of the island is perfect. On our 2nd day, we took a boat trip to Curieuse and St. Pierre. It was well worth it.
Curieuse is the famous tortoise island, home to around 300 giant tortoises that you can feed and stroke. St. Pierre is a small, picture-perfect island with wonderful snorkelling.
Another time, we travelled north to Anse Lazio, which was absolutely beautiful!
Another place that is well worth visiting, and was the highlight of the island for us, is the famous Vallée de Mai National Park.
Vallée de Mai" data-caption="Vallée de Mai" title="Vallée de Mai" data-srcset="/img/journals/302/160x80/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 160w, /img/journals/302/320x160/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 320w, /img/journals/302/480x240/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 480w, /img/journals/302/640x320/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 640w, /img/journals/302/800x400/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 800w, /img/journals/302/960x480/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 960w, /img/journals/302/1024x512/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1024w, /img/journals/302/1200x600/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1200w, /img/journals/302/1280x640/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1280w, /img/journals/302/1920x960/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1920w, /img/journals/302/2048x1024/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 2048w, /img/journals/302/3840x1920/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 3840w" data-src="/img/journals/302/1200x600/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg" data-srcset-webp="/img/journals/302/160x80/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 160w, /img/journals/302/320x160/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 320w, /img/journals/302/480x240/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 480w, /img/journals/302/640x320/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 640w, /img/journals/302/800x400/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 800w, /img/journals/302/960x480/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 960w, /img/journals/302/1024x512/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 1024w, /img/journals/302/1200x600/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 1200w, /img/journals/302/1280x640/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 1280w, /img/journals/302/1920x960/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 1920w, /img/journals/302/2048x1024/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 2048w, /img/journals/302/3840x1920/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.webp 3840w">
Vallée de Mai" title="Vallée de Mai" sizes="(max-width: 160px) 160px,(max-width: 320px) 320px,(max-width: 480px) 480px,(max-width: 640px) 640px,(max-width: 800px) 800px,(max-width: 1024px) 1024px,(max-width: 1152px) 1152px" srcset="/img/journals/302/160x120/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 160w, /img/journals/302/320x240/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 320w, /img/journals/302/480x360/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 480w, /img/journals/302/640x480/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 640w, /img/journals/302/800x600/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 800w, /img/journals/302/1024x768/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1024w, /img/journals/302/1152x864/vallee-de-mai-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalena.jpg 1152w">You can learn a great deal about the island’s flora and fauna while exploring independently. We decided not to take a guided tour and ultimately saw more as a result, as the tour only goes up and down the main trail. Afterwards, we went straight on to the second, newer national park, Fond Ferdinand.
It is not yet as well known, so there are fewer tourists and it costs much less. In the end, both parks were well worth visiting, and we could not choose a favourite.
Our next stop was La Digue. The transfer from our guest house to the ferry, and then from the ferry to our guest house on La Digue, went perfectly.
La Digue is considerably smaller than Praslin. As a result, all the tourists tend to gather along the island’s one main road. It is a lovely little island with the most beautiful beaches in the Seychelles, but for our taste there were too many tourists in too small an area. For our 3rd day, we booked a tour around the southern tip with Creole. The southern circuit is quite challenging, and you are not allowed to attempt it without a guide. It was very adventurous, with several sections requiring us to climb over the huge granite boulders that line La Digue’s coast. This tour was our highlight on La Digue. Our destination was Anse Marron, where there is a kind of natural paddling pool in which we were able to swim. The tour ended at the famous Anse Source d'Argent.
We stayed at Island Bungalow. The advantage was that they are located right next to Anse Severe, where, depending on the tide, you can either swim or relax on the beach. At low tide, you can lie on the beach, but swimming is almost impossible. At high tide, there is practically no beach, but the swimming is good.
Our third and final stop was the main island, Mahé. We spent 5 days there. The capital, Victoria, is very beautiful and has plenty to see. Compared with European capitals, it is very small, so you can explore it in a day.
We took a walking tour through the city, bought spices and even visited the botanical gardens, Seychelles National Botanical Gardens.
Seychelles National Botanical Gardens" data-caption="Seychelles National Botanical Gardens" title="Seychelles National Botanical Gardens" data-srcset="/img/journals/302/80x160/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 80w, /img/journals/302/160x320/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 160w, /img/journals/302/240x480/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 240w, /img/journals/302/320x640/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 320w, /img/journals/302/400x800/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 400w, /img/journals/302/480x960/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 480w, /img/journals/302/512x1024/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 512w, /img/journals/302/600x1200/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 600w, /img/journals/302/640x1280/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 640w, /img/journals/302/960x1920/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 960w, /img/journals/302/1024x2048/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 1024w, /img/journals/302/1920x3840/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 1920w" data-src="/img/journals/302/600x1200/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg" data-srcset-webp="/img/journals/302/80x160/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 80w, /img/journals/302/160x320/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 160w, /img/journals/302/240x480/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 240w, /img/journals/302/320x640/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 320w, /img/journals/302/400x800/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 400w, /img/journals/302/480x960/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 480w, /img/journals/302/512x1024/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 512w, /img/journals/302/600x1200/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 600w, /img/journals/302/640x1280/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 640w, /img/journals/302/960x1920/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 960w, /img/journals/302/1024x2048/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 1024w, /img/journals/302/1920x3840/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.webp 1920w">
Seychelles National Botanical Gardens" title="Seychelles National Botanical Gardens" sizes="(max-width: 120px) 120px,(max-width: 240px) 240px,(max-width: 360px) 360px,(max-width: 480px) 480px,(max-width: 600px) 600px,(max-width: 768px) 768px,(max-width: 864px) 864px,(max-width: 1536px) 1536px" srcset="/img/journals/302/120x160/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 120w, /img/journals/302/240x320/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 240w, /img/journals/302/360x480/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 360w, /img/journals/302/480x640/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 480w, /img/journals/302/600x800/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 600w, /img/journals/302/768x1024/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 768w, /img/journals/302/864x1152/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 864w, /img/journals/302/1536x2048/botanical-garden-seyvillas-travel-journal-magdalenax.jpg 1536w">We liked the gardens best of all. You can admire all the plants of the Seychelles there and read plenty of information about them. The small map you are given is quite confusing, but everything is essentially self-explanatory.
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and came away with many wonderful memories.
If you enjoy an occasional beer, the best one to buy is Seybrew. It is brewed in the Seychelles and is probably the most popular beer there.
And finally, be sure to bring Fenistil or something else to relieve itching. Depending on the island and the time of year, there can be a lot of mosquitoes. Our ‘Antibrumm’ insect repellent did not seem to bother the local mosquitoes. There are also sand flies on some beaches, as well as caterpillars with stinging hairs. After 3 weeks in the Seychelles, we returned home covered in insect bites. Fortunately, we had brought a whole tube of Fenistil with us, which we practically used up.
