Island Hopping with a Special Topping

Once we knew that we wanted to get married during our next trip, we spontaneously chose the Seychelles on a friend’s recommendation. After all, we wanted the most beautiful beach and wonderful weather for our special day. While looking for a travel agency, we came across the Island Hopping Configurator from SeyVillas, which won us over straight away. Despite being seasoned travellers, we had never seen such a practical tool anywhere before!

With the help of the friendly SeyVillas staff, our itinerary was soon finalised. Everyone went out of their way to accommodate our wishes.

Flying to the Seychelles – landing in a cyclist’s paradise

After an enjoyable flight from Munich via Dubai, we arrived on Mahé feeling slightly bleary-eyed. A member of the Creole team was there to meet us and took us to our transfer, as we were planning to reach La Digue that same day. We took the ferry to La Digue, with a brief stop in Praslin, and finally arrived at dusk after a long day of travelling. We received an exceptionally warm welcome at our accommodation, Cocotier Du Rocher Self Catering Apartments , and settled into our apartment. We immediately felt at home, both at the accommodation and on La Digue in general. The apartments are set in a kind of botanical garden, offering plenty of privacy and daily visits from a host of colourful birds. We explored the island by bicycle, hiked to various beaches and were delighted by the tranquillity and the small number of people we encountered on even the most beautiful dream beaches. Our wedding took place on the third day, organised through a specialist agency. Getting married in this place was the best decision we could have made! It was more beautiful than we could ever have imagined in our dreams.

Grand Anse, La Digue Still on a high, we spent the next few days visiting all sorts of beaches, joined a snorkelling excursion to Grande Soeur and Felicité, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere over curries and wedding cake. By the second day at the latest, the laid-back attitude of the Seychellois begins to rub off on you, and nothing can disturb your peace: the perfect conditions for a restful holiday. Unfortunately, as planned, we had to change accommodation after four nights on La Digue and moved to Le Surmer. In our opinion, it did not deserve many stars. Its most striking feature was the absence of staff. Even that did not dampen our spirits, though, as we were out and about most of the time anyway. One evening, we enjoyed the Sunset Dinner on Nid d'Aigle. An absolute highlight – both for the views and the food.

Nid d'Aigle, La DigueNid d’Aigle, La Digue

Relaxing in luxury

On Praslin, we checked into the stylish Acajou Beach Resort – our room was right beside Anse Volbert (Cote d'Or) , so we could practically tumble straight out of bed and into the sea. The service was extremely attentive, there was an extensive breakfast buffet and the reception staff were very helpful. We spent one day exploring the island by bicycle. It soon became clear why we had been given mountain bikes: the island is extremely hilly, and we were by far the only cyclists around. The route to Anse Lazio could hardly have been any steeper. One local’s description of it as ‘up and down’ was fairly accurate. In the end, however, we made it to the correct Anse Lazio and were proud of our achievement. Everyone else preferred to be driven there in a hire car.

We also visited the Font Ferdinand nature reserve, where you can see the Coco de Mer palm on a guided tour.

Font Ferdinand A journey on the local bus to Grand Anse was highly entertaining, although the journey itself was more enjoyable than the destination. True to the saying ‘the journey is the destination’, we promptly bounced our way back to our sleepy base at Anse Volbert (Cote d'Or), which, in contrast to Grand Anse, is positively buzzing. On our final day on Praslin, we took a catamaran tour. The excursion had originally been planned for the previous day, but it was quite literally washed out. Fortunately, we were able to change our plans at short notice and join the tour the following day. The tour took us via St. Pierre to Curieuse and Anse Georgette , with opportunities to snorkel in some places and hike in others. Along the way, we encountered all sorts of colourful fish and giant tortoises, and after a barbecue on the boat, we had the chance to plunge into the turquoise waters of Anse Georgette .

Anse Georgette ]A truly wonderful excursion. The real luxury of the Seychelles lies in how close you can get to nature. You can swim in the midst of a huge shoal of fish, lie on the softest white sand and watch fruit bats circling overhead.

Spotting fish while snorkelling Simply indescribably beautiful!

That evening, we took the final ferry to Mahé, where the third part of our adventure awaited us.

Cruisin’ Mahé

At the jetty, we collected the little white runaround that would accompany us over the next few days. Our first drive presented us with a few challenges: driving on the left, in the dark, on unfamiliar roads, without an accurate road map or directions to where we actually needed to go. Then there were the sheer drops looming on either side of the road. Nevertheless, we managed to reach our next accommodation without any major nervous breakdowns. The Hanemann Hanneman Holiday Residence provided us with a 135 m² penthouse apartment featuring three bathrooms, two bedrooms and an enormous kitchen.

We spent the remaining two days exploring the island by hire car. You can cruise around for hours, hopping from one beach to the next. A new and beautiful beach lies hidden beyond every hill.

Baie Lazare on MahéWe particularly liked how unspoilt the beaches still felt. Where there are hotels, they are usually well hidden among the greenery. As a result, you almost always feel as though you have the beach to yourself, and it is easy to imagine how the first settlers must have felt when they arrived in the Seychelles. We found Anse Royale in the west of the island particularly beautiful.

Anse Royale A reef lies just offshore here, making the sea very calm and shallow. It shimmers in the most magnificent colours, just like something from a travel brochure. If you are lucky, you may spot sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches in the south-east of Mahé. A drive along Sans Soucis Road is also highly recommended. The winding road leads uphill and downhill through dense, green, humid jungle. After a short walk around the capital, Victoria, we felt we had seen enough. We were more in the mood for nature and beaches.

We were absolutely delighted with our trip. It was organised with an excellent variety of experiences and was a wonderful way to get to know the islands.

At our accommodation on both La Digue and Praslin, members of the Creole team visited us to introduce themselves and provide information about the islands. Whenever it mattered, they were a great help, effortlessly rearranging our transfers, for example, when our itinerary changed because of the catamaran trip. We therefore felt well looked after at all times.

Every day since returning home, we have drawn on the memories of an unforgettable trip to an incredibly beautiful place, and we look forward to flying back soon. As the Seychellois say about the rain, ‘it will pass’; likewise, we know that a busy period at work will also pass, and that we can look forward to another wonderful holiday.