Three Dream Islands and a Dream Wedding

As keen travellers, we had long known that we would visit the Seychelles one day. However, in recent years, the room rates at the resorts had repeatedly put us off. More or less by chance, we heard about affordable self-catering accommodation and easy travel around the Seychelles in a report on the WDR programme ‘Wunderschön’, and naturally we started planning straight away. The search for information began. We found our first accommodation via Booking.com and then happened upon the SeyVillas website. One look at the site, and in no time at all we had found all the important information we needed in advance. We knew straight away: ‘They know what they’re doing; let’s ask them for a quote.’ Of course, we wanted to see as much as possible and also fulfil our dream of getting married on the beach.

Accommodation on La Digue, Praslin and Mahé, transfers, ferries, a domestic flight, planning our wedding… Would it all work out? We were sceptical. We had already had too many negative experiences on our travels. But our worries were unfounded.

La Digue

Our first destination was La Digue. After a long flight via Dubai, we received a warm welcome from the staff of the local agency, Creole, and were taken straight to the harbour. After waiting for more than two hours, we took the ferry to Praslin, then changed once more for the ferry to La Digue. We received a warm welcome at the Veronic Self Catering Guest House, set in a small tropical garden. The owner brought us fresh fruit every day and decorated our room with flowers. On our very first day, she arranged bicycles for us, which were delivered directly to the accommodation.

The next morning, we set off to explore the island. We had read about the ‘most beautiful cycle route in the world’ in our guidebook, and that was definitely no exaggeration. First, we headed north, passing wonderful beaches such as Anse Severe and Anse Patates, as well as small beach bars, all surrounded by magnificent tropical vegetation. With so much to marvel at, we had to be careful not to run over the free-roaming tortoises:

Cycling on La Digue Over the next few days, we continued beach-hopping. It really did look just like the pictures in a brochure. We headed south to Grand Anse and Petite Anse, and on the way back visited the beach of all beaches – Anse Source d'Argent. We had worried that the beaches would be overcrowded, but were pleasantly surprised by how quiet they actually were.

Anse Source d'Argent We did have to put up with the occasional rain shower, and naturally there was always the worry at the back of our minds that it might rain on our wedding day too. But we were lucky. At exactly 07:30, the hairdresser arrived at our door, and at 10:00 our wedding planner drove us to Anse Source d'Argent . In a fairly secluded spot behind the huge granite rocks, beneath palm trees and right on the beach, we had a beautiful wedding.

On our final day on La Digue, we hiked to Snack Bellevue. The strenuous climb – we pushed our bicycles – was rewarded with a fantastic view:

Praslin

On the sixth day, we took the ferry to Praslin. Once again, our welcome and transfer with Creole went smoothly. We were almost the only guests at our accommodation, Cote D'Or Chalets; in fact, there were relatively few tourists on the islands in general. We had a large, modern room on the first floor, which was cleaned and decorated with flowers every day. Not bad at all for self-catering accommodation.

Wonderful room décor in the Cote D'Or chalets We had booked our hire car from Germany, and it was delivered to our accommodation at exactly 09:00. Very convenient indeed. When looking for something to eat, we repeatedly had to rely on the small local shops. That was fine, but after a while there were limits to how creative we could be with our cooking. Still, it was no great hardship, as we tried a few takeaways. Some were really good, while others were rather bland. Nothing we ate in the restaurants particularly impressed us either. Our highlights on Praslin included Vallée de Mai, where we were lucky enough to spot a rare bronze gecko on a Coco de Mer palm.

Vallée de Mai Anse Lazio was another dream beach, as was Anse Georgette. It was well worth registering with the resort – our local representative took care of that for us – and walking across the golf course for 30 minutes early in the morning to enjoy this dream beach almost entirely to ourselves in places.

Mahé

After five days on Praslin, we flew to Mahé with Air Seychelles. Once again, our pick-up, transfer and assistance with check-in were perfectly organised and seamless.

Air Seychelles Our accommodation, Le Domaine de Bacova, very close to the beautiful Anse Royale, was again very spacious and clean, with a wonderful sea view. Only its proximity to the road and the resulting noise detracted slightly from the overall experience. We also had a hire car on Mahé, which was delivered directly to our accommodation. On the first day, we explored the capital, Victoria, visited the Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke Market and the Seychelles National Botanical Gardens, and made detours to Eden Island and the Tea Factory.

Sir Selwyn Selwyn Clarke Market Tea Factory Our highlight was an organised tour of Sainte Anne Marine National Park. In perfect sunshine, we simply enjoyed snorkelling, a delicious barbecue and the view across the turquoise water. It was a shame that so many of the corals had died.

BBQ on Cerf Moyenne Island We had actually planned to spend our final few days simply beach-hopping and relaxing, but the changeable weather made that rather difficult. ‘Into the car – out of the car – find shelter’, and so on. On the plus side, we really did have the beaches to ourselves!

Anse Intendance We rounded off our final day at Beau Vallon .

Beau Vallon Looking back, La Digue was our favourite. We found everything that makes the Seychelles so special there, but Praslin and Mahé were definitely the perfect additions.