An Active Holiday in Paradise

To feel like the woman in the Raffaelo advert just once... That was my dream, and of course my dear husband had to come along. For that, a woman is happy to overcome her unease about boarding a plane. If you are going to do it, you may as well do it properly. We planned 13 days in the Seychelles, combining Praslin, La Digue and Mahé. With the help of SeyVillas’ excellent Island Hopping Configurator, booking was a breeze.

After months of anticipation, the day finally arrived. Once we had landed on Mahé, we continued to Praslin in a small propeller plane – an adventure in itself. We are not really campers, but we are not all-inclusive fans either. So our accommodation, The Old School Self Catering in ‘Baie St. Anne’, was perfect for us! We mainly explored Praslin by bus, which was a bargain at the equivalent of 50 cents per person per journey.

It also gave us an authentic glimpse of island life. The first beach we visited in the Seychelles was Anse Volbert (Cote d'Or). It took our breath away. We asked Sagittarius Taxi Boat Excursions about excursion options and booked a tour to Curieuse Island for the following day for €45 per person.

Hike on Curieuse There, we encountered the wonderful and impressive Seychelles giant tortoises and hiked to Anse Badamier (an incredibly beautiful, wild and secluded bay). We then continued through the mangrove forest to another beach, where we were collected again after a 3-hour stay. Our 7th wedding anniversary was perfect!

Anse Volbert, Praslin Tortoise, Curieuse The next day, we took the bus to Vallée de Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but before visiting it, we first tackled the lesser-known ‘Glacis Noir’ trail. We did not see another soul, worked up quite a sweat (ALWAYS bring enough water!) and were rewarded with a beautiful view of Baie St. Anne. At Vallée de Mai, we joined a guided walk (free of charge!), which gave us plenty of fascinating background information about the coco de mer and the local birdlife. On another day, we hired a car and went on a mini road trip around the island, ending with sunset at Grand Anse.

Anse Cocos, La Digue Next stop: La Digue. Our accommodation, Tannette's Villa, was small but lovely. The breakfast was excellent, and the dinner available by prior arrangement was even better and reasonably priced. The many takeaways were cheaper still and also delicious, so we hardly had the chance to cook for ourselves. La Digue has beautiful beaches and a special atmosphere thanks to all the cyclists. Our local beaches there were Anse Severe and Anse Patates. They were good for snorkelling at high tide, but not ideal for a proper swim because the water was very shallow.

Anse Source d'Argent, La Digue We witnessed a wedding on the beach, followed by 1.5 days of fairly heavy rain. So we used the time to shop for souvenirs in the little village of ‘La Passe’ and write postcards. A short cycle ride to ‘Grande Anse’ on the eastern side of the island was still manageable with a raincoat.

We visited the Veuve Reserve to see the rare flycatcher birds. Unfortunately, they hid themselves well in the rain. That made us all the more delighted when we later spotted this lovely species during our hike from Grand Anse, Petite Anse & Anse Cocos. All three bays were stunningly beautiful, but we were especially taken with Anse Cocos. There was a small natural pool where we could swim, and it looked like an aquarium beneath the water.

Petit Anse, Mahé The weather cleared the next day, and we visited Anse Source d'Argent. This beach was a little busier than the others, but we still found a shady spot. While snorkelling there, a ray came very close to me, and we noticed that the bay was at its most beautiful at low tide.

Use it or lose it. Following that motto, we continued by ferry to the main island of Mahé. We had booked La Résidence in the west of the island and were surprised with an upgrade from an apartment to a larger villa. Every morning, we enjoyed the wonderful view over Anse à la Mouche bay.

On our first day, we drove our hire car to the gorgeous Petite Anse. To reach it, we had to cross the grounds of the Four Seasons resort, which we were kindly allowed to do. We enjoyed a perfect day at the beach – soaking up the sun, splashing about and snorkelling. There is a wonderful reef restoration project there run by the organisation ‘WiseOceans’.

7556 The highlight of our second day was the Copolia Lodge Trail . It was a beautiful, strenuous hike that climbed high up to a rocky outcrop. Once we reached the top, we enjoyed breathtaking views over the capital, Victoria, the man-made island of Eden Island and the islands lying just offshore. We were particularly impressed by the endemic carnivorous pitcher plants.

Copolia Trail, Mahé On our final day, the sky was overcast, so we decided on another hike, this time along the north coast to Anse Major. The trail led us to this lovely little bay, where we relaxed, swam and snorkelled. The sand there was slightly coarser than at the other beaches, which made the visibility underwater excellent, and we saw lots of colourful fish. We rounded off the day at the well-known Beau Vallon. There, at the end of our trip, we were treated to a breathtaking sunset.

Beau Vallon, Mahé We are still filled with wonderful memories of this holiday and would warmly recommend such a trip. Knowing that we had a specialist provider like SeyVillas supporting us behind the scenes gave us the freedom to relax and enjoy our time without any worries.

Our heartfelt thanks to the team! We can also highly recommend Simone Schwerdtner’s ‘Inselguide Seychellen’ – without it, we would probably have seen far less of the islands.