Island hopping with dream beaches

We spent 3 nights on La Digue at Pension Michel. It was a lovely property set in a beautifully landscaped garden. Our room had everything we needed, and we slept very well. The bathroom and walk-in shower were enormous. The air conditioning was essential in the heat, as was the mini fridge in the room. Our favourite feature, however, was the terrace. Every evening, we relaxed there on our sun loungers with a delicious beer, simply listening to the birds and the sounds around us. The location was perfect for us. The supermarket was only a 2-minute walk away, while the beach, restaurants and bars were no more than a 5–10-minute walk away. We had booked breakfast only, which was served each morning on the shared terrace.

We hired 2 bicycles for the full 3 days. We requested them at reception as soon as we arrived, and they were delivered to us within 30 minutes. It was wonderful cycling around the island. You could reach almost everywhere, and the terrain was mostly flat. We simply left our bicycles somewhere by the beach and collected them again later.

On the first day, we cycled to the north of the island and visited various beaches and bars. At the ‘Bikini Bottom’ bar, we even saw a giant tortoise lazing on the beach. On the second day, we cycled to Grand Anse and spent a wonderful day at the beach. The route follows a tarmac road, and there were one or two small hills to cycle up, but nothing too challenging, even for inexperienced cyclists. The effort was well worth it. The beach was an incredible turquoise colour, with enormous rocks and powdery white sand. It is definitely somewhere you will want to spend plenty of time.

On our final day, we cycled to the world-famous Anse Source d'Argent. You do have to pay an entrance fee to visit the beach, but it is well worth it. The scenery here was simply spectacular. The sea was as calm as a millpond. It shimmered turquoise, and the enormous rocks completed the picture. There are several stretches of beach between the rocks, so allow plenty of time to explore the rock formations and the different beaches. The sea was as warm as bathwater, and this was also a good place for snorkelling. Even without snorkelling, we saw lots of larger fish and even a ray.

Our island-hopping trip then continued to Praslin, where we spent 6 nights at L'Hirondelle by Anse Volbert (Cote d'Or). We were welcomed by Emilia, who speaks perfect German, and we were able to check into our sea-view apartment as early as 11:30 in the morning. The apartment had a fully equipped kitchen, so we could also prepare our own dinner from time to time. It was very spacious, and the balcony offered a lovely view of the sea. The bathroom was a good size and had a walk-in shower. To reach the beach, however, we had to cross a quiet road. Once again, we had booked breakfast only. It was prepared in our own kitchen and served on the balcony. The village was just a 2–3-minute walk away and had everything we needed. Praslin is a larger island, so exploring it by bicycle would have been difficult. We therefore asked the hotel to arrange a hire car for 2 days. The car was delivered to our accommodation in the morning and collected again in the evening.

One day, we drove to the south of the island towards Anse Georgette. You have to park the car outside a hotel and walk across the golf course to reach this dream beach. The hotel only allows a limited number of people to walk through its resort each day, so it is best to call and register the day before. The walk across the golf course is quite strenuous, with a fairly long, steep uphill section followed by a descent, but the reward is worth it. For us, this was the most beautiful beach we saw during our 13 days. Crystal-clear turquoise water, framed by beautiful large rocks on either side – pure paradise! I have seen many beautiful beaches around the world, but this one is definitely in my top 3. We spent almost the entire day here and had great fun, as some good waves kept rolling into the bay.

The following day, we drove around the island a little more in our hire car and stopped for a longer swim at Anse Lazio. There is a car park near the beach, although parking cost 100 Seychellois rupees. This beach was another dream, similar to Anse Georgette, but we personally preferred Anse Georgette because it was not quite as large and Anse Lazio was much busier. Even so, swimming here was great fun once again.

After visiting those 2 dream beaches, the next day we took a speedboat trip with a local excursion operator to the tortoise island of Curieuse Marine National Park. There, we had time to learn about the tortoises and take plenty of photographs with the island’s population of up to 200 free-roaming tortoises. We were also able to feed them. The tortoises were enormous, and some were up to 200 years old. They really are wonderful animals.

After taking all those photographs, we walked across the island with our guide, passing through unique natural scenery until we reached Anse Jose beach. We then had lunch with drinks and were able to swim in the beautiful sea. We spent our final 3 days on Praslin relaxing. We made the most of Anse Volbert beach, directly outside our accommodation, as well as our balcony. The beach was also beautiful, stretching for kilometres and virtually deserted. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate during those 3 days. It rained all day on one of them, while the other 2 brought a mixture of sunshine and frequent showers.

Now it was time for the final part of our island-hopping trip. We finished with 4 nights at Blue Lagoon. We had booked a penthouse with a private Jacuzzi. At 120 m², the penthouse was huge, and everything still seemed very new and modern. The bathroom was also absolutely enormous and had a walk-in shower. On the balcony, we had seating, 2 sun loungers and a Jacuzzi. I think the Jacuzzi could fit 6–7 people. It was a very modern place to stay with plenty of space, separated from Anse A La Mouche beach only by the road. The beach was a lovely, sheltered bay with hardly any waves, and I would estimate that the water was over 30°C. Once again, we had booked breakfast only. We could order it from Rachel via WhatsApp by the previous evening, and it was brought to our room at the agreed time the following morning. We really enjoyed it.

We hired a car through the accommodation again for one day. We drove around the beaches in the south of the island. There were some really, really beautiful beaches, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate that day either, and we had lots of showers. Still, we made the best of it. There was a huge difference between seeing the beaches in sunshine beneath blue skies and seeing them under dark clouds and rain. We visited Grand Anse, Port Launay North Beach, Anse Soleil, Baie Lazare and finally Anse Royale.

They were all wonderful beaches, but unfortunately the weather was poor.

We spent our final days relaxing in our Jacuzzi or at Anse à la Mouche. Fortunately, the weather improved a little towards the end, and we were able to enjoy a few more rays of sunshine.

We really, really enjoyed the holiday. It was a good balance between relaxing and exploring. We saw dreamlike beaches, lots of beautiful scenery and many wonderful animals. The 3 islands were perfect for us. Each island was different. La Digue was our favourite because exploring the island by bicycle was simply so relaxing. If we were to go island hopping again, we would spend more time on La Digue. However, Praslin had what we considered the most beautiful beaches: Anse Georgette and Anse Lazio.

As for the food, we only had breakfast included at all our accommodation. It was always delicious. There was usually toast, croissants, cake, eggs prepared in various ways and fresh fruit. In the evenings, we had a good mix of cooking for ourselves, eating at restaurants and getting food from takeaways. Eating at restaurants was rather expensive compared with the other 2 options, but it was always possible to choose something more affordable instead. We enjoyed the food everywhere we went.

We were a little disappointed with the weather at times. The first 4–5 days were beautifully sunny, with the occasional shower in the evening. Of course, we knew that February and March were in the rainy season, but we had expected a brief shower followed by sunshine again. Unfortunately, there were 4–5 days when the sun barely appeared, if at all. We would therefore choose a different time of year for our next trip.

All the accommodation was excellent. Each place was as different as the islands themselves. They were all very conveniently located for supermarkets, restaurants, takeaways and bars. ‘Blue Lagoon’ was, of course, unique because of the Jacuzzi and modern facilities, but we enjoyed the rustic charm of ‘Pension Michel’ just as much. And ‘L’Hirondelle’ naturally had the best location beside a dreamlike beach. I would particularly like to mention the local people: whether staff or people we met in the street, everyone was always very friendly, and we felt comfortable throughout our stay. Even at night, we could walk around the local area without any problems.

Finally, a word about the organisation by SeyVillas and the transfers. Everything was perfectly organised. The ferries we had been booked onto departed punctually and at convenient times that made sense. At the hotels, we were always informed via WhatsApp the day before what time the driver would collect us from the accommodation and take us to the ferry, and the driver was always early. At the airport and ferry terminals, a member of staff from Creole Travel Service was always waiting by the exit to show us the way to our driver. We never had to wait long and could set off straight away. It was also wonderful that we were always able to go directly to our room. So all we can say is: book with SeyVillas, and you will not have to worry about the organisation or planning.