A Birthday Trip to Paradise

Praslin

Our journey to Praslin went smoothly overall, except that one suitcase did not make it onto the flight from Mahé to Praslin. However, it was delivered to our hotel – the Acajou Beach Resort – later that same day. The Acajou stands out for its location on a wonderful beach, its delicious evening meals, beautifully maintained grounds and very friendly staff.

We took a trip to Curieuse Island with Geoli Charters. The highlight was, of course, the tortoises, which we were able to stroke and even watch mating rather noisily. The trip ended with a delicious barbecue. Naturally, we also wanted to see the island’s other wonderful beaches. We thought Anse Georgette, reached via an approximately 20-minute walk through the golf course at the Lemuria Resort, was beautiful despite the strong currents. Extreme caution is needed when swimming. On the day we visited, an ambulance had to collect someone who had been injured in the powerful current. With a coconut and a sun lounger, it was a lovely place to linger and relax. Our hotel had made a reservation for us in advance, although nobody asked for our name at the resort entrance. I simply said that we had a reservation. We only visited Anse Lazio to take photos. It is a beautiful, large beach and was only moderately busy when we visited. In our view, a visit to the Vallée de Maii should definitely be included in your plans, ideally with a guide. Joseph explained a great deal to us and pointed out animals such as the black parrot and Seychelles tree frog, which we would probably have walked straight past without his trained eye. We were very impressed by the information about the coco de mer. Afterwards, we visited the Praslin Museum, which we would probably have skipped if we had not heard that you could see flying foxes up close there.

Despite its name, it is not a museum in the conventional sense, but rather a place with tortoises, flying foxes that we were allowed to feed, and a small farm. We would advise some caution when purchasing products there, as some were past their expiry date and others went mouldy while we were still on holiday. After a week on Praslin, we took the ferry to La Digue. We had heard many negative and rather frightening stories about the crossing, particularly regarding high waves and nausea, so we recommend taking travel sickness tablets. We had never taken, or even bought, travel sickness tablets before, but we were glad we had taken some.

La Digue

On La Digue, we stayed in self-catering accommodation with the lovely Jennita at Pension Hibiscus. Everything was easy to reach from there, and we were able to explore La Digue extensively by bicycle. All the daily pedalling in high temperatures helped us lose the weight we had gained while staying on half board in Praslin.

We visited Grand Anse several times, as well as Anse Cocos. The walk to Anse Cocos is well worth it, although it is not entirely easy. The small natural pool at the end is ideal for swimming and snorkelling. We had brought some oats with us and were able to attract parrotfish, among others. Underwater world We were constantly fascinated by the flying foxes circling overhead both during the day and at night. Of course, we could not miss Anse Source d'Argent. We actually thought some of the other beaches were more beautiful, but the rock formations are fascinating and a real feast for the eyes when viewed from the air by drone. Nature truly excelled itself here. We rounded off the evening at Bikini Bottom Bar, enjoying cocktails as the sun set. Other regular stops for us included Glorious Bakery and Rey & Josh Takeaway. However, we would not have needed an entire week on La Digue. After a week, and armed with travel sickness tablets, we headed to our final island.

Mahé

With all the tips we had received and our travel sickness tablets, the 1.5-hour ferry crossing was manageable. However, many other travellers felt unwell. On Mahé, we stayed at Au Fond de Mer View. The view of the sea was beautiful. Amusingly, a couple we had met on the shuttle in Praslin and then bumped into again at Anse Source d'Argent on La Digue were staying in the apartment directly next to ours.

We visited Port Glaud Waterfall, where an entrance fee is charged – apparently unofficially – but it is worth it. We also really enjoyed our visit to Le Jardin Du Roi Spice Garden. If you visit, we highly recommend eating at the restaurant. We made a brief stop at Anse Intendance to capture the beach with the drone. It is unsuitable for swimming because the current is very strong. We also visited Victoria and Eden Mall, and enjoyed the sunset at Beau Vallon on the way back. On a future holiday, we would probably choose a hotel on this beach. We also drove along Sans Soucis Road. We viewed Eden Island from La Misere Viewpoint and had a wonderful view of several other islands.

For the walk to the Rock Pool, we strongly recommend taking a guide or following the advice in the Google reviews. Unfortunately, it was the only attraction we had not researched beforehand. We were wearing unsuitable footwear, got lost and, in the end, my boyfriend broke his foot – fortunately, it happened towards the end of the holiday.

We visited Anse à la Mouche twice. It was also where we finally saw stingrays, which we had already been warned about on Praslin – water shoes are recommended. The sunset at Anse à la Mouche was also beautiful. Finally, we visited Grand Anse for a photo shoot and a drone flight. The beach was completely deserted. Some holidaymakers leave Mahé out of their itinerary, but we really enjoyed our time there. Apart from the broken foot and half a day of rain falling on my birthday of all days, we had a dream holiday, with mostly good weather, and felt extremely well looked after by both SeyVillas and Creole Travel Service. I have seen a great deal of the world and can say that, for me personally, the Seychelles are the most beautiful place in the world overall. We may well return. We were very happy with the length of our holiday and our visits to three islands plus Curieuse, although by the end of the trip we were also looking forward to going home again.