Granite islands and a green one
Seychelles & Mauritius
The Seychelles for the beaches, which are the most beautiful anywhere, and for private islands; Mauritius for the hotels, the golf and a real country behind the beach.
Indian Ocean, Seychelles and Mauritius
The Seychelles are granite rather than coral, which is why the beaches look the way they do: boulders the colour of bread, sand like flour, water from turquoise to ink in ten metres. The inner islands, Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, are where the hotels are; the private islands, North, Frégate, Denis, are where a family takes the whole thing.
Mauritius is a different country: a green volcanic island with sugar cane, a proper capital, Creole and Indian kitchens, and along the north and east coasts a row of hotels that have set the standard for the Indian Ocean for forty years. The golf is the best in the region.
A charter between the Seychelles islands is one of the great sailing weeks, especially in April and May when the wind drops and the sea goes flat.
Best months
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air °C | 27 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Sea °C | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 |
Worth knowing
What we arrange
Seychelles, day by day
The experiences the desk actually books here, tagged by what they are for. The itinerary builder turns them into a plan.
Anse Source d’Argent
The most photographed beach in the world, on La Digue, at eight in the morning before the bicycles arrive.
seaVallée de Mai
The palm forest on Praslin with a guide, the coco de mer, the black parrots, two hours in the shade.
culturePrivate island for the day
A boat to an island with nobody on it, a picnic, the reef, back before dark.
seaCreole dinner in the hills
A family kitchen above Mahé, octopus curry and breadfruit, the whole bay lit below.
diningGolf at Le Touessrok or Anahita
The island course by boat or the championship course on the east coast of Mauritius, tee at seven.
activeLe Morne and the south of Mauritius
The mountain, the seven-coloured earth, lunch at a planter’s house, a driver.
cultureKitesurfing at Le Morne
The best kite lagoon in the Indian Ocean, an instructor, a morning.
activeSpa afternoon on the beach
A pavilion on the sand, a treatment, the sea two metres away.
wellnessGiant tortoises with the children
Curieuse island with its free-roaming tortoises, a barbecue on the beach, a boat back.
familySundowner sail
A catamaran out of Grand Baie at five, the sun going into the sea, dinner on the beach after.
diningThe calendar
By the numbers
Seychelles
A week in Seychelles, planned to the hour.
A first answer within the hour, a full proposal within 48 hours.
The Sunday note
One short letter a week, on a Sunday
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