Three islands and the water between.
Mahé’s mountain road, Praslin’s palm forest, the long boat day out to Curieuse and St Pierre. What each one costs, how much of the day it takes, and where to book it.
Seven that carry a Seychelles week.
These are the days people fly home talking about. The boat out to Curieuse and St Pierre, the lagoon at Sainte Anne, the road over the ridge to the south of Mahé. Everything else fits around them.
Curieuse Guided Tour, St Pierre, BBQ & 2 Snorkel Stops
Full-day Praslin to Curieuse cruise with 2 snorkel stops, giant tortoises, Creole BBQ, drinks, and a guided island nature trail.
From $112 per person
Read the review →
★ 4.6Books out fastPraslin: Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with BarbecueFrom $88572 reviews
★ 4.7Crowd favouriteCurieuse and St. Pierre Islands Day Trip with BBQ LunchFrom $85487 reviews
★ 4.6Good for day oneMahe: St.Anne Marine National Park Reef Safari with LunchFrom $148294 reviews
★ 4.5Leaves before the heatBeautiful island tour 5-6 hours | Mahé, Seychelles | Private TourFrom $150205 reviews
★ 4.4Small boat, few peopleEden Island: Semi-Submarine Tour in St. Anne Marine ParkFrom $64164 reviews
★ 4.4Good in any seasonMahé: Private Customizable Full-Day Tour with Hotel PickupFrom $294158 reviews
The boat leaves Praslin at nine.
Curieuse first, where the giant tortoises walk up to you and the boardwalk crosses the mangroves. Then St Pierre, a fist of granite and palms with the best snorkelling on the itinerary. Barbecue on the sand in between, back on the jetty by four. If you book one thing in Seychelles, book this.
Which island is your week?
Almost every Seychelles trip is decided by this one question, because the ferry timetable shapes everything after it. Three islands, three completely different weeks. Pick the one that sounds like yours and the tours behind it are already priced.
Where the plane lands
Mahé, and drive it
4 - 8 hours · from $162 · 87 reviews
The airport is here, so are most of the hotels, and so is the only real road network in the country. A car or a driver gets you over the Sans Souci ridge to Port Launay, down the east coast to Anse Royale and round to Intendance for the sunset. Busiest island, and the one that needs the fewest boats.
See the Mahé tours →
Slow and green
Praslin, and walk the forest
7h 30m · from $76 · 315 reviews
Forty-five minutes across on the Cat Cocos and the pace drops immediately. Mornings in the Vallée de Mai under the coco de mer, afternoons on Anse Lazio, boats out to Curieuse whenever you feel like it. Fewer roads, fewer people, and the best base for the island-hopping days.
See the Praslin tours →
Bikes and ox carts
La Digue, by ferry
from $86 · 38 reviews
Fifteen minutes from Praslin on the Cat Rose, and almost nothing on the island has an engine. You hire a bicycle at the jetty and ride to Anse Source d’Argent, where the granite boulders sit in water a metre deep. Doable in a day, better as three.
See the ferry crossings →
The fire is lit on the sand.
Late afternoon on a beach with no restaurant, no road and no signal. Job fish and red snapper over coals, breadfruit chips, lentils, a bowl of chilli nobody warns you about. The sun goes down fast this close to the equator, so the light you see it in lasts about twenty minutes.
The reef starts at your ankles.
Green turtles grazing in the shallows at Baie Ternay. The granite wall at St Pierre dropping into blue. Sergeant majors at Sainte Anne that follow the boat because someone always brings bread. Water sits around 27 degrees all year.
Every trail ends at a view.
Morne Blanc climbs 400 metres in under an hour and puts the whole west coast below you. Anse Major finishes at a beach the road never reached. Copolia ends on a bare granite dome with pitcher plants growing out of the cracks. Start early; the granite holds heat.
Praslin keeps the strangest palm on earth.
The coco de mer grows nowhere else, takes seven years to ripen a single nut, and drops the heaviest seed in the plant kingdom. The Vallée de Mai is the last forest of them, and it is quiet enough to hear the black parrots. An hour inside, then twenty minutes down the hill to Anse Lazio.
Pick the island, then the days.
Nothing here is more than an hour from anything else, but the boat still has to sail. Mahé for the mountain road and the market. Praslin for the forest and Anse Lazio. La Digue for a bicycle and no traffic. Sainte Anne for the lagoon before lunch.
Boat, road or footpath?
Twelve ways to fill a day between the islands. Some of them get you wet by ten, some keep you on a boat until four, and one is just a bicycle and a beach.
Mahé, the lagoon, then Praslin.
Most flights land in the evening, most ferries sail in the morning, and the reef is best before the afternoon wind. Sequence the week around those three facts and it falls into place.
Day 1
Drive the length of Mahé
Over the Sans Souci road while the jet lag is still useful, down to Anse Intendance for the swell, back through Victoria for the market before it shuts at noon.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Into the lagoon
Twenty minutes out of Victoria to Sainte Anne. Glass-bottom boat over the coral, an hour snorkelling off Cerf, lunch on Moyenne with the tortoises. Back on land by four.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Cross to Praslin, then keep going
First Cat Cocos of the morning, straight onto a boat for Curieuse and St Pierre. Barbecue on the sand, snorkel stop after. Stay the night rather than racing the last ferry back.
Plan day three →
Latest Seychelles tour reviews.
★ 4.0Seychelles Full Day Tour Of Mahe Island inc Lunch and Entrance FeesFrom $1284 reviews
★ 4.5Private Transfer from PRASLIN Ferry TerminalFrom $464 reviews
★ 5.0Exclusive night tour | Bar & Club, Casino | Mahe, Seychelles | 4hFrom $1154 reviews
★ 3.7Mahe Island Private Boat Rental ~ Captain Your Own AdventureFrom $4244 reviews
★ 4.7From Mahé: Seychelles Sunset Cruise with Hotel TransfersFrom $1174 reviews
★ 4.0Cousin Curieuse and St Pierre & BBQ LunchFrom $1554 reviews
★ 4.0Half Day Discovery Tour of Victoria – Seychelles Capital on Mahe IslandFrom $2115 reviews
★ 5.0Beach hopping Tour on Mahe SeychellesFrom $875 reviews