Rupert Murray joins agents on a fam trip to the beautiful Seychelles
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“There’s the sea, there are the mountains.” These were our guides’ first words as we pulled out of the airport and headed across the Seychelles’ main island, Mahe.
I could tell the agents accompanying me were expecting to see the sea on their right. But the mountains on the left took a couple of them by surprise. “I expected another version of the Maldives or Mauritius,” said Amanda Matthews of Designer Travel.
“How wrong could I be? It was more like Saint Lucia with dramatic green landscapes.”
This misapprehension isn’t uncommon – it’s easy for the Seychelles to be mis sold. With its crescents of white sand and turquoise sea, the destination gets lumped in with Mauritius and the Maldives, all under a big label reading Indian Ocean. But though all these destinations are very lovely, they aren’t all the same.
In the Seychelles, beauty is far more than beach-deep. These islands are some of the oldest on the planet, and are the only mid oceanic granitic islands on Earth. All grand claims, but what it really means is that behind the powder-soft sands you’ll find dramatic rocky outcrops, tropical palm forests and endemic species from giant tortoises to coconuts.None of the agents who visited with me – on a fam trip organised by the Seychelles Tourist Office in association with Travel Weekly – were really prepared for the destination’s pure, drop-dead gorgeousness.
Even Stylish Resorts’ Andrew Fenwick, who had done some serious homework, was taken aback: “As much as I had read about the Seychelles, I was not prepared for the ultimate beauty of the lush green mountains on Mahe.”
Mahe
Mahe is the biggest of the Seychelles islands, home to the international airport and the tiny capital, Victoria. In fact, the two are so close that exploring Victoria before or after an internal flight makes sense. Most visitors to the Seychelles visit more than one island so the airport becomes a regular spot.
A tour of Victoria comes highly recommended by Honeymoon Dreams’ Teagan Mason, who says: “The daily market is a great place to pick up souvenirs and watch the locals shopping for fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.”
Our home on Mahe was Constance Ephelia, one of the larger properties in the islands, with 259 suites and villas. It’s big, buzzy and rammed with facilities. It would be harsh to say it’s not refined because there’s clearly a lot of care taken with rooms and public areas. But it’s not precious. It’s a hotel that’s as ready to be used boisterously by an active family as it is for couples intending on doing almost nothing.
There are five restaurants and bars covering a range of international cuisine, with particular focus on Chinese, Mediterranean and French.
The buffet changes theme each night, which pleased self-confessed fussy eater Linsay Blain from If Only. She says: “There’s something to suit all but the quality is very high. Even in Corossol, the buffet restaurant, the quality is excellent with lots of live cooking stations.”
Being a big hotel has other perks with a good range of room types, including junior and senior suites, and four categories of villa.
Teagan Mason was impressed by the spacious rooms.
“The upgrade from Junior Suite to Senior Suite is definitely worth it for the extra living space and large balcony,” she says. “I especially loved the Spa Villa with its own sauna built in. It would be perfect for honeymooners.”
Outside the rooms are two of the best beaches on the island, a fully equipped gym, spa, yoga pavilion, four pools, tennis and squash courts, a climbing wall, zip wire, catamaran, windsurfing, pedalos and kayaks. It is also possible to arrange deep-sea fishing and scuba diving as well as island-hopping excursions.
It’s not all about action here. The spa is the biggest in the Indian Ocean and, like those at all Constance Hotels, it has recently been rebranded as a U Spa. With treatments from Balinese and Ayurvedic to Thai-Shiatsu and Swedish massage, the focus is now on a personalised service taking into account guests’ health, diet, fitness levels and skincare regime.
Guests are encouraged to get out of the hotel and explore, so our group followed suit and dined at two local restaurants.Chez Batista’s beachside location and Creole cuisine was so good that the restaurant, which is a half-hour drive from Constance Ephelia, made it on to Nichola Luke of Holidaysplease’s top 5 tips for clients visiting the Seychelles.
The second restaurant, Marie Antoinette, five minutes from the capital Victoria was a highlight for Amanda Matthews. “With a set menu of yummy local dishes, a full buzzing restaurant and giant tortoises to keep you entertained, this restaurant stood out,” she says. 
Desroches
One of the handful of island resorts in the Seychelles, Desroches is a 35-minute small-plane flight away. (Recommend clients sit on the right on the way there and the left on the way back for the best views).
The island is surrounded by nine miles of practically untouched sand, with a comparatively small resort hidden among the trees. The rooms, villas and retreats are spread out and have a secluded feel. We stayed in four-bed villas with pools and direct beach access, but there are Beach Suites and Luxury Beach Suites for couples who don’t need three, four or even five bedrooms.
Everyone gets their own bike (trucks with drivers are available too) because of the distance to the restaurant, main pool, diving centre and tennis courts. They’re also handy for exploring this unmanicured island and finding deserted picnic spots and patches of entirely private beach. Diving and game fishing are big here, but the total seclusion is the key selling point.
Guests can easily see nobody at all except when they hit the restaurant, or even become complete hermits and eat in the villa.Kuoni’s Adele Jones adds: “If you want good food and quality time where nothing else matters apart from each other, Desroches is for you.”
Praslin
Seychelles’ second-largest island can be reached in 15 minutes by air or about an hour by boat. It’s worth noting that while the boat ride is a beautiful one it can be choppy in August and September.
Constance Lemuria snapped up the best bit of real estate in Praslin when it opened in 1999, and has a truly outstanding beach and the only golf course in the Seychelles. It feels more serene and is much smaller than its sister property in Mahe, with 88 Junior Suites, eight Senior Suites and eight Villas. Rooms are due to be refurbished next year.
Amanda Matthews loved the central areas that made her feel like she was “in the set of a Jurassic Park movie”. The main bar and reception are open to the elements and surrounded by wild greenery that could easily hide a velociraptor or two.
We ate an upmarket barbecue of beef and fish on the beach by candlelight one evening and at the more refined Seahorse the second night before a drink at the Beach Bar, which offers probably the second-best view in the hotel. The best is from the 15th tee of the golf course – recommend clients don’t miss the sunset cocktails that are served there.
Praslin is the best place to get up close and personal with the famous coco de mer, the sexy symbol of the Seychelles whose bottom-shaped outline is also the Seychelles’ passport stamp.
These sea coconuts are endemic to the Seychelles so clients won’t find them anywhere else. To get a true understanding of the ‘love nut’, we headed to Vallee de Mai for a guided tour and a good look at the male and female coco de mer.
And no trip to Praslin is complete without getting on a boat and leaving Praslin for a day on La Digue, the sleepy, car-free island that is home to the famous Anse Source d’Argent beach.
Yes, yes, I know I said that the Seychelles is about more than just beaches, but this really is a stunner, regularly making it into lists of the top 10 beaches in the world.
It also possesses all of the elements so signature to the Seychelles – a long stretch of soft sand backed by dramatic granite boulders, an undeveloped hinterland of palm trees and, on the way from the road, a colony of giant tortoises.
New Opening
Eden Bleu Hotel, the Seychelles’ newest property – it opened on November 1 – is a little different from most of the hotels in the destination.
Set on Eden Island, just off 200 metres off Mahe and three miles from both the airport and Victoria, the 87-room hotel has direct access to the marina, so would suit clients with a yacht charter, or those who want to overnight in Mahe before flying onwards.
There’s a restaurant, bar and infinity pool, and in addition to the hotel’s facilities, Eden Island has a range of entertainment and dining outlets, including a casino. edenbleu.com
