The Seychelles, one boat day at a time.
Which Curieuse trip stops long enough to snorkel. What the Vallée de Mai costs with a guide. Whether the ferry or the plane makes more sense. Every tour in the Seychelles, reviewed.
In the Seychelles, the good days all start at a jetty.
Granite islands, one sheltered reef and a forest full of coco de mer. These are the trips the whole week gets planned around, and the best way to book each one.
Curieuse and St Pierre: the day Praslin is built around.
All Curieuse trips →
One boat, three stops: an hour among free-roaming giant tortoises on Curieuse, a Creole barbecue under the takamaka trees, and the snorkel drop at St Pierre, where the granite goes straight down into fish.
Curieuse, the barbecue and St Pierre
The complete version. Tortoise reserve in the morning, lunch grilled on the beach, then enough time in the water at St Pierre to see why people talk about it.
See all 17 →
The Creole barbecue on the sand
Grilled fish, lentils, breadfruit and a table under the trees. On the trips that cook ashore it is the part people describe first when they get home.
See all 10 →
Half a day, snorkelling only
Skip the tortoises and the barbecue and go straight to the water. The right call if you are already sunburnt, travelling with small children, or leaving on the afternoon ferry.
See all 37 →What everyone books once they land on Mahé.
Every Seychelles review →The trips more travellers take than anything else in the Seychelles, and what each one gives you for the money.
1
Praslin: Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with Lunch
Review of Praslin’s Curieuse and St. Pierre boat trip, with snorkeling, giant tortoises, mangrove hiking, BBQ lunch, and practical tips.
From · $93
Read our review →2
Curieuse Guided Tour, St Pierre, BBQ & 2 Snorkel Stops
from $112
3
St. Anne Marine Park, Moyenne & Cerf Island Tour with Lunch
from $92
4
Mahé: Customizable Private Tour of Island with Driver
from $199
5
Praslin: Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with Barbecue
from $88
6
Curieuse and St. Pierre Islands Day Trip with BBQ Lunch
from $85
7
Mahé: Saint-Anne Marine Park and Moyenne Island Cruise
from $166
8
Praslin: Curieuse & St-Pierre Boat Adventure with Snorkeling
from $56
Mahé is the island you land on and the one you underestimate.
Most itineraries treat Mahé as an airport with beaches attached. It holds the mountain trails, the capital, the tea plantation, a marine park on its doorstep and the only real road network in the country.
Praslin keeps the forest the coco de mer grows in.
The second island is quieter, slower and greener. The Vallée de Mai sits in the middle of it, Anse Lazio is twenty minutes from the ferry, and the boat trips worth taking leave from its north coast.
Three things the Seychelles has that no other coastline does.
Palm-fringed sand turns up all over the tropics. A nut that weighs twenty kilos, a tortoise older than the roads, and a marine park ten minutes from the capital do not.
The Coco de Mer
The largest seed on earth grows wild in one valley on one island, and the palms that carry it take decades to fruit. The Vallée de Mai is a UNESCO site for that reason, and it is a genuine forest walk rather than a viewpoint: an hour or two under a canopy that was never cleared, with black parrots overhead.
- 1Praslin: Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 315 reviews
- 2Praslin:Private Tour ValleDeMai,CoteD’orMuseum & AnseLazio★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 54 reviews
- 3Vallée de Mai Tour (From Praslin)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 38 reviews
The Giant Tortoises
Curieuse carries a free-roaming population of Aldabra giant tortoises. They are not fenced and they are not shy, and the walk crosses the island on a boardwalk through mangrove. It was a leper colony before it was a reserve, and the old doctor’s house still stands at the far end.
- 1Praslin: Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,352 reviews
- 2Curieuse Guided Tour, St Pierre, BBQ & 2 Snorkel Stops★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 983 reviews
- 3Praslin: Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with Barbecue★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 572 reviews
The Marine Park
Six islands sit inside a protected reef ten minutes off the capital, which means calm water and a short crossing even when the trades are up. Glass-bottom boats and semi-submarines work the same patch, so a family that will not put a mask on still sees the reef.
- 1St. Anne Marine Park, Moyenne & Cerf Island Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 862 reviews
- 2Mahé: Saint-Anne Marine Park and Moyenne Island Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 475 reviews
- 3Eden Island: Semi-Submarine Tour in St. Anne Marine Park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 164 reviews
From a five-dollar factory tour to a boat of your own off Praslin.
Every tour on the site sorted by what it actually costs. The Seychelles has a reputation for being expensive, and the boat days are where the money goes.
Short crossings, entry tickets and the odd factory visit. Not much sits down here, and what does is worth knowing about.
The working range: shared boat days with lunch, guided island tours, the Vallée de Mai with a driver.
Private boats, a car and driver for the whole day, and the small-group trips that cap numbers on purpose.
In the Seychelles, the sailings decide the itinerary.
Very little here runs on demand. The islands are joined by a handful of daily crossings, and the big boat trips leave once, in the morning. Settle these before anything else goes in the calendar.
- 01Cat Cocos: Mahé to Praslin Island Fast FerryThe fast ferry runs a fixed timetable, not a shuttle. Which crossing you hold decides which days you can be on Praslin at all.
- 02Praslin: Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with LunchA seven-hour boat day that leaves in the morning and comes back late in the afternoon. It has to own a whole day of the trip.
- 03Praslin: Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day TourThe forest and Anse Lazio both sit on Praslin, so this pairs with a ferry day rather than slotting into a spare afternoon.
- 04Cat Rose: Praslin Island / La Digue Island Fast FerryLa Digue has no airport and almost no cars. The whole day is set by the boat you catch out and the one you catch back.
In the Seychelles, the wind decides which coast you swim off.
The southeast trades blow from May to September and push chop and seaweed onto the east-facing bays; the northwest monsoon turns it around from December to March. Locals move to the other side of the island rather than cancel. Inside the reef at St Anne stays workable through both, and the forest walks do not care at all.
By island — and the water in between
Mahé91 tours
Praslin37 tours
La Digue4 tours- St Anne Marine Park8 tours
- Curieuse & St Pierre17 tours
The ferry crossings7 tours- Every tour in the Seychelles →
Mahé, Praslin, La Digue: the week most people actually do.
Vallée de MaiThe newest reviews from Mahé and Praslin.
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