Seychelles, one boat day at a time.
Which Sainte Anne cruise really stops to snorkel. Whether Curieuse is worth the crossing from Praslin. What a private island day costs. Every tour in Seychelles, reviewed.
Reef, granite and palm forest: how a Seychelles week fills up.
Sainte Anne by boat, Curieuse for the tortoises, Vallée de Mai for the coco de mer, and a mountain trail for the day the beach has had enough of you.
The boat days everyone in Seychelles ends up on.
Every review →Curieuse, St Pierre, Sainte Anne, Moyenne. The trips more travellers take than anything else here, and what makes each one worth its day.
1
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, and a Creole BBQ lunch.
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
Customizable Private Tour of Island with Driver
from $199
5
Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with Barbecue
from $88
6
Curieuse and St. Pierre Islands Day Trip with BBQ Lunch
from $85
7
Saint-Anne Marine Park and Moyenne Island Cruise
from $166
8
Curieuse & St-Pierre Boat Adventure with Snorkeling
from $56
One boat day, three completely different Seychelles.
All 17 island-hopping cruises →
Sainte Anne sits twenty minutes off Victoria; Curieuse and St Pierre are an hour out of Praslin. These three carry the most travellers, and the full list splits the rest by where you sail from and what is included.
Sainte Anne, Moyenne and Cerf in a day
Twenty minutes out of Victoria the water turns from navy to glass. Glass-bottom stops over the coral, a swim off Moyenne, Creole lunch under the takamaka trees.
Curieuse, St Pierre and the tortoises
Out of Praslin mid-morning: an hour among free-roaming Aldabra giants on Curieuse, barbecue on the sand, then the coral tower at St Pierre while the light is still high.
Reef stops, turtles, nothing else
Half a day of nothing but water: Baie Ternay, Port Launay, the shallow gardens off Sainte Anne, where hawksbill turtles graze close enough to count the shell plates.
Mahé is more than the airport you land at.
The main island keeps the mountains, the market, the road over Sans Souci and half the country’s best beaches. Most visitors give it one night on the way through. Give it three.
Praslin: the palm forest, and the beach behind it.
An hour by ferry and the pace drops. Vallée de Mai holds the last wild coco de mer palms; Anse Lazio is twenty minutes further on, and the boats to Curieuse leave from the jetty in between.
The coco de mer, the giant tortoises, the granite.
Reef and white sand you can find right across the Indian Ocean. A palm that grows the largest seed on earth, tortoises that outlive their keepers, and mid-ocean mountains made of granite belong to Seychelles alone.
The Coco de Mer
The coco de mer palm grows wild in exactly two places on earth, both of them here: Vallée de Mai on Praslin and a smaller stand on Curieuse. Its seed is the heaviest of any plant, the male catkin runs to a metre, and General Gordon decided on the strength of it that the valley was the Garden of Eden. The forest is UNESCO-listed and stays cool under the canopy even at midday.
- 1Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 315 reviews
- 2Vallee de Mai Tour (From Praslin)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 38 reviews
- 3Coco de Mer Collection FREE Factory Tour & Shop★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 26 reviews
The Aldabra Giants
Aldabra giant tortoises are the second-largest tortoise on earth and Seychelles holds almost the whole wild population. On Curieuse they walk loose across the beach and the mangrove boardwalk, unfenced and entirely unbothered, some of them well past a century old. The boats from Praslin land on the sand and the tortoises are usually the welcome party.
- 1Curieuse & 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
- 3Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with Barbecue★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 572 reviews
The Inner Islands
Almost every island this far out to sea is coral or volcano. The inner Seychelles are granite, a splinter of continent left over when Gondwana broke up, which is why Mahé carries a 900-metre ridge and why the beaches have boulders the size of houses on them. The trails through Morne Seychellois climb into cloud forest that grows nowhere else.
- 1Rock Pool, dreamlike & unique experience | Mahé | Private hike |★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 67 reviews
- 2Private Nature Trail (Hiking) (1-2 persons)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 22 reviews
- 3Private Nature Tours & Trail 1 to 5 persons★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 14 reviews
What a day out in Seychelles actually costs.
The whole catalogue by price, from a ferry ticket to a chartered hull. Seychelles is not a cheap country, but the best day on the water is nowhere near the most expensive one.
Ferry crossings, half-day snorkel trips, guided walks and a morning under the palms at Vallée de Mai.
The classic full days: Sainte Anne by boat, Curieuse with a barbecue, an island tour with lunch on the way.
The day built around you: your own driver, your own boat, your own order of beaches, priced per group rather than per head.
Book these before you fly to Seychelles.
Most of Seychelles can be arranged at the hotel desk the night before. These cannot. They run on ferry timetables, small boats and a handful of seats at a time.
- 01Cat Cocos: Mahe to Praslin Island Fast FerryA handful of sailings a day between Mahé and Praslin, and the peak-season crossings fill first.
- 02Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with LunchThe headline day out of Praslin, run on boats that take a dozen or so people at a time.
- 03Learn the Traditional Seychelles Art of Sun Printing with Local Textile DesignerOne workshop, one textile designer, a few places per session.
- 04Semi-Submarine Tour in St. Anne Marine ParkA single small vessel working Sainte Anne, on set departure times each day.
When the south-east trades blow, get off the water.
From May to September the trades push swell onto the windward coasts and pile seagrass along the beaches; between December and March the north-west brings the rain instead. Neither cancels a good day. The forest, the ridge trails and the capital are all better without the glare.
Victoria: one market, one clock tower, one morning.
The capital fits into a grid you can walk in an hour. The Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke market is at its loudest before nine, the little silver clock tower was copied from London, there is a Hindu temple two streets over, and the botanical gardens sit uphill with tortoises in the shade.
- 1St. Anne Marine Park, Moyenne & Cerf Island Tour with Lunchfrom $92
- 2Private Customized Tour: Explore Mahe beyond the ordinaryfrom $265
- 3Seychelles Mahe Island Tourfrom $162
By island — and what leaves from each
Mahé44 tours
Praslin23 tours
Victoria13 tours
Boats from Mahé6 tours- Cruises from Praslin10 tours
Trails on Mahé8 tours- Every tour on the site →
Ten days, two islands, one crossing.
The crossing
Praslin
Vallée de MaiThe newest Seychelles reviews.
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Mahe island Seychelles , unforgettable & adventurous tour
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5 Hour Private Customize Tour of Mahe, Seychelles
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Full Day Reef Safari at St Anne Marine Park Seychelles
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Full Day Discovery Tour of Vallee de Mai and Anse Lazio on Praslin Island
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Victoria City Tour | Mahé, Seychelles | Private walking tour |
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Relaxed hike to Anse Major | Mahe, Seychelles, Great Private Tour
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Half Day Discovery Tour of Vallee de Mai on Praslin Island
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