Mahé is where you land. The islands worth a boat come next.
Which Curieuse trip actually stops twice to snorkel. What the Cat Cocos crossing to Praslin costs. Whether Sainte Anne fills a whole day or half of one. Reviews of every tour you can book in Seychelles.
Four Seychelles days that decide the rest of the week.
The bookings a first week in the islands hangs off, what each one costs, and what the people who took it came back saying.
01The long day outCurieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with LunchCurieuse, St Pierre and a barbecue on the sand, sailing from Baie Sainte Anne. The day most weeks here get built around.
02The marine parkSt. Anne Marine Park, Moyenne & Cerf Island Tour with LunchSainte Anne, Moyenne and Cerf, twenty minutes out of Victoria. Snorkel stops, tortoises and lunch on an island you can walk in an hour.
03The Praslin dayVallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day TourThe coco de mer forest before the heat, Anse Lazio after lunch. Two things Praslin is known for, in one run.
04The first snorkelReef Safari – Snorkeling, Fish Feeding & Lunch (Shared Day Trip)A shared reef safari off Mahé with fish feeding and lunch on board. The gentlest way into the water on day one.
The boat out of Baie Sainte Anne is the day people fly in for.
Three shapes of island day. The long run to Curieuse and St Pierre with lunch grilled on the beach, the marine park off Victoria, and the short snorkel stop when the crossing is rough.
The Seychelles trips more travellers book than any other.
Every Seychelles tour we have reviewed →The days out that sell out first on Mahé and Praslin, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with Lunch
Spend seven hours exploring Praslin’s nearby islands by boat. Snorkel at St. Pierre, swim at Anse Georgette, meet free-roaming giant tortoises on Curieuse, and walk 1.7 kilometers through mangroves with a guide such as Ryan, Jason, or Francis. Hotel transfers, gear, lunch, and soft drinks are included.
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
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
Two islands with an airport, and the ones you reach by hull.
Mahé for the coast road and the capital, Praslin for the palm forest and Anse Lazio, and between them a marine park, a tortoise island and a granite pinnacle that only exists as a snorkel stop.
Mahé is an island you can drive in a morning and still not finish.
Victoria and its market before nine, the south coast at Takamaka and Baie Lazare, the tea road over Sans Soucis, and the granite trail up to Copolia for the view back over the marine park.
- 1Customizable Private Tour of Island with Driver
- 2Saint-Anne Marine Park and Moyenne Island Cruisefrom $166
- 3St.Anne Marine National Park Reef Safari with Lunchfrom $148
Praslin keeps the coco de mer forest and the jetty to everywhere else.
A morning in the Vallée de Mai under palms that grow nowhere else, an afternoon at Anse Lazio, and a jetty at Baie Sainte Anne with boats to Curieuse, Cousin and La Digue.
Every Praslin day out →
What a boat day in Seychelles actually costs.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. Boat days carry fuel, a skipper and lunch, which is why the middle band is where most of a week lands.
Ferry crossings, the semi-submarine over the marine park and the short snorkel runs.
The full-day standards: Curieuse and St Pierre with a barbecue, Sainte Anne by catamaran, a driver for the length of Mahé.
Private boats, chartered island days and the run out to Cousin with a warden waiting.
Three things that only happen in Seychelles.
Beaches and reefs turn up all over the Indian Ocean. A nut that takes seven years to ripen, an island where the tortoises outnumber the wardens, and a bird sanctuary that never took a hotel do not.
The Vallée de Mai
A palm forest in the middle of Praslin holding the largest seed in the plant kingdom, a nut that takes six or seven years on the tree and is counted, tagged and licensed before it can leave the country. The paths are shaded enough to walk at midday, and quiet enough to hear the black parrots that live nowhere else.
- 1Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 315 reviews
- 2Vallee de Mai Tour (From Praslin)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 38 reviews
- 3Full Day Discovery Tour of Vallee de Mai and Anse Lazio on Praslin Island★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 10 reviews
Curieuse and its tortoises
Curieuse was a leper colony before it was a tortoise reserve, and the ruins of the doctor’s house are still standing at Anse St Jose. A few hundred Aldabra giants wander loose between the mangrove boardwalk and the barbecue pit. Boats come over from Praslin in the morning and the walk across the island takes about an hour.
- 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
Cousin Island
Cousin was bought by conservationists in 1968 and never took a hotel. There is no jetty, so wardens carry visitors in from the boat, numbers through the gate are capped and the paths run between nesting terns, tropicbirds and the Seychelles warbler that was down to a few dozen birds when the island was saved.
- 1Cousin, Curieuse & St Pierre Islands Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 152 reviews
- 2Island Adventure Cousin, Curieuse & St Pierre with BBQ Bliss★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 51 reviews
- 3Full Day Excursion of Cousin, Curieuse and St Pierre Islands from Praslin Island★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 · 16 reviews
In Seychelles the barbecue is part of the boat trip.
Grilled job fish, breadfruit chips and a salad laid out on a trestle table in the shade, usually somewhere between the second snorkel stop and the ride home.
Four Seychelles bookings that will not wait.
Most of a week here can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on boat timetables, capped landings and a ferry that fills before the flights do.
- 01Cousin, Curieuse & St Pierre Islands Day TourLandings are capped and the wardens only take visitors on weekday mornings. The boat goes when the permit allows, not when you ask.
- 02Cat Cocos: Mahe to Praslin Island Fast FerryThe Mahé to Praslin crossing sells its morning sailings out in high season, and missing one costs the whole day at the other end.
- 03Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with LunchOne boat leaves Praslin in the morning and comes back mid afternoon. If it fills there is no second run.
- 04Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day TourThe forest is a morning walk before the heat, and the coach groups off the first ferry are already booked into it.
Nothing in Seychelles is far. Everything runs on the boat timetable.
Mahé to Praslin is an hour on the Cat Cocos, Praslin to La Digue about fifteen minutes on the Cat Rose, and most island trips leave a jetty before nine in the morning. Book the crossing first and hang the tours off it.
By island, and the water around it
Mahé, the marine park, the crossing, Praslin: the run almost everybody does first.
Cat Cocos crossing
Vallée de MaiThe newest Seychelles tour reviews.
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