Seychelles on a Budget!

Praslin part one

Several months late, here I am recounting my latest travel experience: the long-dreamed-of Seychelles!

In January, while browsing travel websites and dreaming of a departure to exotic countries, I happened to see an Emirates flight to Mahé on sale at 499 euros per person, taxes included. From there to booking the step is short: I talk it over with my husband and immediately convince him that, even though our idea had been to go to the Maldives, a flight at that price to the Seychelles would never come up again, so he agrees and we book the flight. As for accommodation, I gather information everywhere (the internet, of course, is my favorite source), read travel diaries of those who went before me on their own, and I decide to book the lodgings on the island of Praslin and on La Digue: 4 nights at the La Cuvette hotel, on the first island, and 4 nights at the guest house La Bernique, on the second island.

We left on March 12 at 9:15 p.m. with an Emirates flight from Malpensa: a very comfortable flight and food on board of a decidedly higher standard than the scheduled flights of other airlines. Layover in Dubai, where on the return we will stop for a few hours, taking a connection that would leave us a few hours to leave the airport with a rental car and take a tour of the city.

Praslin part two

Arriving in Mahé at 1:15 p.m. on March 13, we have the ferry to Praslin at 4:00 p.m., already booked from Italy with Catcocos which, we will discover, takes the same time as the Inter Island Ferry but costs 84 € per person (round trip Mahé/Praslin/Mahé) instead of the 60 € of the Inter Island Ferry (Tel. +248 232329/232394).

The latter don't have an email address and therefore from Italy can only be reached by phone, but we, who had contacted only Catcocos by email to book (because it was the only one we knew!), still had to call them because they never answered the email (apparently, email is not yet a widely used means in the Seychelles)! Of course, experience teaches, and once at the port of Mahé, we saw that there was also this other company (which no one mentioned in the travel diaries) that operated the same route at a decidedly lower price, so we took the sheet with the schedules and phone numbers so we could contact it for the return. The Inter Island Ferry operates between Mahé and Praslin, but also between La Digue and Praslin (at the price of € 14 round trip versus the € 20 of Catcocos).

Keep in mind that the schedules of the two companies are very similar and that the crossing time is the same (we are in fact talking about the same type of transport, a catamaran). The only difference is that Catcocos picks you up with the shuttle at the airport, while if you choose the Inter Island Ferry you'll have to pay for a taxi, but, if there are at least two of you, a taxi will certainly cost you much less than € 24 per trip!

Once we arrived in Praslin we took a taxi to the Hotel La Cuvette, which is located in Grand Anse: the price initially asked was € 15, but if you feel like haggling you can get it down to 10. The Hotel La Cuvette is a few steps from the sea, on a side street. It's a very simple hotel, family-run, and the ladies who manage it are very friendly. The rooms were a bit small but quite clean and equipped with a fan. There was also a small pool and a patio with a table and chairs. Nothing to write home about, we could say. But then again, at € 70 per night (breakfast included) we thought we couldn't expect more in the Seychelles…A note on breakfast: every morning we were asked what we wanted to eat and they prepared everything on the spot (also because besides us, there were only a couple of Seychellois couples, who were going on vacation there from Mahé).

Praslin part three

During the 4 days spent in Praslin we visited:

- the Vallée de Mai (entrance cost € 20 per person, a bit too expensive in our opinion), a park with very extensive local vegetation which, in the end, you can admire somewhat all over the island; - the island of Curieuse + snorkeling at St. Pierre (at the cost of € 25 per person, lunch excluded, with Robert, a very good guy with perhaps a not very "reassuring" appearance, but you can trust him - his cell number is 571444). Curieuse is beautiful and perhaps it's there that we saw the most beautiful beach in the Seychelles, so it definitely deserves a visit; moreover, the stop at St. Pierre for snorkeling is worth it, since in the Seychelles there aren't that many beaches from which you can set off to go snorkeling.

As for lunch, that day we stopped by Briz (take-away near the Hotel La Cuvette) and bought 2 hamburgers and 2 sandwiches for 95 rupees (about € 5); other people who had booked the excursion to Curieuse (not with Robert) had been told that lunch was included and instead then had to pay for it separately; - the beach of Côte d'Or, nothing special and with a rather unremarkable sea also considering the fact that the water is very shallow (and therefore very warm, almost "stagnant" I would say), Grand Anse (also subject to low tide but definitely more beautiful than Côte d'Or), Anse Georgette (very, very beautiful, with a sea of an intense blue that's hard to describe), Anse Lazio (beautiful but, unfortunately, in our case we didn't enjoy it enough, due to the sun that kept coming and going…).

To reach these last two beaches, keep in mind that there's a good walk to do under the sun from the point where the bus leaves you, so, please, comfortable shoes/flip-flops!

In Praslin we basically always got around by bus (cost 7 rupees per trip, per person), except one evening when we had gone to dinner at Le Laurier (in Côte d'Or) and came back by taxi for € 15.

Speaking of the famous Le Laurier restaurant, we can tell you that you pay € 30 per person for an excellent dinner, with a wide choice of dishes of every kind (appetizers, meat, fish, pasta, etc.), all buffet-style, and that it's a good idea to book a little in advance.

As for the other meals, by way of example and to give you an idea of the costs, we went a couple of times for lunch at the Da Luca gelateria in Côte d'Or (2 ice cream cups with fruit for € 13; 2 pizzas, 2 cokes and a water for € 19); once at André's Café, where they lured us in deceitfully, making us believe they were the new management of the Sunset Café, and where we ate tuna in garlic butter, grilled chicken, 1 coke and a water for € 31; once at Briz where, for 315 rupees (about € 16), we ate grilled prawns, French fries, 2 portions of chicken with rice and vegetables, 2 beers and a water; once at the Sunset Café (where we had dinner for about € 4!).

In conclusion, the places we liked the most are Briz and the Sunset Café, the 2 take-aways where the Seychellois in the Grand Anse area go to eat, since they are the most honest and the ones where you can taste some local dish without spending much. Too bad we discovered them halfway through the vacation, otherwise we would certainly have saved ourselves the dinner at André's Café, if only for the "improper" behavior they showed toward us! Among other things, if you decide to stop at Anse Lazio for lunch, plan ahead and bring something to eat with you, otherwise you'll end up eating a sandwich that will stick in your throat for how much they'll make you pay for it! (we got 1 can of coke and a large bottle of water at Bon Bon Plume for € 7).

An episode that happened in Praslin: on the buses, to buy the ticket, they don't accept large-denomination banknotes (I think 100 rupees), but we – after a rather long wait – got on the bus anyway with our nice banknote and the driver wanted to make us get off since he couldn't give us change. Back and forth, the bus wasn't leaving, and a truly kind local lady offered to pay for our ticket. We were speechless and thanked her an infinite number of times…We wish that lady all the best possible for the generosity she showed and, deep down, we think that in Italy something like that could never have happened.

La Digue part one

After 4 days we set off for La Digue, this time with the Inter Island Ferry (€ 7 per person). Arriving in La Digue, we had the impression of having gone back in time: few cars (I believe they were only taxis), lots of bicycles and a few "ox-cart taxis." From the port we took a taxi (car!) to reach the guest house La Bernique, paying € 5 (this time without haggling, since the price seemed fair to us). Arriving at La Bernique, we were welcomed by the owner (who speaks good Italian, having lived for a period in Calabria) who offered us an excellent fruit juice and showed us the "room": very spacious, equipped with a ceiling mosquito net above the bed (which thus looked like a canopy bed) and a blade fan, a small refrigerator (very useful!) and also a nice spacious bathroom. All surrounded by a beautiful garden, onto which our patio faced, consisting of two lounge chairs and a small table.

I must say that we really liked this accommodation and we were very comfortable. The cost of the stay was € 65 per night, per room, breakfast excluded.

La Digue part two

As for breakfast and lunch, following the advice of those who had already been to La Digue before us, we went almost every day to buy brioches and small pizzas from Grégoire, the largest shop on the island, and we did well spending little (by way of example, 6 brioches + 6 small pizzas for 120 rupees, that is about € 6).

La Digue is very distinctive for its peculiarity of being very small (about 4 km long) and therefore visitable by bicycle (rented through La Bernique, at the cost of € 20 each for the whole week). We visited the beaches of Anse Source d'Argent (access to this beach costs € 4 per person and is daily; after 2 entries the third is free), Anse Severe, Grand Anse, Petite Anse and Anse Cocos. As for Source d'Argent, we were a bit disappointed, because it's practically not swimmable, since the water is very shallow; moreover, to discover the beauty of this beach, I advise you to photograph it/look at it from the sea rather than from the beach: in fact, if from the beach you won't see anything different compared to the other beaches of the Seychelles, from the sea it's a whole other effect, precisely because of the contrast between sea, sky, vegetation and granite boulders.

Anse Severe is nice for snorkeling (an activity not easily practicable in the Seychelles, unless you go out by boat), the other 3 beaches are in the south of the island and in the period when we went there was a lot of current and huge waves! If you don't know how to swim very well, avoid swimming, and even if you swim very well, be careful! Moreover, reaching Petite Anse and Anse Cocos requires a good hike up over the rocks and, in the last stretch, through a kind of steppe (that's what I called it!), so definitely don't go there with flip-flops, because you'd be forced to stop at Grand Anse. It's also true that having seen Grand Anse, the other two are simply a copy of the first but smaller and with less shade, so the choice is yours…

As everyone before us has written, bring flashlights for getting around in the evening (it's truly pitch dark and this is a wonderful thing for us who are used to living in a city with very high light pollution!) and stay away from the dogs which, at times, aren't very friendly.

La Digue part three

As for dinners, let me briefly summarize our experience for you:

- dinner at Zerof: nothing special, in fact, the evening we went (together with a couple of Italians who had already been there) we didn't eat particularly well and the portions were even skimpy (the couple who was with us agreed and said that in the previous days they had eaten decidedly better). Maybe we were unlucky! - dinner at Chateau St. Cloud (partnered with Bernique, serves buffet dinner but only some evenings of the week: ask in advance!): at 200 rupees per person + drinks separate, we ate everything from a very rich buffet and we definitely preferred it to the much-praised Zerof. In total, drinks included, we spent € 32 for two. - dinner at Tarosa: nothing to write home about as far as food quality, but nice because it's on the sea (in the port area) and because on Sundays, if I'm not mistaken, there's live music.

Costs: 1 plate of pasta + 1 portion of grilled chicken with side dish and drinks 361 rupees. - dinner at the takeaway near the port (the only one, I think!): so-so food quality (compared to the take-aways of Praslin) but if you want to eat spending little, you can go there.

Also, if you need to buy drinks, cookies, "local" popsicles, snacks, etc. you can go to Rita's Shop (I don't remember where it is, but by riding around by bicycle you'll surely find it!) where shopping costs very little.

La Digue part four

On March 21 we set off again for Mahé, making a stop at Praslin with the Inter Island Ferry. Once in Mahé, since our flight would leave at 1:45, we decided to take a taxi that left us in the center, we had dinner in one of our much-loved take-aways and, to kill a little more time before returning to the airport, we sat down to have something to drink in one of the bars in Mahé.

What can I say, we liked this trip to the Seychelles, but not as much as we thought. Maybe because our wandering soul wasn't stimulated enough, maybe because from one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world we expected greater variety, or maybe because after seeing Mauritius our heart stayed there. Anyway, if I have to be honest, for me it's absolutely not worth doing so many hours of travel just to see sea which, among other things, isn't even always swimmable…I can certainly say, however, that between La Digue and Praslin I preferred La Digue because it's closer to my idea of an "exploratory" vacation (and because by bicycle you can go everywhere and at any hour!). Until next time!