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Paradise Sun

Seychelles Island Guide

Island Hopping

With 115 to choose from, each with their own charm, amazing beaches and unique wildlife, we’re here to help you get to know the islands of the Seychelles better with our Seychelles island guide.

MAHE PRASLIN LA DIGUE SILHOUETTE MOYENNE ARIDE

CERF FELICITE COUSIN CURIEUSE ST PIERRE COCOS 

Mahé

The largest island, at 28km long and 8km wide, is home to 90% of the Seychelles population. International flights all pass through the island and for guests staying on Praslin it is well recommended to spend a day exploring the mix of colonial and Creole architecture and markets that define the capital Victoria as well as any of the 60 pretty beaches and mountains.

Praslin

Home to Paradise Sun and famous for the UNESCO World Heritage Site Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve. Beautiful beaches, a friendly population of 8,000 and the famous coco de mer.

La Digue

Just under 3000 Diguois people live on the Seychelles’ fourth largest island. The island is small enough to explore, but big enough for a very interesting for a day trip. Plenty of great snorkeling spots surround the island as well as beautiful beaches. Instead of cars, locals get around on bicycles and ox-carts which makes this island characterful and charming.

Silhouette

Discover nearly all the 75 plants endemic to the granitic islands of the Seychelles on the third largest island. Just 200 people live on the island with its five mountain peaks (the tallest is 750m) as well as a number of critically endangered bats, plants and birds.

Moyenne

Day visitors are welcome to explore this very unique tiny island. Purchased by Brendon Grimshaw from Yorkshire, England in 1962, for just £8,000. Along with a Seychellois man named Rene Lafortune they spent four decades planting 16,000 trees, looking after 120 giant tortoises and helping reintroduce 2,000 birds. His desire for the island to be recognized as a national park was achieved during his lifetime and it is now said to perhaps be the home of more species per square metre than any other place in the world.

Aride

Head 10km north of Praslin to explore the 1.6km long island of Aride. This designated Special Nature Reserve is a haven for breeding sea birds in the Indian Ocean. Sooty Terns and Tropical Shearwaters are just some of the breeding populations that number over a million a year.

Cerf

A small granitic island surrounded by a coral reef. No roads and little in the way of infrastructure, Cerf is especially popular for its marine life. Sea turtles to sea urchins and more than 150 other species can be spotted in the reefs around the island.

Felicite

One of La Digue’s pretty neighbours, this small island features plenty of famous granite boulders that Seychelles are famous for as well as a densely forested interior and soft white beaches. This private island is only explorable to residents, but exceptional snorkeling can be enjoyed by day trippers without needing to land.

Cousin

Just 2km west of Praslin is the small Cousin Island. Rising no higher than 69 metres this low-lying island is a protected nature reserve. A beautiful interior of woodland is surrounded almost entirely by soft sandy beach. Home to many nesting sea birds and a nesting site for turtles, it’s worth exploring on a day visit.

Curieuse

Red soil, white sandy beaches and mangrove swamp give the island a unique colour palette. What was once a leper colony is now a day visitor must-visit with snorkeling opportunities to see the impressive humphead parrotfish and get to know some of the 300 Aldabra giant tortoises on land.

St Pierre

Very easy to get to from Paradise Sun and a must for snorkeling. Bring an underwater camera for this one, as the island and its neighbours look fantastic above and below the waterline.

Cocos Islands

These little islets are not far from La Digue and are a snorkeling and divers dream. Diving here is like swimming in an aquarium, with great visibility and amazing variety. The islands are very small and there isn’t much on them, but the water around is where the real attraction lies.