Seychelles: Seven Attractions and Natural Wonders

115 islands scattered in the Indian Ocean

Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, combines some of the most photographed beaches in the world with an unusual geology — unlike most tropical islands, many of the inner Seychelles are granite rather than coral, producing giant, smoothly weathered boulders that give its beaches a distinctive look found almost nowhere else. Its isolation has also produced a striking level of unique wildlife, including the world's largest seed and some of its longest-lived tortoises.

The seven below centre on the main islands of Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue, with two more remote islands besides. The islands are a year-round destination.

1. Anse Source d'Argent

Anse Source d'Argent, on the small island of La Digue, is regularly ranked among the most beautiful beaches in the world — a shallow, reef-sheltered lagoon framed by massive, smoothly weathered pink granite boulders that give the beach its unmistakable, widely photographed silhouette. La Digue itself remains largely car-free, explored mainly by bicycle or ox cart.

2. The Vallée de Mai

The Vallée de Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Praslin island, protects an ancient palm forest home to the coco de mer, a palm tree that produces the largest seed of any plant on earth, inside a fruit weighing 25 to 45 kilograms, famously shaped in a way that has long fuelled local legend and folklore. The reserve's well-preserved forest gives a rare sense of what these islands looked like before human settlement.

3. Aldabra giant tortoises

Aldabra Atoll, the world's second-largest coral atoll and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right since 1982, is home to the largest population of giant tortoises on earth, about 100,000 animals, some thought to be well over a century old. While Aldabra itself is extremely remote and rarely visited, descendants of its tortoises can be seen on several of the more accessible inner islands, including protected populations on Curieuse and La Digue.

4. Victoria

Victoria, on the main island of Mahé, is one of the world's smaller national capitals, centred on a miniature clock tower modelled after London's Little Ben. Its compact size and relaxed pace, along with a busy produce and craft market, give a low-key introduction to Seychellois urban life before heading out to the islands' beaches and nature reserves.

5. Anse Lazio

Anse Lazio, in the northwest of Praslin, is widely considered one of the finest beaches in the archipelago, its powder-fine sand, granite boulder headlands, and clear water combining much of what draws visitors to Seychelles in the first place. Unlike many Seychelles beaches, it is not sheltered by a coral reef, so its waters can be livelier than those of the lagoon beaches.

6. Morne Seychellois National Park

Morne Seychellois National Park covers nearly a fifth of Mahé, the main island, rising from the outskirts of Victoria to the country's highest peak at 905 metres — a mountainous interior of mist forest, endemic palms found nowhere else on earth, and hiking trails that feel a world away from the beaches just a short drive below.

Trails through the park give sweeping views back over the capital and the sea.

7. Silhouette Island

Silhouette Island, the third-largest granitic island in the archipelago, is one of the richest places for biodiversity in the western Indian Ocean, holding most of the granitic islands' endemic plants — since 2010 a national park covers 93 per cent of it, with a single resort and granite peaks rising to 751 metres above dense forest.

It is a favoured destination for hikers and naturalists seeking a quieter, wilder alternative to Mahé and Praslin.

Seychelles suits a week to ten days spread across Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue, with short ferry or small-plane connections making an island-hopping itinerary the standard way to see the archipelago's range.