Travel reviews by The A family from Surrey
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
3
Excursions taken
0
Summary
Seychelles between 23 Jul 2010 and 8 Aug 2010
"We were very lucky as it was a fantastic holiday but had we taken other options it would have been less so. Praslin was perfect for a beach holiday and Anse Volbert absolutely ideal. Beware advice to stay in the "best" beaches like Anse Lazio -this just means they'll be lots of people there - better for a day trip.
Beware the government overcharges for everything. Euro 20 per person over 12 to visit the Coco de Mer - ditto to visit the marine park, ditto the ferry to La Digue. As a direct result we skipped the last of these but those we did-including snorkelling at St Pierre was very worthwhile.
Mahe was great as we did it but we couldn't see that any hotel was worth staying at. The famous beach Beau Vallon has too many hotels and is popular with the locals-fine for a day but otherwise go to any good beach in Europe at much less cost. The west coast is gorgeous but the water too rough for anything other than diving into the waves - again not good for a week.The east coast has that dreadful ribbon development all along its length except for the very south-but take sandwiches.You'd feel robbed if you stayed at any hotel for a week.
Bear in mind that Mahe attracts clouds - it won't be sunny all the time.
Bird Island was unbelievable - if we went back we would return there and go to some of the other smaller islands.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
The Bradt guide was out of date or misleading we felt.Look at the descriptions of Beau Vallon and Anse Volbert.Wrong way round but thank goodness perhaps.Casuarina Beach burnt down 3 years before and the beach can never have been great.
It failed to explain properly the varying conditions depending on the time of year.
[ Ed: We'd like to make it very clear here that Expert Africa's Chris McIntyre had absolutely nothing to do with the Bradt guide to the Seychelles. Chris is responsible for his own guides to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zanzibar ... but has never had any input into the Seychelles guide. ]"
Beware the government overcharges for everything. Euro 20 per person over 12 to visit the Coco de Mer - ditto to visit the marine park, ditto the ferry to La Digue. As a direct result we skipped the last of these but those we did-including snorkelling at St Pierre was very worthwhile.
Mahe was great as we did it but we couldn't see that any hotel was worth staying at. The famous beach Beau Vallon has too many hotels and is popular with the locals-fine for a day but otherwise go to any good beach in Europe at much less cost. The west coast is gorgeous but the water too rough for anything other than diving into the waves - again not good for a week.The east coast has that dreadful ribbon development all along its length except for the very south-but take sandwiches.You'd feel robbed if you stayed at any hotel for a week.
Bear in mind that Mahe attracts clouds - it won't be sunny all the time.
Bird Island was unbelievable - if we went back we would return there and go to some of the other smaller islands.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
The Bradt guide was out of date or misleading we felt.Look at the descriptions of Beau Vallon and Anse Volbert.Wrong way round but thank goodness perhaps.Casuarina Beach burnt down 3 years before and the beach can never have been great.
It failed to explain properly the varying conditions depending on the time of year.
[ Ed: We'd like to make it very clear here that Expert Africa's Chris McIntyre had absolutely nothing to do with the Bradt guide to the Seychelles. Chris is responsible for his own guides to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zanzibar ... but has never had any input into the Seychelles guide. ]"
Arranged By Lucy Copson
Acajou Hotel, Seychelles (this camp has since closed)
"Acajou Hotel review"
7 nights
Arrived
24 Jul 2010
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Poor
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Le Sans Souci
"Le Sans Souci review"
4 nights
Arrived
31 Jul 2010
"You would be quite mad to stay anywhere else on Mahe. It is in the middle of the national park with unbelievable views over the bay and across to Praslin fruit bats flying beneath your balcony/terrace. We were there with the owners, some Canadian relatives of theirs and a French family.
Each evening the children sat separately and we basically had a dinner party with warm and interesting people.
The food was outstanding, distinctly better than the 2 hotels we stayed at.
The car meant we explored the island fully. We can safely say no expensive hotel on Mahe would have bettered Sans Souci."
Each evening the children sat separately and we basically had a dinner party with warm and interesting people.
The food was outstanding, distinctly better than the 2 hotels we stayed at.
The car meant we explored the island fully. We can safely say no expensive hotel on Mahe would have bettered Sans Souci."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Bird Island Lodge
"Bird Island Lodge review"
3 nights
Arrived
4 Aug 2010
"An unbelievable experience. Look at the official video on Youtube to see what it is really like. You need to think about timing though.If you want to see the birds rearing their young in particular the 700,000 sooty tern breeding pairs you should go July/August but at this time it is windy so while you can snorkel within the reef the waters are choppy and the current difficult-no deep sea fishing or the like-having said that we swam with a green turtle and 2 huge manta rays.
If you want to snorkel in crystal clear waters and not see the birds nesting/their young go in, we think, the winter and spring. It was pretty hot as it was although overcast for long periods so we'd imagine it would then be very hot indeed.
The birds are essentially all around you - no need for binoculars except for the frigate birds and boobys.
The tortoises are good fun too - 20 giant plus 2 from Madagascar. It was good to see reputedly the world's oldest thought born in 1771."
If you want to snorkel in crystal clear waters and not see the birds nesting/their young go in, we think, the winter and spring. It was pretty hot as it was although overcast for long periods so we'd imagine it would then be very hot indeed.
The birds are essentially all around you - no need for binoculars except for the frigate birds and boobys.
The tortoises are good fun too - 20 giant plus 2 from Madagascar. It was good to see reputedly the world's oldest thought born in 1771."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Average
It is on a picture perfect beach Anse Volbert some 2 kilometres of white sand and gentle sea fringed with forested hills with tropic birds seychelles pigeons and fodys in profusion-birds fed by the hotel each morning.I 'd describe it as the West Indies without the people-on a busy day there were 10 people on the beach.
Downsides-nowhere to eat other than the hotel and the hotel food was average-poor stodgy puddings in particular-a week was enough. The other end of the beach is busier but the pizzeria attached to the hotel is awful - for bacon read fat etc.
The beach bar was closed for several days ostensibly for fire drills but more likely because we were pretty much the only customers.
We were badly bitten at night-no insect protection provided."