A trip to the Seychelles- a world of choices in a place with a world of culture. The Seychelles is located in the Indian Ocean, approximately 1000 miles from the shore of East Africa. Traveling by air from Ethiopia, it took us about 3 and a half hours to get there, landing in the wee hours of the morning from our red-eye flight. This was not a trip we spent months organizing. I can’t even claim that this is a trip we spent weeks organizing. Somewhere between the chaos and the adrenaline of starting a new school year as an international teacher, this was a trip that came to be simply because we had a break and wished to use it intentionally.

I will not write that this was the least expensive option flying out of Bole Airport in the heart of Addis Ababa, but what I can tell you is it certainly wasn’t the most expensive. And if you follow other posts of mine, you know I love a good bargain which one might not typically say the Seychelles is. What I can tell you however, is that it is possible to travel to the Seychelles and not break the bank. And this is exactly how we did it-

Step 1: Choose your Island (s)

The Seychelles is made up of 115 islands, with the three largest islands being the most popular for tourists to visit- Mahe, Praslin, and La Digue. Each island offers its own unique travel experience. You can fly in to either Mahe (the largest) or Praslin (second largest) or take a ferry service between the three. You can also decide to visit other less populated islands during your stay with other charter services. Since we only had a week to travel, it seemed we had two choices- choice number one meant seeing parts of multiple islands, as it seemed unlikely that we would have sufficient time to see the entirety of all the main islands. Choice number two was we could stick to one main island and experience all it had to offer. This was not a particularly difficult decision for us, we went with choice two. We have colleagues and friends who have done each island, truly loved their time spread across each and had a brilliant time. But for us covering one, means now we have a dedicated location for any future trip to this gorgeous country.

Step 2: Pick your Accommodation (s)

There are hotel people and there are Airbnb people, and there are people like us who might prefer either one given the day, place or purpose of travel. What you need to know is there are also hotel places (most tourists would prefer to stay in a hotel) and Airbnb places (most people would prefer to stay in an Airbnb). You don’t know which one a place is until you do your research. The southern part of Mahe island was clearly an Airbnb place for a budget traveler. Upon research, hotels offered luxury stays and the beach at your fingertips. What our Airbnb offered was an affordable rate, full kitchen and balcony view of the water, and a steep ride up a hill. We stayed at Anse Soleil Resort- which was actually someone’s personal property converted into a resort Airbnb, for $75 a night. We stayed here for 3 nights, loving every second of it. The owners of this hotel were so welcoming and helpful in recommendations for the area and the property was scenic, and even housed its own giant tortoises. They also continue to develop their property, adding beautiful new apartments which they were more than happy to let us tour!

For the remainder of the trip, we stayed in Beau Vallon, a more popular tourist area location in the north-western part of the island. Here, we initially booked a hotel stay at a fully refundable hotel, but upon more research noticed that despite hotels being more affordable directly in the town/ beachside, if you had your own transportation, you could get an Airbnb right outside of the city for a much more affordable price. We stayed at Lemongrass Lodge for two nights for a little over $100 a night. This property also boasted stunning views of the island, with the challenge being an extremely steep climb up to the property in your vehicle. If you’re not scared to put full power on the gas, you will be greeted by a charming stay at the top of the hill. The property was not as modern as our experience in Anse Soleil but for the price it was well worth it.

Step 3: Rent a Car

You might want to do Step 3 with some advanced planning if you’re looking for a known rental company brand or prefer to use a standard search platform. I say this because one week out from the trip, when we decided to look for a car rental, there were seemingly none available on the major search engines. However this proved to not be an issue at all, because upon emailing a few local car rental companies, we had several offers within 48 hours. I wish I had known at the time that there still was enormous availability, because I took the first offer we received! That said, we had a great experience with our car rental company- from pickup at the airport to drop-off directly at the airport right before our flight. They accommodated our early arrival and were accessible by text throughout the trip . We rented from Maki Car Rental for about $60 a day. The other company that had a more competitive rate was Okap Cars which would have been about $50 a day. I would really recommend renting a car for this trip! It is not a must as there are public buses that run throughout the entirety of the island (even up the steep mountains) but you would be stuck to their station stops and schedule instead of being free to create your own.

Step 4: Decide on Activities- or Go with the Flow

Just to be clear, we did decide on activities, ours days were full of activities, we just didn’t decide much in advance. Some days, we woke up the morning and decided right then were we wanted to go! But it does help to have a general idea of what is on the island, where it is located, and what you might be interested in seeing before you begin. Since we love nature, we planned most of our days around hiking, walking and exploring some of the unique gems of the island. Each activity we did was either free or had an extremely small entrance fee.

In the south of island our favorite place was the Anse Capucins Trail, leading to Anse Capucins. This trail was a bit of a tricky find as you need to drive along the water past the regular beach road, continuing on a sandy overgrown road and up a vertical hill at the end before you come to the tiny parking lot. We were lucky in that one of the locals that lived at the top of the hill offered us a place to park in front of his house as the lot was already full (with three cars). You could also just park at the bottom and walk from there. This local was extremely friendly telling us he was about to go down the trail himself to get some coconuts and was happy to guide us for the first part to which was the correct direction for the beach. We obliged at the trail is a little bit confusing and if you don’t stay to your left along the water, you will end up going up the hill to a viewpoint and not to the private beach at the end. We were well-awarded for our efforts as every turn of this hike was stunning. We were some of the only people (only one additional couple) that found ourselves on the beach that morning after the hike.

Some other notable spots we explored during our stay in the south-

Police Bay Beach- Beautiful beach with extremely large waves, gorgeous for walking and not recommended for swimming. If you’re feeling adventurous you can take a short detour to the Old Prison, an abandoned island prion a short walk from the road

Ros Sodyer/ Rock Pool- Behind the Chez Batista you can find the path leading to the Rock Pool. We thought this would be short excursion, but it actually took much longer and was lot more confusing then we initially thought. We did eventually make it to the pool to find the self proclaimed lifeguard there asking if we would like to swim. Since we weren’t there at low tide we opted out.

During our stay in the Beau Vallon area, we decided to do one of the islands most Iconic hikes- the Morne Blanc Trail. This hike is easily accessibly by the roadside with a small parking lot down a bit of the way off the main road or tourists can take the local bus here and ask to get off at the trailhead. Unlike most of the other major hikes on the island that have an entrance fee, the Morne Blanc Trail is free and had an open trailhead. This steep climb takes up through the stunning jungle landscape of the island and once at the top when the trees clear, you are instantly rewarded with a breathtaking view of the entire island. There is a small and crowded viewing platform set on top of the large rocks at the peak. This was absolutely one of our favorite places that we went and we stayed for quite some time at the top appreciating the view.

After completing the trail, we ended our day at the bottom of the mountain, with a visit to Sauzier Waterfall. There are two ways to get to the falls, one across a boardwalk which we were not adventurous enough to find that day and one right by the falls with a small entrance fee. We decided this time around to pay the fee as we had already hiked for the day. The falls was pretty, but with some murky water not the most ideal place to have a swim.

Step 5: Getting Food

Food can be one of the biggest costs to tourists in the Seychelles and it’s easy to see why. As an island, much of the food in groceries stores is imported from all over the world and inconsistent at best as shops are presented more as glorified convenience stores and less as a standard grocery stores. Restaurants are extremely expensive, but one does not want to spend the week eating ramen noodles, therefore I would recommend going for the in-between- food trucks. Food trucks and small road-side take-out joints were our go to for food throughout the trip. We did manage to cook a couple of times in our Airbnb as well, keeping it simple some pasta and sauce or pb&j’s. Typical island food is an island curry, rice, mixed meats and some saucy veggies. Of all the small places we visited, our favorite had to be on the west coast of the island- “Island Cafe” located near Port Glaud on the West Coast Road. This small road-side cafe had all the goods- fried noodles, local curries, pizza and burgers, freshly prepared for a reasonable price. We enjoyed chatting with the chef himself and his wife would owned the business.

In conclusion, if you’re thinking of planning a trip to the Seychelles be prepared to spend a dime, but don’t be discouraged that it will break the bank. As a secluded island, there are things that you will spend money on, but also as a secluded island, there are magical experiences to have that don’t cost a thing. Slow down, don’t overthink, and book that ticket to go.