Insight Guides Pocket Seychelles (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

Inside Insight Pocket Guide Seychelles: Where To Go takes you from Victoria out to the East Coast and the islands. Top 10 Attractions gives a run-down of the best sights to take in on your trip, including Morne Seychellois National Park, the capital Victoria, la Digue and Bird Island. A Perfect Day provides an itinerary for a tour of the islands. What To Do is a snapshot of ways to spend your spare time, from watersports and sailing to walking trails and shopping. Essential information on the Seychelles culture, including a brief history of the islands. Eating Out covers the island's best cuisine. Curated listings of the best hotels and restaurants. A-Z of all the practical information you'll need.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

'Insight Guides has spawned many imitators but is still the best of its type.' - Wanderlust Magazine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Feb 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786716866

Insight Guides

Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

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How To Use This E-Book

Getting Around the e-Book

This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to Seychelles, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of Seychelles, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Seychelles are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Seychelles. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Seychelles’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Top Attraction #2

Top Attraction #3

Top Attraction #4

Top Attraction #5

Top Attraction #6

Top Attraction #7

Top Attraction #8

Top Attraction #9

Top Attraction #10

A Perfect Day in Seychelles

Introduction

Geography and Climate

Flora and Fauna

People and Language

Tourism and Economy

The Price of Exclusivity

A Brief History

British-French Rivalry

Vanilla and Coconuts

World Wars to Independence

Independence and the Modern Era

Historical Landmarks

Where To Go

Mahé

Victoria

The Botanical Gardens

Beau Vallon

The East Coast

The West Coast

Morne Seychellois National Park

Islands to Visit From Mahé

Praslin

The Coast

La Digue

La Passe to L’Union Estate

Grand Anse

La Passe to Anse Fourmis

Islands near Praslin and La Digue

Aride

Cousin

Curieuse and St Pierre

The Sisters, Ile Cocos and Marianne

Silhouette Island

Private Islands

Coral Islands with Accommodation

Bird Island

Denis Island

Alphonse and St Francois Atoll

Desroches

Robinson Crusoe Islands

The Amirantes

Aldabra and the Southern Atolls

What To Do

Sports and Outdoor Pursuits

Watersports

Diving

Glass-bottom Boat

Walking

Golf

Cruising

Scenic Flights

Fishing

Birdwatching

Horse Riding

Shopping

Nightlife

Children’s Seychelles

Calendar of Events

Eating Out

Fish and Seafood

Meat

Hot Stuff

Vegetables

Desserts

What to Drink

Restaurants

MAHÉ

Victoria

North Mahé

South Mahé

Praslin

La Digue

A–Z Travel Tips

A

Accommodation

Airport

B

Bicycle Hire

Budgeting for Your Trip

C

Camping

Car Hire

Climate

Clothing

Crime and Safety

Customs and Entry Requirements

D

Driving

E

Electricity

Embassies/Consulates/High Commissions

Emergencies

G

Gay and Lesbian Travellers

Getting There

Guided Walks

H

Health and Medical Care

Holidays

L

Language

M

Maps

Media

Money

O

Opening Times

P

Police

Post Office

Public Transport

R

Religion

T

Telephone

Time Zones

Tipping

Toilets

Tourist Information

W

Websites and Internet Cafes

Weights and Measures

Y

Youth Hostels

Recommended Hotels

Mahé

Praslin

La Digue

Other Islands

Seychelles’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

iStock

Diving

Discover the wonders of the deep at numerous dive sites around the islands. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #2

Shutterstock

Hiking

The cool mountains of Morne Seychellois National Park are great for walks. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #3

AWL Images

Cycle around La Digue

One great way to explore laid-back La Digue is by bicycle. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #4

Getty Images

Perfect beaches

Anse Source D’Argent on La Digue has often been voted ‘the best beach in the world’. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #5

SuperStock

Exotic Flora

Pitcher plants are among the islands’ diverse botanic delights. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #6

Shutterstock

Vallée de Mai

This forest on Praslin is a must for coco de mer, walking trails and wildlife. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #7

Getty Images

Bird island

Simple comforts are offered on this idyllic island. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #8

Getty Images

Victoria

Visit the capital for a taste of urban life and an insight into local history and culture. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #9

iStock

Sailing

The Seychelles was made for sailing – hire a boat or hop on a chartered tour to see the best of the islands. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #10

Denis Island Resort

Hawksbill Turtles

See these great creatures on Cousin from October to April. For more information, click here.

A Perfect Day in Seychelles

9am

Morning Market

In the morning visit the Sir Selwyn-Clarke Market, also known as Victoria Market, where stalls are piled high with freshly caught fish, neat pyramids of exotic fruits and seasonal vegetables. You’ll also find trays of mixed spices, neatly rolled quills of fresh cinnamon, packets of turmeric and colourful jars filled with chillies.

10.30am

Central Victoria

Victoria is easy to explore. Begin your tour at the Clock Tower. Built in 1903 as a memorial to Queen Victoria and to commemorate the establishment of the Seychelles as a Crown Colony in its own right, the Clock Tower lies at a central crossroads in the centre of town. East of the Clock Tower is the Natural History Museum where you can see endemic birds, reef life, tortoises, geology and the skulls of estuarine crocodiles that once inhabited the mangrove swamps along Mahé’s coast and terrorised the colonists.

12.30pm

Lunch and Art

Take a break at George Camille Art Gallery (Kaz Zanana) at Revolution Avenue where you can have a light lunch followed by the best chocolate cake and cappuccino you’ll come across in the Seychelles. Afterwards, pop into the mini art gallery featuring works of local artist, George Camille.

1.30pm

Local Crafts

Codevar Craft Centre at Camion Hall in Albert Street is one of the best places to pick up gifts and souvenirs. In the arcade Kreol Or there is a wide range of jewellery made out of green snail shell, tiger cowrie, coconut shell and gold, and crafts made from local woods, coconut shell, coconut wood and polished palm seed.

3pm

Natural Attractions

Visit the Botanical Gardens at the foot of Mount Fleuri. Look out for the elephant apple plants, which bear edible fruit such as huge apples that smell of rubber. A number of Aldabra giant tortoises are kept here in a large pen shaded by a coco de mer palm. There are attractive ponds with water lilies and darting dragonflies. The path leading from the ponds takes you past a mighty banyan tree and several drumstick trees that shed remarkable, long, thin fruit.

5pm

Historic Roots

On the outskirts of Victoria is Bel Air cemetery, Seychelles’ oldest cemetery. Settlers and their slaves are buried here from the earliest times. The more splendid tombs bear the names of illustrious Seychelles families. Tombstones lie strewn haphazardly, there are no signposts and no guide, but it is an atmospheric place, nonetheless.

7pm

Dinner

Move on for dinner at Marie-Antoinette at Serret Road, off the road to Beau Vallon, at the foot of Signal Hill above Victoria. The restaurant is apparently unchanged since the 1970s and is located in a beautiful, wood-and-iron colonial Seychellois mansion. They serve a set Creole menu of the day regularly featuring grilled fish and aubergine fritters, chicken curry, fish stew and rice and salad. The dessert menu is less imaginative, but by then you’ll most likely be full anyway.

Introduction

There are many tropical paradise islands, but none quite like the Seychelles. The main islands are the world’s only mid-ocean granite outcrops. They are also the oldest ocean islands but have had a shorter period of human occupation than practically anywhere else. You will never forget your first