Source: The Sunday Times Ireland {Sunday} Edition: Country: Republic of Ireland Date: Sunday 18, March 2018 Page: 15,17 Area: 1348 sq. cm Circulation: Pub Stmt 89173 Weekly Ad data: page rate £19,950.00, scc rate £48.60 Phone: Keyword: Seychelles THE ULTIMATE GUIDE The Seychelles These 115 Indian Ocean islands are a castaway’s dream. Susan d’Arcy is your guide to a world of turtle runs, Creole food and perpetual summer for the sun-starved he 115 islands that make up the Seychelles offer castaway- galleries, a market and a botanical grade beaches against a gardens. It takes two days tops to see its backdrop of jungle-clad Continued on page 17→ mountains. The wildlife Tincludes giant tortoises that could have come straight from the set of Jurassic Park, and turtles that waddle up the sand to lay eggs a few feet from your room. Eight weeks later, these turn into impossibly cute hatchlings that can be spotted scrambling back into the azure ocean. Despite being home to some of the world’s top hotels, the place still feels authentic. There’s practically no crime, the cuisine is spicily addictive and the people are fun-loving — only the Czechs 22 drink more beer per head. DISCOVERY What’s not to like? Basically, getting CHANNEL there. There are no direct flights from HIKE OR BIKE? Ireland, and few relish the thought of a mad dash through a Middle East airport. IT’S TIME Fortunately, from Saturday, it gets slightly TO EXPLORE easier, when British Airways launches a non-stop service from London Heathrow that trims journey times from 13-16 hours to a much more agreeable 10 — not counting the short-hop over the Irish sea. Here’s all you need to know ahead of your Seychellois sojourn. THE EXPERIENCE Expect perpetual summer, with temperatures hovering between 27C and 30C. Traditionally, December to February sees downpours and April and May are the driest months, though climate change is making forecasting fun these days. International flights land on the biggest island of Mahé, home to the tiny capital, Victoria — a tropical Trumpton with a cathedral, a handful of museums and art Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. Article Page 1 of 6 418073812 - CATWIL - A24436-14 - 135644366 Source: The Sunday Times Ireland {Sunday} Edition: Country: Republic of Ireland Date: Sunday 18, March 2018 Page: 15,17 Area: 1348 sq. cm Circulation: Pub Stmt 89173 Weekly Ad data: page rate £19,950.00, scc rate £48.60 Phone: Keyword: Seychelles y Trave l LAZY DAYS How you’ll spend the majority of your stay at Carana Beach, Mahé Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. Article Page 2 of 6 418073812 - CATWIL - A24436-14 - 135644366 Source: The Sunday Times Ireland {Sunday} Edition: Country: Republic of Ireland Date: Sunday 18, March 2018 Page: 15,17 Area: 1348 sq. cm Circulation: Pub Stmt 89173 Weekly Ad data: page rate £19,950.00, scc rate £48.60 Phone: Keyword: Seychelles sights, and that’s if you walk slowly. the gates of the five-star Constance Praslin is the next “busiest” island: one Lemuria, on the north coast of Praslin, is set of traffic lights at the end of the runway particularly special — a cosy golden bay that flashes when a plane is landing in cloaked by palm-covered hills. Also on this case it overshoots, one disco (weekends coast is Anse Lazio, a frequent flyer in only) and one golf course, should you lists of the world’s best beaches: emerald want to ruin a good walk in paradise. water, silky sand studded with blush-pink What the pair have in spades is natural granite boulders and, despite its fame, assets — not just Instagrammable beaches barely any development. and diving, fishing and sailing, but, with Baie Lazare, on the south coast of much of their landmass covered in ancient Mahé, is equally stunning and a favourite forest, cracking hiking too. On Mahé, you with Seychellois families at weekends. can yomp through vanilla and cinnamon Beau Vallon, on the other side of the trees in Morne Seychellois National Park island, has more of a scene, including to reach the island’s 915m peak. On watersports and a Wednesday-night food Praslin, the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve bazaar where you can try cassava chips, is home to the rare coco de mer palm, homemade curries and local drinks such with suggestively shaped nuts that can as bacca, a sugarcane liquor, while bands weigh more than 27kg. play and people dance on the beach. In this twitchers’ paradise, you’ll find Bear in mind that from May to birds that could have flown out of a Disney September, trade winds can make cartoon. Or, for moments of pure swimming off the south coasts of Mahé Attenborough, time a visit around the life and Praslin tricky. They also bring cycle of the endangered hawksbill turtles: in seaweed, particularly on Praslin. From they nest from October to January and November to April, the winds shift and the babies emerge between December and northern coasts experience rougher seas March, although some dawdlers don’t and seaweed. appear until April. Island-hopping between Mahé and Praslin couldn’t be simpler, with frequent THE FOOD 20-minute flights (from €100 return; Seychellois cuisine is Creole-based: airseychelles.com) and three daily 60- chicken or octopus curries with red chilli minute ferry crossings (from €75 return; and creamy coconut milk, tamarind catcocos.com). You can also use either chutney and mango or palm-heart salad. island as a springboard to smaller Rousettes — fruit-bat curry — is a speciality outposts such as La Digue: a 15-minute that’s a little gamey and very bony. Even boat ride from Praslin, it’s intoxicatingly some locals haven’t tried it, so feel free to laid-back, and everyone there gets about pass. The Marie Antoinette on bicycles. (marieantoinette.sc), in a 19th-century For a more glitzy, Maldives-like mansion on Mahé, has had the same experience, take a boat, light plane or menu since 1972; the €17 buffet might helicopter to stay on one of the private include battered parrotfish, aubergine islands. Zil Pasyon, on Félicité, is the sexy fritters and fish stew, and is the perfect spa option, while eco-chic North Island is introduction to the island’s dishes. often voted the world’s best resort — and, There are few things finer for lunch at €26,000pp for a week, it’s definitely than a crab curry (€18), with your feet in one of the most expensive. There’s also the sand, at Bonbon Plume on Praslin’s one of this year’s hottest openings, the prized Anse Lazio beach. Go early, as it’s glamorous Desroches Island, as well as always packed (which is why they’re the pared-back simplicity of Bird Island. building another nearby). At Chez Jules, on Anse Banane, on La Digue, you might see chef Jules spearing octopus out front THE BEACHES while you tuck into his previous catch — All beaches are public, so you could with a zingy salad — for around a tenner. gatecrash one within a luxury resort’s confines. But it’s hardly necessary, as there isn’t a duff inch of coastline to be THE HOTELS found. That said, Anse Georgette, behind BEST FOR COUPLES Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. Article Page 3 of 6 418073812 - CATWIL - A24436-14 - 135644366 Source: The Sunday Times Ireland {Sunday} Edition: Country: Republic of Ireland Date: Sunday 18, March 2018 Page: 15,17 Area: 1348 sq. cm Circulation: Pub Stmt 89173 Weekly Ad data: page rate £19,950.00, scc rate £48.60 Phone: Keyword: Seychelles hayesandjarvis.ie). Paradise Sun’s is tucked away on the Côte d’Or, a stunning 2½km stretch on BEST ON A BUDGET Praslin’s north coast. It has 80 rooms and Le Repaire, on La Digue, is an 18-room does a tasty complimentary afternoon tea, beachfront hideaway that matches the mood of this unpretentious island. Service but pace yourself: the octopus curry at its is warm and the chef is Italian, making the waterfront restaurant is exceptional (seven nights from €2,210pp, half-board; menu an interesting fusion: lamb chops justseychelles.co.uk). Constance in local rum sauce, for example, followed Lemuria, also on Praslin, recently had a by wickedly good tiramisu (eight nights €10m revamp, and its long-running turtle from €1,820pp, half-board; programme makes it the place to see the jasmineholidays.co.uk). Avani Seychelles little cuties. Other claims to fame include Barbarons Resort is set around an 80ft the only 18-hole golf course in the pool steps away from a palm-fringed Seychelles and a new executive chef who beach on Mahé’s west coast.