Dream destination

Seychelles is a dream destination for many people. I have been fortunate to travel there three times and it is really one of my absolute favorite places worldwide to find great beaches. Also it is very convenient to go there from Sweden (and Europe) compared to Hawaii which also a a beach top destination of mine. It might sound like a bad idea to go to Seychelles just for a weekend but it is durable since it is very smooth to travel there. I will now share how the optimized way to get to the paradise island in the Indian ocean in the best possible way since I got a lot of questions about traveling to Seychelles.

Flying to Seychelles

Emirates, Qatar, Ethiopian and Turkish are the major airlines that flies to Seychelles (airport code: SEZ) every day. Also Air Seychelles and Swiss tourist destination airline Edelweiss flies there but not every day. The major airport is located at Mahe island and it is really a small airport. Since I was going to transfer to a domestic flight upon arrival I decided to go with Emirates since they arrives first of the big airlines in order to get less ques in the immigration and also to be able to get on the domestic flight to Praslin before they got crowded. Cat Cocos is the ferry company to use.

I had a very good flight to Seychelles with transfer in DXB. Unfortunately no business class seating but got the emergency exit row and two travel rockies that got deeply impressed by my know how how to work out the IFE and seats. Also the flight attendant on the jumpseat was very kind. My experiences with Emirates has been biased. From cabin crew fighting in the galley to extremely positive.

After the six hour flight from Stockholm to Dubai I had only 1,5 hour to wait in DXB so I exchanged some money and walked to my gate and then it was boarding time for the short 4,5 hour flight. I was lucky again and got a full row so I slept my way throughout the flight.

Travel to La Digue

Upon arrival in the Seychelles the immigration process went very smooth and although I was seated in the back of the big B777 it took me less than 45 minutes to disembark and re-allocate to the domestic terminal. I got accepted on the first flight over to Praslin so just after 07 am I went off with the cute Air Seychelles 16 seat plane over to Praslin island. You can also take a ferry over to the island but that does most of the time need advanced booking since the ferries often get full. You also need to take a taxi to the port which is like a 20 minutes ride from the airport.

If you are a first time visitor to the Seychelles I would strongly recommend to do one way with ferry and one way by flight since both are nice travel experiences.

After the short flight over to Praslin I realized someone had stolen my SAS A350 luggage tag that I got from the project. Hope an aviation enthusiast got happy for the geeky collectable.

Ferries in the Seychelles

But the trip over to La Digue wasn’t over when landing at Praslin. Praslin island I been to before and it is an awesome place that has to be visited. I do in 99% of my private trips only bring handluggage and since the buss network is running perfectly fine and cost almost nothing compared to the crazy expensive taxies I jumped on the bus to the ferry terminal at the other side of the island. It takes around 20 minutes and when I got there I bought a ticket from Praslin to La Digue. That ferry ride takes also 20 minutes. This short ferry trip you do not need to pre-book. Then I arrived to the paradise island La Digue. It is a bike only island and extremely charming. No large hotel chains and local vibe only.

After spending three days at La Digue I took the ferry the whole way back to Mahe. There are direct ferries which takes 1,5 hours. They are not super cheap but I think the 72 EUR I paid for it is quite fair since it is an enjoyable boattrip. When I got to the harbour in Mahe I had one night booked in Beau Vallon so I walked to the bus station in the capital Victoria and took a bus over the hill to Beau Vallon. Also at Mahe island the busses is a good way for transportation. The network covers the whole island and they run often HERE you find the local bus timetables. Unfortunately they do not operate at night time so on the way back I took a taxi. The last time I was in Seychelles I had a nice taxi driver so I asked about his Whatsapp so I texted him and got a good deal for the airport ride. That is a good travel hack, if you like a taxi driver, get their contact details and make arrangements.

Travel with Edelweiss

On my journey back to Sweden I took the latest flight possible to max out my days. Edelweiss was the airline flying back the latest that day so with a departure time just before midnight I boarded an Edelweiss A340 for the first time. I hoped for a business class seat to have a good night of sleep but it was fully booked so I got a premium economy spot. Actually a full four seat row. The flight time to Zürich where I changed plane was a bit more than eight hours and I slept my way through the whole flight so didn´t tried out their F&B assortment at all. I just had two cups of water before takeoff.

The aircraft had an unusual config. The premium economy was in the front of the plane, followed by business class in the middle and economy in the back. Can´t say the flight wasn´t comfy since I got undisturbed sleep of eight hours. Hope to try out their business class one day. Jamaica is highly ranked on my travel list and Edelweiss is flying there so I am aiming for that.

Doing a Seychelles trip as a long weekend trip sounds a bit hectic but I promise, it is durable if you optimize the travel time and do not want to cover the whole country in one trip. I will get back with a post about the paradise of La Digue. Questions on that?

/ Pernilla that loves the Seychelles