Here is something the all-inclusive model does not always encourage but always rewards: leaving the property. The seychelles all inclusive resort is excellent. The beach in front of it is beautiful. The pool is perfect. The food is genuinely good. And spending your entire holiday within its boundaries would be a comprehensively pleasant experience, but it would not be a Seychelles experience. The Seychelles that will stay with you, the Seychelles that you will still be describing to people at dinner parties in three years, is the one you found when you hired a taxi, took the ferry, laced up walking shoes, and went looking. This is what I would actually do beyond the resort on a typical Seychelles all-inclusive holiday.
The Victoria Morning: Even on a Short Mahé Stay
On almost any holidays to Mahe Seychelles itinerary, Victoria is accessible from most west coast resorts in fifteen to twenty minutes by taxi. The market, the clocktower, the botanical gardens, a morning in Victoria costs very little beyond the taxi fare and delivers a completely different understanding of Seychelles from the one available from a resort beach.
The botanical gardens specifically: Free entry, and home to giant Aldabra tortoises that wander with the unhurried confidence of animals that have been doing this for a hundred and fifty years. Watching a creature that was alive before your grandparents were born move through a tropical garden is a particular kind of wonderful that is genuinely difficult to categorise.
The Local Food Experience I Would Not Miss
Resort food in Seychelles is good. Local Creole food is better, and it is also significantly more interesting. For the guest on a seychelles all inclusive package, the meal that is missed is often a local lunch at one of the island’s small Creole restaurants.
What to order:
- Fresh grilled fish with rice and satini (a local chutney made from grated green mango or papaya)
- Bourgeois (red snapper) prepared Creole style, possibly the best fish preparation in the Indian Ocean
- Ladob, coconut milk dessert that appears deceptively simple and is quietly extraordinary
The cost of a Creole lunch at a local restaurant is a fraction of a resort meal. The experience is completely different, local, specific, and deeply connected to the food culture of the islands.
The Day Trip to La Digue: The One That Most Often Becomes the Holiday Highlight
From any Praslin-based all-inclusive, La Digue is fifteen minutes away by ferry. From a Mahé-based property, it requires the Mahé-to-Praslin ferry plus the Praslin-to-La Digue ferry, a half-day of transit that is entirely worth the investment for the experience of Anse Source d’Argent.
I have spoken to many Seychelles visitors over the years and the pattern is consistent: for those who make the La Digue day trip, it almost always becomes the most frequently described memory from the entire holiday. The bicycle, the lagoons, the silence, the granite formations, La Digue has a quality that is not replicable at a resort and not accessible without leaving one.
The Snorkelling That the Resort Organised Tour Doesn’t Always Cover
Most Seychelles all inclusive properties offer organised snorkelling excursions. These are generally excellent value and well-organised. But the snorkelling that I would specifically look for on a Seychelles holiday is the independent snorkelling, taking a mask and fins to Anse Lazio’s north end at low tide, or asking a local fisherman to point you toward the reef section they know is best.
| Snorkelling Approach | Cost | Quality |
| Resort organised excursion | Included or moderate extra | Reliable, well-managed |
| Independent with own equipment | Equipment hire only | Flexible, potentially better site selection |
| Local guide recommendation | Small tip | Often the best local knowledge |
The Sunset From Outside the Resort Property
Every Seychelles resort has a sunset view. The sunsets over the Indian Ocean from a beach bar or a clifftop outside the resort property are the same sunset, but somehow feel more earned and more vivid. The Beau Vallon beach on Mahé at sunset. The view of the Indian Ocean from the Copolia trail summit. The sunset across the lagoons at Anse Source d’Argent on La Digue. These are sunsets worth the effort of reaching them.
The Vallée de Mai: The One That Requires Praslin Proximity
If the all-inclusive base is on Praslin, the Vallée de Mai requires no complex logistics, it is a twenty-minute drive from any Praslin property and the entry fee is modest. This is the UNESCO World Heritage forest of primeval palm trees and endemic birds that appears on every Seychelles best-of list for good reason. The two hours in the Vallée de Mai are two of the most distinctive hours available in the entire Indian Ocean.
One specific recommendation: Ask the guide, or ask at the entrance, about the current Black Parrot sightings. These endemic birds, found only on Praslin, are present in the forest year-round but more reliably visible at certain times and in certain sections. A guide who knows where to look transforms a forest walk into a wildlife encounter.
The Evening Programme at the Local Market or Festival
Seychelles has a local community life that is vivid and welcoming, and the evening markets and cultural events that happen in Beau Vallon on Mahé, in the Praslin village areas, and in La Passe on La Digue are genuinely enjoyable for visitors who make the effort to attend.
The Beau Vallon Wednesday evening market has fresh food stalls, local crafts, music, and the kind of easy, relaxed atmosphere that makes an evening feel like it belongs to the place rather than to the resort experience.
Conclusion
A Seychelles all-inclusive is a wonderful base for an Indian Ocean holiday, comfortable, convenient, and genuinely high quality at the better properties. The holidays to mahe seychelles or Praslin or La Digue that stay with visitors longest are the ones where the resort provided the comfort and the island itself provided the experience. Seychelles All Inclusive Resorts designs packages with this balance in mind, the property takes care of the comfort, and the excursion and activity recommendations ensure that every guest finds their way to the Seychelles beyond the pool fence.