Airport transfers
After a night in the air,
someone is holding your name.
A fixed price agreed before you travel, a driver who watches your flight, and nothing to pay until you are on the island.
Tell us the flight.
Fill this in and Meera comes back with the car, the driver's name and a fixed price, in writing, usually the same day.
Three steps, and none of them is a payment.
- One. You book
- The flight number, the date, how many of you and where you are staying
- Two. We confirm
- A fixed price and the driver's name, in writing, before you fly
- Three. You land
- He is in the arrivals hall with a board, and he has been watching the flight
The price is fixed and confirmed beforehand. It does not move because the flight was late, because the road was slow, or because it is two in the morning. That is the whole point of arranging it before you leave home.
Nothing is charged on this site. We do not take card details and there is no deposit. You pay the driver on the island.
How far it actually is.
Driving times from Seychelles International, on ordinary traffic. Mahé is a small island with one coast road and a mountain in the middle, so a short distance is not always a short drive.
| Victoria and Eden Island | about 20 minutes |
|---|---|
| The Cat Cocos ferry quay | about 30 minutes |
| Anse Royale | about 40 minutes |
| Beau Vallon | about 45 minutes |
| Glacis | about 55 minutes |
| Anse Louis and Barbarons | about an hour |
| Baie Lazare | about an hour |
| Port Launay | about an hour and five minutes |
Approximate driving times, published by SeyBooking.com. Add fifteen minutes at the end of a working afternoon around Victoria.
A private car from the airport starts at around €40, which is about ₹4,400, for the close destinations, Victoria and Eden Island, and rises with the distance. The exact figure for your route comes back with the confirmation.
The far corners are the ones worth planning. Baie Lazare and Port Launay are an hour from the terminal, and after a flight from India through the Gulf that hour is the longest part of the day. It is also the hour in which the island stops being an idea and becomes a real place out of the window.
What the hall looks like.
Photographs: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Seychelles International has one arrivals hall and it is smaller than most domestic terminals in India. You clear immigration, you collect the bags, you walk out, and the drivers are the first thing on the other side of the doors.
There is no queue to join and nothing to arrange on arrival. If you did not book anything, there are taxis outside and they will take you, at a price you negotiate standing on the kerb at whatever hour you happen to have landed. That is the whole difference this page is about.
Which of the two you actually want.
A transfer is booked in advance for a particular flight, and the price is agreed before you travel. A taxi is taken when you need one, and the price is agreed at the kerb. Both are private cars with a local driver. The difference is entirely about when the price is settled and whether anyone is expecting you.
For the arrival, take the transfer. You will have been travelling for the better part of a day, quite possibly with children, and the last thing worth doing at that point is negotiating.
For a dinner in Victoria on the fourth evening, take a taxi. It is the same cars and often the same drivers.
The six that arrive every week.
What happens if the flight is late?
The driver follows the flight number, which is the reason the form asks for it. If you land two hours late he is still there, and it costs nothing more. A Mumbai flight that slips is the most ordinary thing in the world here.
Where does the driver wait?
In the arrivals hall, with a board with your name on it. The airport is small and there is one way out of it, so you cannot walk past him.
Do we pay anything now?
No. Nothing is charged on this site and no card details are asked for. You pay the driver on the day, in cash or by card if you arrange it beforehand.
Can we get child seats?
Yes, and they are free. Say the ages of the children in the notes when you book so the right seats are in the car before it leaves for the airport.
We are six with a lot of luggage. Is that a problem?
No, it is the normal Indian family booking here and there are vans and minibuses for it. Say how many suitcases as well as how many people, because six people with eight cases is a different vehicle from six people with four.
Is a transfer better than hiring a car?
They answer different questions. A transfer solves the night you land, when nobody wants to meet a rental agent and read a map. A car solves the rest of the week. Most people who take a car still take a transfer for the first night, and we hand the car over at the hotel the next morning.
Know your flight number?
Send it with the date and where you are staying. You get the car, the driver's name and a fixed price back in writing.