Shallow water, giant tortoises, short days
Seychelles with children
A country that suits children better than its honeymoon reputation suggests, as long as you pick the right coast for the month you are travelling in.
Shallow water, giant tortoises, and everything closes at six.
Seychelles is sold as a honeymoon destination and that has convinced a lot of families it is not for them. It is, and for a specific reason: on the calm coast in any given month, the water is shallow, warm, clear and gentle, and there is a wild animal the size of a coffee table that a six-year-old can walk up to.
What it asks of you is the same thing it asks of everybody, which is that you pick the right coast for the month. With children that is not a preference, it is the whole difference between a fortnight in the water and a fortnight beside it.
The photograph above: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
The beaches that are right with small children
Beau Vallon on Mahé is a long shallow bay with a gentle shelf and it is calm from May to September. Anse Volbert on Praslin sits behind a reef and is calm most of the year. Port Launay is a marine park with almost no swell in it. Anse Sévère on La Digue is shallow and sheltered.
The beaches to look at rather than swim at, with young children, are Anse Intendance and Anse Takamaka on Mahé in the trade-wind months. Both have a shore break that will knock an adult down, and neither has a lifeguard.
The tortoises, which are the actual highlight
Aldabra giant tortoises are wild here and semi-wild in several places children can reach. Curieuse island off Praslin has a free-roaming population and a boardwalk through the mangroves to get to them. There are others on Moyenne in the Sainte Anne marine park, on La Digue, and in various gardens and parks around Mahé.
They are slow, enormous, entirely unbothered by people and older than anybody in your family. No aquarium anywhere produces the reaction that a hundred-year-old tortoise walking past a child does.
Moving around with children
Hire a car on Mahé. With children it is not optional: the bus is charming for one trip and impossible with a pram, beach kit and somebody asleep. On La Digue, bicycles with child seats are standard and the island is flat enough for it.
The ferry is a real boat and it moves. Children generally love it and adults generally do not. Take the morning crossing, sit downstairs and towards the middle, and give anybody prone to seasickness something before boarding rather than after.
A car, delivered
Ten cars, no deposit, handed over at the airport, the jetty or your hotel. The small ones do the whole of Mahé and the Jimny does the hill roads.
See the fleetWhat the days look like
Short. It gets light around six and dark around six, all year, so the day starts early and ends early and that suits small children better than a European summer does. Restaurants close early too, which means dinner at seven is normal rather than eccentric.
The heat is constant rather than extreme, in the high twenties to low thirties. There is no month where it is too hot to be outside at midday, but there is also very little shade on most beaches, so the middle of the day belongs under a tree.
Feeding children, which is easier than feeding adults
Rice, chips, grilled fish, fruit, noodles and fried rice are on every menu on the islands, and the Chinese section of any Creole menu is the reliable one. Bread is good and everywhere. The fruit is the best thing about eating here and children take to it immediately.
Self-catering solves the rest, and with children it solves more than it does for adults: breakfast at your own table, snacks in the fridge, and no negotiation about a restaurant at half past seven.
Health, safety and the one real danger
There is no malaria in Seychelles and no compulsory vaccination for arrivals from India. Tap water on Mahé is treated and generally fine. Bottled is universal and cheap and is what we would use with children on the smaller islands. Crime against visitors is rare.
The one genuine danger is the sea, and it is serious. Rip currents on the exposed coasts kill people every year, there are no lifeguards on most beaches, and the safest thing you can do is treat the coast rule as a safety rule rather than a comfort one.
What we would book for a family of four
A fortnight in June, on the north-west coast, self-catering. One hire car for the whole trip. Mahé for the first week, Praslin and La Digue for the second. Two boat days, one of them to Curieuse for the tortoises.
It is the cheapest good window of the year, it is the emptiest, and it is the one where the calm coasts happen to be the shallow ones.
Seychelles with children, in six frames.
Photographs, under Creative Commons: Radosław Botev, CC BY 3.0 pl NorbertNagel, CC BY-SA 4.0 Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0 A.Savin, FAL Florival fr, CC BY-SA 4.0
What people ask.
Is Seychelles good for children?
Yes, and better than its honeymoon reputation suggests. On the calm coast the water is shallow, warm and gentle, there are free-roaming giant tortoises children can walk up to, and the day starts and ends early, which suits small children.
Which beaches are safest for small children?
Beau Vallon on Mahé from May to September, Anse Volbert on Praslin most of the year, Port Launay marine park, and Anse Sévère on La Digue. Avoid swimming at Anse Intendance and Anse Takamaka in the trade-wind months.
Where can children see giant tortoises?
Curieuse island off Praslin has a free-roaming population and a boardwalk to reach them. There are others on Moyenne in the Sainte Anne marine park, on La Digue and in parks around Mahé.
Is there malaria in Seychelles?
No. There is no malaria and no compulsory vaccination for arrivals from India. Tap water on Mahé is treated and generally fine. Bottled is universal and cheap.
Do we need a car with children?
On Mahé, effectively yes. The bus is charming once and impractical with a pram, beach kit and a sleeping child. On La Digue, bicycles with child seats are standard and the island is flat enough for it.
Is the ferry all right for children?
Children usually enjoy it more than adults do. Take the morning crossing, sit downstairs and towards the middle, and give anybody prone to seasickness something before boarding rather than after.
Tell us the ages and we will pick the coast
How old the children are, which weeks the school gives you, and whether anybody is nervous in water. Meera will send back the coast, the beaches and the car.