The calmest sea of the year, in the weeks you can travel
The Diwali window
October is one of the two months when the wind changes its mind and both coasts go quiet at once. It also happens to be when half of India can travel.
The best sea of the year lands in the weeks you can travel.
October and the first half of November sit between the two monsoons. The south-east trades have gone, the north-west monsoon has not arrived, and for a few weeks there is no prevailing wind at all. Every coast on every island goes quiet at once and the visibility underwater is the best it gets.
That window happens to be Dussehra, then Diwali. It is not a coincidence that this site keeps pointing at it, and it is the single most useful piece of timing advice we have for an Indian traveller.
The photograph above: NorbertNagel, CC BY-SA 4.0
What the sea actually does in October
It stops having a side. For most of the year one half of each island is calm and the other is not, and choosing a hotel means choosing a coast. In October that choice disappears. Anse Intendance in the south and Beau Vallon in the north west are both swimmable in the same week, which is true of almost no other month.
The underwater visibility follows the same logic. With no wind pushing sand and swell onto a shore, the water clears, and the snorkelling at Sainte Anne, Port Launay and Saint Pierre is at its best of the year.
Diwali here, and what that means practically
Diwali is not a public holiday in Seychelles. The statutory list under the Public Holiday Act is Catholic and civic, and there is no Hindu festival anywhere on it. A surprising number of travel sites say otherwise. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the list and it settles the question in one page.
What is true is better. Diwali is kept here, properly, by a community that has been on these islands since the first settlement in 1770, at the Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar temple on Quincy Street in Victoria. For a visiting family that means there is somewhere to go on the night, a fifteen-minute walk from the middle of the capital, and that nothing else about your week changes. Offices are open, the ferry runs, and the restaurants take bookings as usual.
The temple on Quincy Street
The Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar temple was consecrated in 1992 and its gopuram is one of the few tall things in the middle of Victoria. It is an ordinary working temple rather than a monument, which is what makes visiting it worth doing.
Go in the morning, dress as you would at home, and take your shoes off at the threshold. Our page on the shared history between India and Seychelles goes into the community properly. This page just says: it is there, and it is a short walk from the market.
Prices in the Diwali window
Shoulder, and climbing. October is more expensive than June and much cheaper than December, and the climb starts somewhere in November and does not stop until the middle of January. Book early rather than cheaply.
The one thing that genuinely rises fast is the air fare out of India, because the same holiday that frees your dates frees everybody else's. If your dates are the Diwali week itself, book the flight the day you decide.
The days out
Island tours, boat days, snorkelling and walks, with real ratings, real review counts and free cancellation up to twenty-four hours before.
See the toursWhat we would do with a Diwali week
Praslin and La Digue, in that order, and use the flat sea. Two boat days, one to Curieuse and Saint Pierre and one further out, because these are the weeks when the crossings are comfortable and the visibility is worth the trip.
If the trip is a fortnight, add Mahé at the front for the mountains, the market and the temple, and keep the last night there for the flight home.
If a ceremony is part of the trip
October is when we would marry here, and we say so on the wedding pages as well. The sea holds, the evening light is the best of the year, and the risk of a ceremony being moved for weather is at its lowest.
Set the muhurat and we will build the day around it. What the island cannot do is move the sunset, which is around six all year, so an evening ceremony here is genuinely an evening ceremony and not a late one.
The other window, for balance
April does everything October does and it is quieter, cheaper and easier to book. It falls in the gap after the board exams rather than in a festival week, which makes it harder for a lot of families and much better for the ones it suits.
If your dates are genuinely open and you are choosing on the sea alone, April is the better of the two windows. If they are open and you are choosing on the whole trip, October, for the light.
The Diwali window, in six frames.
Photographs, under Creative Commons: NorbertNagel, CC BY-SA 4.0 Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0 Didi0032, CC BY-SA 3.0 dronepicr, CC BY 2.0 Fabio Achilli, CC BY 2.0 Marek Gehrmann, CC BY-SA 3.0
What people ask.
Is Diwali a public holiday in Seychelles?
No. The statutory list under the Public Holiday Act is Catholic and civic and carries no Hindu festival. Diwali is kept here by the Indian community at the Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar temple on Quincy Street in Victoria, and nothing closes.
Is October a good time to visit Seychelles?
It is one of the two best months of the year. October sits between the two monsoons, the wind drops away, every coast is calm at once and the underwater visibility is at its best.
Will things be closed over Diwali?
No. It is not a statutory holiday here, so offices, shops, hotels, restaurants, the ferry and the tour operators all run exactly as they do on any other day.
Is it expensive in the Diwali window?
Shoulder rates on the islands, rising through November. The air fare out of India is the part that climbs fastest, because the same holiday frees everybody's dates. Book the flight the day you decide.
Can we visit the temple?
Yes. It is a working temple in the middle of Victoria, a short walk from the market. Go in the morning, dress as you would at home and leave your shoes at the threshold.
Is April better than October?
For the sea alone, marginally, and it is quieter and cheaper. For the whole trip, October, because the evening light in October is the best of the year and the dates suit far more Indian families.
The Diwali weeks book earlier than any others
If your dates are the festival week, tell us now rather than in August. Meera will hold the car, the transfers and the boat days while you settle the flights.