Swimming with the current has been my favorite thing, especially in Bali or Hawaii—so how can I have been in the Seychelles? It had just been a country in my passport, a random idea conceived on a late-scroll through various travel blog pages-an island offering me extraordinary magic. As another tropical paradise rooted just miles off the coast of East Africa, Seychelles began to work its way into my heart by the end of the first week. Shimmering coastlines line beaches underfoot with powdery white sand softer than silk, and the turquoise waves wink like an animated gemstone, ever so quietly waving a timeless reminder: “Slow Down” into each wave splash. Seychelles allows the traveler who’s seen it all to encounter the peace of Solomon, not merely a destination. Already gaining impetus, it speaks louder than any other place in 2025.
What draws me is not just the glamour or the attachment to the new generation of reels, but it’s the raw, almost forbidden beauty that I have experienced in Seychelles. The visitor number count was way uphill. The second quarter of 2025 alone offered figures of a 20.3% increase in travel arrival to 94,609, per the latest National Bureau of Statistics records: 78,651 the previous year. The strong surge signals more than just recovery; it goes alongside the budding appeal of the island. By July 31,068 passengers had already landed on the island with projections for the full year going toward the region of 223,475. Truly, paradise is returning to the global map. Of course, stats are stats, but how those remarkable little shores get me with their stories, those hidden coves, and almost embarrassing sunrises where this place becomes my escape. Let’s run it down for you.
I stepped down on Mahé, the largest and indeed politically, civil and commercially the nerve center of the Seychelles. The disorder of the outside world was almost washed away with this touch into the atmosphere, but behind this, outside the hall was not a horde of tourists scrambling for taxis; the air was so full that it felt breezy after seasoned with Frangipani. Mahé is the most populous of the islands, currently home to 90 percent of the total population or about 121,000. Capital city charm again was coming through mixed with the touch urbanism has to offer and beyond that of the natural reserves.
Then I rented a car and drove along the roads winding with granite stones that looked like giants sculptured them from lush hillsides. Victoria is the capital, functional, and noisy, with its colorful market stalls filled with fresh papayas and spices. One of the smallest capitals around, it still carries a hefty colonial presence and a busy harbor. On the very first day, I simply strolled about the Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke market among the crowds, talking in broken French-Creole with my interlocutors about vanilla beans, about whose production Seychelles boasts in bulk.
The streets heading south changed that decision once and for all. Anse Intendance tied with a raw layout of palm trees, crashing waves behind, the sense of being my very own cove of sanctuary. No stone-throw distance between the other resort properties but the full thrust of Indian Ocean counterpart before you—this is a metamorphosis of realization related to how Seychelles must have much to tell more than elegance-one metaphor suffices to say that Seychelles appeared to me and feels like a reawakening of simplicity in a world that’s lost most of its wits toward it.
If there’s anything like a soul to the Seychelles, it is its beaches, and I was completely won over that day. A country with over a hundred islands and each one having its piece of paradise, would place me in the line of choosing from the other lovely child. Here are some that beg them to be imprisoned in the most pleasurable memories from my journey.
An almost contender for the trophy of being the most photographed beach in the world with its convolutions of granite surrounding the shallow lagoons and coconut palms. It is very bright in color when snorkeled in those waters for an afternoon with fishes scampering among the corals. By bike, and that is the rule on La Dique. No other trademark is more distinguishing than a second charm of this island for its little-known entrance ticket: there is absolutely no car traffic on the island.
Anse Lazio-where I sat down and fell in love with my first sunset in Seychelles. This is surrounded by takamaka trees and soft hills.. Swimming is very nice but be careful because of rip currents! The locals frequent this place every weekend, and they would entertain you with their stories, making you one among the family.
These beaches are but strips of sand alive with narratives of possibility. In 2025, with conservation hard at work, sands will remain. This past year saw an 18% surge in May travelers to the tune of 28,161, with one type of tourist being attracted to the shorelines for knickknack easing. I am intrigued though by walking there-for the peace, no vendors, and no high-rise building; simply, nature!
More than pristine beaches, Seychelles boasts substantial wildlife. Indeed, these islands are a UNESCO World Heritage site befitting any account of my gorilla-tracking adventures in Rwanda and whale-hunting exploits in Alaska. So many endemic species exist here.
Curieuse Island is just wild with Giant Aldabra tortoises, most of which are really old measured in some they could be over 150 years old. I remember vividly how George was fed; wise eyes such as his noted some secret tales of the ocean. There is also the Vallée de Mai on Praslin, what seems to be a prehistorical forest home to the cocoa de mer palm. These have become the symbols of the islands because these nuts, being the biggest in the world, have a rather menacing silhouette. I did see quite a rare one from a distance while hiking those misty paths, as it desperately winged between branches.
The ocean is equally beautiful. I cooled off at Sainte-Anne Marine National Park swimming with endangered hawksbill turtles and schools of reef sharks. This is now the sixth park of its kind and so far, at least 150 fish species are covered within it. Some conservationists who analyzed the forecasts for the state of turtles by 2025 reported a 15% increase in sightings of turtles.
Birdwatching Out of the Cousin Island Special Reserve; A single visit for 20 people per day is a maximum assurance that crowds will not dominate. Barrage of Birds: To nest over 300,000 seabirds, including fairy terns and magpie robins, Cousin Island is famous.
Man-made climate change poses a Herculean task for Seychelles, which is committing to 30% of its oceans under no-use areas by 2030. I have gone through these reserves; conservation enhances wildlife and fills the heart with awe for them.
However, Seychelles is not only those collections of naturalities; their culture is another exotic, rich confection, one unfolding like a secret pastime. Only in the last quarter of the 18th century did the islands receive their settlers: the French colonists and the African slaves. Today Seychellois Creole, which 91% of the population speaks together with English and French, serves as lingua franca.
In Victoria, I visited the Natural History Museum, tracing artifacts from uninhabited rocks to a republic. This has been a country since the year 1976 but did not go unscathed-it acquired socialism following a coup in 1977-but the peaceful transfer not without injecting stability into democracy, brought by the election of 2020.
Creole Festivities are the lifeblood of the nation. I made the trip there during Creole Festival, which takes place in October. The air is alive with music played on moutya (a rhythmic drum dance performed during the occasion), while food is another experience: octopus, smothered in salt and simmered in coconut milk, grilled fish with chili, and , a sweet plantain dessert. Markets buzz with vendors selling these alongside handmade crafts.
Religious diversity: Catholicism (61%) seen with dynamic Hindu temples and mosques embodies Indian and Muslim influences.
Art scene: Local artists in the galleries of Eden Island present paintings inspired by the sea, combining abstract into realism.
Community spirit: Seychellois are indeed warm; I was invited to a family barbecue where storytelling was an exchange under starlit skies.
Culture is all its converged beauty, against an horizon witness to historical testimony from the Portuguese who discovered the islands to British annexation. By 2025 it will be a banner waving above all island nations in the world, as ethnic harmony prevails.
For the wired spirit that cannot seem to rest, it has thrills for those who do not take it easy in life. I, for one, am not inclined toward spending long hours on the beach, so I went straight into activities intended to get my heart racing.
With more arrivals, operators are also presenting more options, such as a semi-submarine tour and birding excursion. Most enjoyable? Clear kayak tour at sunset gliding above corals as the sky blazed orange.
Island time! This is what I’ve seen on numerous Seychelles visits. First, secure your Digital Travel Authorisation online, as it’s a precondition and never a reason for learning the cumbersome process—rather easy. Air Seychelles straightforwardly lifts off from Europe and Africa.
Best season(s) to holiday: May to October for cooler weathers; 2025 forecasts indicate less rain. In monetary terms, Seychelles will require plenty of midrange expenditures, considering that something basic to eat easily, for a meal, amounts to $20-30, while accommodations cost at least $150 per night. The currency is the rupee, and cards are almost everywhere.
In the latest news, the spotlight is on significant infrastructure improvements, such as the new Silhouette Island resorts, making accessibility even more convenient and still never breaking the charm.
Seychelles presents a story worth marveling at in the world where locations are eternally at the risk of over-visitation, indeed somewhere that is at the crossroads of luxury and humility and where every sunrise seems to be earned; there go the moments that help me switch off, charge up, and rediscover joy in simple pleasures: a fresh coconut down the beach, a long hike with the forest, or bantering with a fisherman about what he pulled off the day before.
The stats reveal some of the story—last year, it had generated a foreign exchange inflow, nominatively 1.059 billion, that had supported 30% of the jobs in that country-yet its true wild magic would always remain intangible in its biodiversity, the celebrated human warmth, the beaches that cure the soul. As I left the last time, flying high in sky-blue, I knew I was going to come back. Seychelles is not just an escape—it’s a second life in the otherworld. If you want a sanctuary that stays on and on after moving, the taxi is right now moving or wherever you think climate might take it a few weeks’ sail across would be the preferred destination to stopover-travelers, then this is where your path will begin to hike them down both ends.
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