The Seychelles has always sat at the pricey end of the Indian Ocean map — the archipelago sits roughly 1,600km off Africa's east coast, far enough out that it never featured on cruise itineraries and never came cheap. That isolation is exactly the draw. Many of the 115-odd islands have never been settled at all, and the country protects two UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the famous raised coral atoll of Aldabra. Condé Nast Traveller likens some of them to miniature Galápagos: places that look largely as they did a million years ago.
The geography matters when you're choosing where to stay. The main island of Mahé is only about 26km long, but it and the neighbouring Inner Islands are thickly forested and ringed with beaches of the almost-unreal variety. Head further out and you hit a scatter of tiny coral specks and atolls spread across enormous distances — some are protected nature reserves, so access is limited and planning matters.
Accommodation here changed shape in the 1990s. Before then, the scene was mostly unassuming guesthouses and small locally owned hotels. Once the government opened up to foreign investment, the big international brands moved in, and today the choice ranges from modest Creole boltholes to full-scale luxury resorts. Condé Nast Traveller's latest edit narrows it down to nine properties, with two headline picks: Six Senses Zil Pasyon, flagged as the top choice for honeymoons, and the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles for families. Their wider criteria mix high-end names with smaller, lesser-known stays, weighing design, location, service and, increasingly, sustainability credentials.
Why does this matter if you're planning a trip? Because the Seychelles rewards a bit of strategy. Island-hopping between Mahé, Praslin and La Digue involves ferries or short flights, and staying on the wrong island for your trip style — honeymoon versus family, beach versus hiking — can eat both time and budget. Editor-vetted shortlists like this one are a decent shortcut, especially in a destination where nightly rates at the top resorts can rival the Maldives. The practical sweet spot for many travellers is combining one statement resort stay with a few nights in a locally owned guesthouse, which gets you the postcard beaches and a feel for Seychellois life without paying five-star prices for every night.
If the list pushes you towards one of its picks, book early: the most sought-after properties on Mahé and the inner islands fill up months ahead for the December-January and April school-holiday windows, and villas with the best positions go first.
