I’ve been to a bunch of new countries this year and the Seychelles was one of them. The Seychelles is situated in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and about 1,600 km east of Kenya. 115 islands make up this country and they are full of lush tropical vegetation, beautiful beaches and a wide variety of marine life. The Inner Island of Mahé is the largest of the Seychelles and together with its neighbours La Digue and Praslin is home to 98% of the population.
4 facts from my time there:
- The food is delicious (think seafood, coconuts, chilies and breadfruit…)
- The language a mixture of French, English and Creole.
- The people are charming, so friendly and welcoming. Loved them!
- The weather is very changeable….and boy do I mean changeable! One minute it was raining cats and dogs, the next blue sky and sun.
The Seychelles has been on my bucket list for ages, so I was super excited when Constance Hotels reached out and asked if I would like to visit for a campaign they were running.
Constance Hotels & Resorts is a collection of hotels and resorts in the Indian Ocean. They have luxury hotels in Mauritius, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Madagascar and they were running a month long campaign called #TrueIndianOcean. I was so happy to be a part of it and on October 14th we jetted off on our 8 hour flight to Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé.
Over the next week we would be staying at both of the Constance Hotels in the Seychelles: Constance Lemuria and Constance Ephelia. First was Constance Lemuria which is located on the North-Western side of Praslin Island. Once we had landed in Mahé, we jumped on another 20 minute flight with Air Seychelles to Praslin Island.
CONSTANCE LEMURIA
Constance Lemuria with its 18-hole championship golf course is unique in the Seychelles. Opened in December 1999, this luxury hotel in Praslin was fully renovated and then reopened in November 2016. Built with a modern approach to design and quality, Constance Lemuria live up to the expectations of guests who enjoy pure luxury and a preserved nature.
Constance Lemuria is gorgeous. When they open the doors and welcome you into the hotel it’s breathtaking with the lush greenery and a three-tiered infinity pool leading down to the turquoise sea below.
The hotel has 105 suites and villas and most of the rooms look out over lush green gardens and Grande Anse Kerlan beach. The stunning grounds never feel busy or crowded because the resort is so spread out and there are always plenty of sunbeds or beach swings available.
Constance Lemuria has a total of 3 beaches to choose from. I loved each of them for different reasons as they all have their own charm:
Grande Anse Kerlan
Beautiful and wild with strong currents and not advised for swimming. This beach is a known turtle nesting ground and I wish we had witnessed the release of hatchlings.
Petite Anse Kerlan
A beautiful smaller beach, perfect for sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling thanks to it’s clear turquoise water and soft, white sand. This is the hotel’s main beach where the sunbeds and beach bar are located.
Anse Georgette beach
I would say Anse Georgette beach is the most beautiful beach on Praslin, and certainly one of the best in the Seychelles. It took my breath away when I first walked onto it. It’s located on the grounds of Constance Lemuria and you can reach it by either a 20 minute walk or a buggy ride through the gorgeous grounds of the golf course.
Speaking of the golf course – that’s actually one of the main features of this hotel. It’s the only 18-hole golf course in the Seychelles! On our first day I had a golf initiation with Gary which was so much fun and I was actually better than I expected!
The 15th hole, perched 250ft above Anse Georgette and the green, is quite incredible. It often features on lists of the world’s most beautiful holes.
The hotel has 4 restaurants to choose from: Legend which is a buffet restaurant (and also where you’ll find breakfast each morning) Diva Restaurant at the golf course, The Nest and Takamaka beach bar which is the perfect spot for lunch (try the sushi – it’s incredible!)
One night we had a special dinner at the wine cellar at Diva Restaurant. It was a really unique evening with delicious food paired with amazing wine. Jérôme the head sommelier was wonderful and so enthusiastic about his wines.
On our last morning there we enjoyed breakfast at ‘on the rocks’ which is a special, private dining area that you can request to have a romantic dinner or breakfast overlooking the infinity blue sea.
Lemuria said goodbye to us by treating us to the most stunning sunset on our last evening. That figure in the sea is me enjoying the beautiful moment the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky lit up in colour. After 3 nights at this paradise in Praslin, it was time to pack our suitcases and fly back to Mahé.
Once we landed back at Seychelles International Airport, we had a 40 minute drive to our next hotel…
CONSTANCE EPHELIA
Spacious contemporary accommodations surrounded by lush landscape and scintillating lagoons, a beautiful spa village to revive your senses; choose from one of our 42 Tropical Garden View Rooms, 184 Junior Suites, 40 Senior Suites, 22 Family Villas, 16 Beach Villas, 8 Hillside Villas or our unique Presidential Villa.
Constance Ephelia is located in a peninsula at Port Launay so you have two bays on each side of the resort, North and South.
North side is home to the main beach but it’s also public so you can expect it to be crowded at the weekends. South Beach is more wild and natural and not as good for swimming. Constance Ephelia is one of the largest resorts in the Indian Ocean with a total of 313 rooms, five restaurants, an enormous spa, four tennis courts, a squash court, a spacious, a gym, zip wire circuit, rock climbing facilities, five shops, a dive center and plenty of watersports.
We were lucky enough to be staying in one of the Hillside Villas and villa number 7 was our home for the 4 nights we were there.
The 8 Hillside Villas, which are built onto the granite rocks, are located at the top of a winding hill and perched above the rest of the resort with a fantastic view of the North Beach and Port Launay Marine park.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love golf buggies so I was over the moon to discover that getting your own buggy was one of the (many) perks of staying in a Hillside Villa! The resort is huge and really spread out with a mangrove forest in the middle so to get from North to South you either have to have your own buggy, bike or wait for the shuttle buggy. I had sooo much fun whizzing around!
Another thing I loved about staying at a Hillside Villa is that every afternoon when we would come back to the villa there would be a freshly baked cake waiting for us. As a Brit, this was just amazing as I love my 4 o’ clock cup of tea! We used to have cuppa, a slice of cake and sit sipping it on our terrace looking at the breathtaking view infront of us. Heaven!
Constance Ephelia is great for families and there is so much to do there from diving, to tennis, a wide range of free watersports (paddle board, kayak, pedalo, snorkelling) to rock climbing. There’s something to suit everyone.
One of the most unique things to do at Constance Ephelia is Zip lining! Their zip line on Ephelia’s Mountain has 8 different lines from 85 m to approx 120 metres. It was so much fun gliding through the forest canopy.
Another fun thing to do is feed the giant tortoises! Head down to the tortoise enclosure at 4pm every day and the staff member on duty will give you greens for you to feed them. It’s a really fun activity and they are such gentle creatures that love a good neck rub. One of them was 170 years old!
Constance Ephelia has 5 restaurants to choose from, each has its own individual style: Corossol is the main restaurant which serves international buffets, Seselwa serves Creole dishes and fresh seafood accompanied with live music, Helios offers a mediterranean menu, their signature restaurant is called Cyann and it’s pretty fancy with a French cuisine, mixed with local and Asian flavours and my personal favourite Adam & Eve which serves Asian cuisine.
Cyann Restaurant
In the centre of Ephelia Resort’s mangrove area is the ‘U Spa’, where we enjoyed a lovely massage. This is the largest spa in the Indian Ocean and they have a number of different treatment rooms, a yoga pavilion, sauna, jacuzzi and a beautiful pool all tucked away in lush tropical gardens.
I love how eco friendly the Constance Hotels are. Their philosophy is ‘True by Nature’ and here are a few ways they try to contribute to a more sustainable future:
- They reduce, reuse and recycle.
- Constance Hotels preserve the nature around them.
- They are Green Globe certified.
- They believe in environmental education and at Constance Lemuria they have an Eco Kiosk where you can learn about the beautiful flora and fauna of Praslin Island.
- The complimentary mineral water that is refilled daily is in glass bottles to minimise plastic waste.
Having experienced both Constance hotels in the Seychelles and seeing how amazing but different they are, I would say Lemuria is more suited to couples while Ephelia is better for families and children as there’s so much to do. Everyone at both resorts was so friendly, the food was incredible and the surrounding nature stunning. The only negative thing is that 7 days just wasn’t enough! 🙂
It’s an amazing place to visit for a holiday or an unforgettable honeymoon. Constance Hotels really do embody the meaning of #TrueIndianOcean.
great write up it looks beautiful
I will put seychelles on my list after seeing those photographs.
Great write up! We are going to the Constance Lemuria and Constance Ephelia in te first week of August this yeat…we can’t wait:)
We also booked a private dinner On The Rocks at Lemuria…hope it is worth it..:)