DESTINATION · SEYCHELLES
The Seychelles, without the resort
The only granite islands in the middle of an ocean anywhere on earth — and, unlike the Maldives, a place with roads, buses, villages and guesthouses. You can do this one independently.
- Airport
- SEZ · Seychelles
- On sale
- 12 of 12 months
- Airport spread
- £1,127 across 6 UK airports
Today's best fare
London Seychelles
£630 £631 −0%
Measured on a live search, refreshed hourly. Prices move — confirm on Kiwi.com.
Departure airports
£1,127 apart, depending where you take off
Every UK airport searched separately for this destination, cheapest first, as a return fare for one person with taxes in. Manchester to Seychelles and London to Seychelles are not the same route and we do not price them as one. Each figure is a fare of one stop at most — the same limit as the price at the top of this page — and each is that airport's own cheapest week, so the dates change from row to row. Every link opens on the dates its price was found on.
6 of 10 airports have a fare to Seychelles within one stop today. The rest either need two connections and most of a day to get there — which we will not print a price for — or did not answer the last search. London covers Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City and Southend in one search.
The year, month by month
When Seychelles is worth the airfare
Average daytime high for each month. The greyed months are ones we refuse to advertise — not because they are cheap, but because the place cannot deliver what the page promises.
- Jan 30°
- Feb 30°
- Mar 31°
- Apr 32°
- May 31°
- Jun 29°
- Jul 28°
- Aug 28°
- Sep 29°
- Oct 30°
- Nov 30° today's fare
- Dec 30°
12 of 12 months on sale. No closed season.
The Seychelles sit just below the equator, so there is no temperature season here at all — the air and the sea barely move through the year. What changes is the trade wind, and it changes twice. The north-west trades bring the wetter, hotter, stiller half, with short heavy afternoon rain and calm seas on the north and west coasts. The south-east trades bring the drier, breezier half, with choppier seas on the south-east and clearer air.
That reversal is the thing to plan around, because it moves the seaweed and the swell from one side of each island to the other. In the south-east trades the windward beaches collect drifting seagrass and the ferry crossings get rough; in the north-west season the same beaches are glassy and the leeward ones take the weather instead. Neither half closes anything, which is why this destination carries no closed months.
The two short transitional periods between the trades are the local consensus for the best conditions: light winds, clear water and the best diving visibility of the year. For a British calendar these fall in the spring and the autumn, which conveniently sits either side of the peak. Christmas and New Year is the single most expensive fortnight here, with resorts imposing minimum stays; the weeks after it are among the cheapest.
Buy the travel authorisation, not a visa
There is no visa for the Seychelles, but you cannot board without a Travel Authorisation — about €10.90 standard on the government's own site. Apply up to thirty days ahead; the agency sites charge several times it.
The case for it
Why Seychelles
The Seychelles are geologically unique. Every other mid-ocean island group is volcanic or coral; these are fragments of continental granite, left behind when India tore away from Africa a hundred million years ago. That is why the beaches look the way they do — the boulders on Anse Source d'Argent are eroded bedrock, sculpted and weathered, not lava or reef. It is also why the islands have plants and animals found nowhere else.
For a British traveller the important difference from the Maldives is structural. These are inhabited islands with roads, buses, shops and villages, not private resort atolls, and since the 1990s the self-catering and guesthouse sector has grown enormously. You can hire a car on Mahé, take a public ferry to Praslin for the price of a train ticket, and stay in a family guesthouse for a fraction of a resort rate — none of which is possible in the Maldives.
The reservations are cost and effort. This is still an expensive country: imported food is dear, restaurant meals cost European prices, and the inter-island ferries are not cheap for a family. And it is not the frictionless experience of a resort — you organise your own transport, the buses are slow, and Mahé's roads are steep, narrow and unlit at night. The reward is that you see the country rather than a curated slice of it.
On the ground
Five things worth doing
- 01
Walk into the Vallée de Mai on Praslin
A UNESCO palm forest that has barely changed in millions of years, home to the coco de mer — the largest seed of any plant on earth, weighing up to twenty-five kilos, which grows nowhere else. Entry is about €25 (£22). It takes two hours on marked paths and it is genuinely primeval; General Gordon thought it was the Garden of Eden and wrote a paper arguing so. Go early for the black parrots, which are noisiest before nine.
- 02
Cycle La Digue to Anse Source d'Argent
La Digue has almost no cars — transport is bicycles, and hire is about €10 (£8.70) a day from the jetty. The beach at the southern end, behind the old coconut plantation at L'Union Estate, costs about €10 (£8.70) to enter and is the most photographed shoreline in the Indian Ocean: granite boulders, shallow water, no surf. Go at low tide, which is when the sand flats between the boulders open up, and check the tide table rather than the clock.
- 03
Take the Cat Cocos rather than a flight
The catamaran ferry from Mahé to Praslin costs about €56 (£49) one way in economy, and Mahé to La Digue about €68 (£59), plus a €2 port tax. Book ahead in the busy season. It is an hour on open ocean and it is often rough — take something for it if you are prone. The alternative is a fifteen-minute flight at roughly double, which is faster and considerably less interesting.
- 04
Drive the Mahé west coast
Hire a car for about £45 a day and take the road over the Sans Soucis pass and down the west side to Anse Intendance and Anse Takamaka. All the beaches are free and public — there is no such thing as a private beach in the Seychelles, by law. The roads are single track with blind bends and no barriers, and they are driven on the left. Do it in daylight; there is almost no street lighting outside Victoria.
- 05
Snorkel Sainte Anne or Curieuse
The marine national park across from Victoria has reef and turtles a few hundred metres offshore; Curieuse, off Praslin, has free-roaming giant tortoises and a mangrove boardwalk. A day boat with lunch runs about £70 to £90 including the park fee. Coral bleaching has hit these islands hard over the past decade and the reefs are recovering rather than pristine — the granite scenery, not the coral, is what makes the Seychelles.
After the flight
What it costs once you land
Guesthouse and self-catering prices rather than resort ones. Almost all food is imported, which is why the supermarket is expensive and the fish is not.
- Beer, local bar £2.60 a Seybrew; a resort bar is three times it
- Dinner for two, mid-range £45 creole restaurant; a takeaway from a roadside stall is under £8
- Airport to Beau Vallon £20 taxi, about thirty minutes; the public bus is under £1
- Car hire, per day £45 the practical way to see Mahé; a small fleet, so book ahead
- Ferry to Praslin £49 one way per adult in economy, plus a small port tax
- Takeaway creole curry £4
Checked August 2026. Sources at the foot of this page.
Before you book
Practical, for a British passport
Entry rules are for a British Citizen passport holder and come from gov.uk, read on 2026-08-07. They change; check before you fly.
- Airport
- SEZ, on Mahé just south of Victoria, and about twenty-five minutes from Beau Vallon. Domestic flights to Praslin leave from the same airport and take fifteen minutes. The inter-island ferry jetty is at Victoria, ten minutes from the terminal, and the timing of the last sailing is the thing to check against a late arrival.
- Entry
- Travel Authorisation, applied for online. EUR 10.90 (about £10) — standard processing; card charges take most applications to about €12. Up to visitor's permit for 3 months on arrival, extendable. Valid for the duration of your stay. Not a visa, but you cannot board without it. Apply at seychelles.govtas.com up to 30 days ahead; an express option costs more and exists for emergencies. You may be asked at the border for a return ticket, confirmed accommodation and evidence of funds, and for proof of travel insurance — the Seychelles asks for it more often than anywhere else on this list.
- Currency
- Seychellois rupee. Cards are accepted in hotels, restaurants and supermarkets; buses, market stalls and small guesthouses want cash. Euros are widely quoted for tourism services — ferries, car hire, excursions — and it is worth carrying some. There is no reason to obtain rupees before you arrive.
- Language
- Seychellois Creole is what people speak; English and French are both official and both universal in tourism and on signage. No barrier at all for a British visitor.
- Time zone
- Three hours ahead of the UK in winter and two ahead of British Summer Time. The Seychelles does not change its clocks, so the gap moves when Britain does. Being near the equator, sunrise and sunset barely shift through the year — around six and six.
- Plugs
- Type G, 240V — the British three-pin plug, fitted as standard throughout the islands. No adapter needed, which is true of only three destinations on this list.
- Health
- The GHIC does not apply. There is a hospital in Victoria and clinics on the main islands; anything serious means evacuation to Réunion or further, so insurance covering that is essential rather than advisable, and it should cover diving if you intend to. Tap water on Mahé is treated and generally safe; most visitors drink bottled. Mosquito-borne dengue occurs.
- Safety
- The FCDO has no warning against travel. Violent crime is rare, but opportunistic theft from parked cars, unattended beach bags and self-catering properties is common enough that it is the standard local advice — take nothing to the beach you cannot lose. The sea is the other risk: several west-coast beaches have strong currents in the windy season and none are lifeguarded.
A bed
Where to stay in Seychelles
Three islands rather than three neighbourhoods, connected by a ferry that costs about fifty pounds a hop. Most trips take two of them; a fortnight can take all three.
Beau Vallon, Mahé
The long sheltered bay on Mahé's north-west coast, with most of the island's hotels, guesthouses and restaurants and the widest choice at every price. Ten minutes from Victoria and twenty-five from the airport, with a car making the rest of the island easy. Busier and more built than the other two islands, and the beach is good rather than extraordinary by local standards.
Stays in Beau Vallon Opens in a new tab PALMS AND BEACHESPraslin
An hour by ferry, quieter, and the base for the Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio, which is regularly named among the best beaches in the world. A good mix of guesthouses and resorts. There are buses and hire cars, distances are short, and it makes the natural middle leg of a trip. Fewer restaurants than Mahé and prices a little higher for imported everything.
Stays in Praslin Opens in a new tab NO CARSLa Digue
Fifteen minutes on from Praslin, three thousand people, almost no motor traffic and bicycles as the way to move. Anse Source d'Argent is here. Small guesthouses rather than hotels, and the pace drops the moment you step off the jetty. The trade-off is limited choice, a short list of restaurants, and everything closing early.
Stays in La Digue Opens in a new tabEvery area pinned on one map, set to the dates of the fare above. Change them for your own trip and it reloads live availability.
Open the Seychelles map Opens in a new tabGetting around
On Mahé, hire a car. It is the only practical way to reach the west and south coast beaches, it costs about forty-five pounds a day, and driving is on the left with a British licence accepted. The fleet is small and books out in the busy season. The roads are single track in places, steep, and unlit — plan to be back before dark on your first couple of days.
The public buses on Mahé and Praslin are cheap, frequent on the main routes and genuinely usable, running for well under a pound a journey with exact change. They are how the islands travel. On La Digue there is no need for either: bicycle hire at the jetty is about ten euros a day and the island is four kilometres across.
Between islands, the Cat Cocos catamaran connects Mahé to Praslin and on to La Digue several times a day, at roughly fifty to sixty pounds a leg. Book ahead in the busy season, and take a seasickness tablet — the crossing is open ocean and it is regularly rough. Domestic flights to Praslin cost about double and take fifteen minutes.
Food and local tips
Seychellois creole cooking is African, French and Indian at once, and the constant is fish. Grilled red snapper or job fish with creole sauce, octopus curry with coconut milk, and ladob — plantain or breadfruit simmered in coconut and nutmeg — are the three to look for. The takeaway counters, which every village has, sell a full plate for three or four pounds and are where the country actually eats. Restaurant prices are European; takeaway prices are not.
Almost all groceries are imported, so a supermarket shop costs more than at home and self-catering saves less than you would expect. The exceptions are fish, bought at the Victoria market or from a roadside stall in the afternoon, and fruit. The Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke market in Victoria is the one to visit, in the morning, for both. Tipping is not expected and a service charge is usually included.
Grilled fish from a takeaway counter
Whole red snapper with creole sauce, rice and lentils, handed over in a foil tray from a village counter. About 60 rupees (£3.50), and better than the same fish plated in a hotel for ten times it.
Ready for the Seychelles?
Pick your departure airport and see what the route costs today from each of the ten we track.
See the £630 fare Opens in a new tabSame band
Other long-haul destinations
Where the numbers came from
- Cat Cocos ferry fares between Mahé, Praslin and La Digue seyferry.com Opens in a new tab read 2026-08-08
- Vallée de Mai entrance fee sif.sc Opens in a new tab read 2026-08-08
- The Travel Authorisation, its cost and entry rules gov.uk Opens in a new tab read 2026-08-08
- Entry rules for a British Citizen passport gov.ukOpens in a new tab read 2026-08-07