The Best Honeymoon Hotels in the Seychelles

Set high on stilts in the forested hillside above Petite Anse bay, this resort puts the most private beach on Mahé at your bare feet. Ask for a Serenity or Hilltop Ocean View villa, luxurious treehouses for lovers, where only the occasional low-flying fruit bat will share the seclusion of evenings beside your own infinity pool.

As honeymooners arriving on Praslin by boat or chopper, you’re welcomed Relais & Châteux-style – with a bottle of bubbly and a massage. When you can tear yourself from the daybed on your private terrace, a complimentary electric car will get you to any of the celebrated white beaches on the island – or take a 20-minute boat trip to the hotel’s own deserted private island, Grande Soeur, to snorkel with sea turtles and barbecue on the sands.

This is the epitome of seductive island living, from Bill Bensley-designed thatch villas above Anse Louis beach in Mahé, to private dining offerings. Start on the spa deck in the palm forest, where two therapists massage you both with ‘20 dancing fingers’. Then feed each other delicacies from a spa gourmet meal, then return to your candlelit villa, where a rose petal bath awaits.

This may be set on the only 18-hole championship golf course in the Seychelles, but the hotel couldn’t be more romantic – even for partners who don’t play. Obliging staff make fantasies come true, arranging anything from a glass of champagne in a privileged golf-course setting, to a private candlelit lobster dinner among the granite boulders (or on the sands) accompanied by live music.

This honeymooners’ paradise is on Praslin – just 15 minutes from the airport, but another world. British general Charles George Gordon thought he’d found the Garden of Eden here in 1881, when above the pristine beaches he found the huge fruits of the rare, indigenous coco de mer palm. He took it for the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, writing: ‘Externally the coco de mer represents the belly and thighs, the true seat of carnal desires.’ Have fun deciding for yourselves.

If your dream of island romance is unspoilt seclusion, the island of La Digue has it. There’s no airstrip, and you get around by boat, bicycle or ‘ox taxi’ – an ox-drawn cart. How better to discover the island and each other, before retreating to your Zen-like Balinese bungalow on a forested hill studded by giant granite rocks?

The villas of Six Senses are tucked away among the palms and boulders on well-named Félicité Island, and each has a private infinity pool above the dream beach. Loll here when not frolicking in the shallows. Then, at night, recline on a lounger under the stars and listen to the breeze in the palms – or take in a private movie screening for two on a huge outdoor cinema screen, complete with surround sound and popcorn.

A 30-minute plane flip from Mahé gets you to this slice of paradise, a bird-shaped coral island in a private nature reserve and bird sanctuary where giant tortoises roam. There are no televisions or phones, just the sound of the sea, bird calls and the rustling palm fronds above the pristine beach. And each other, of course.

This is where George and Amal Clooney spent their honeymoon – a sensational 15-minute helicopter ride from Mahé. Privacy and exclusivity rule, with just 11 simple but luxurious villas, and discreet staff who will serve a home-style menu to your villa or on the sands. Alternatively, the Piazza Bar & Lounge takes a laid-back approach to fine dining using locally sourced ingredients; try the squid ink linguini with lobster.

On this most eastern of the Seychelles inner islands, 55km (34mi) east of Mahé, a private butler will make whatever arrangements you choose – including setting up a white-linen lunch on your private stretch of beach or in the branches of a banyan tree. Explore 11km of forest trails on foot, on mountain bikes or on your villa buggy, then stargaze from a boat on a smooth night sea.

Here your villa comes with a private infinity pool, wrapped in forest above the white sand and translucent waters of Anse Takamaka – considered one of the best beaches in the world. And in true Raffles style, it comes with 24-hour butler service to arrange anything from beach cocktails to a helicopter ride. Honeymooners are treated to a 60-minute massage, bottle of champagne, island fruits and a truly romantic villa set-up.

Your honeymoon tale starts just a 30-minute drive from the international airport on Mahé, in a villa with a giant bathtub above Beau Vallon Beach – 3km (2mi) of blonde sand and pale water held by a coral reef. For couples who like to do more than laze together, there’s every variety of watersport at your bare feet, and the capital, Victoria, with craft shops and cafes to explore, is a 10-minute taxi ride away.

Your villa of natural stone and wood is set between the forested peaks and impossibly blue sea of Mahé. Arrange a private dining experience from sushi by candlelight on the beach to a picnic on top of a hill known as Mount Kempinski. Or maybe in-villa dining on the likes of braised local red snapper with fennel marmalade, potatoes and grapefruit dressing. End with Takamaka rum panna cotta with a passionfruit sauce.