The Best Luxury Hotels to Book in the Seychelles

Each of the 28 villas on the well-named island of Félicité has a private infinity pool in which you can contemplate the pristine beauty of the beach below. And you have the satisfaction of knowing the footprints you leave there are light – fresh, organic produce is grown on the resort and used in the five-star meals, while indigenous species are planted to restore island vegetation, and coral fragments are cultivated in a nursery and transplanted back to the reef.

The wood, stone, granite and thatch of Praslin Island have been magicked into this five-star resort around the only 18-hole golf course in the Seychelles. It’s the ultimate place to play – if you’re not too distracted by the dazzling sea views or the myriad other activities on offer, from exploring world-famous dive sites to indulging in customised spa treatments.

Beneath their messy thatch fringes, these Bill Bensley-designed villas in the forests of Mahe are all sleek sophistication, the glass walls opening to private decks with infinity pools and loungers. Dine right there, or on the porcelain sands below, wherever or whenever you choose, on meals personalised by the chef.

Secluded in the lush forest of the Saint Anne Marine Park on a tiny – and definitely enchanted – island off Mahe, each of the 10 traditional island villas has a pool and pathway to the beach. Between swimming and snorkelling in crystal-clear waters, and being massaged to nirvana in the hilltop spa, you’ll feast on contemporary Creole dishes celebrating fresh seafood, tropical fruits and spices.

The crescent moon of pale sand and warm turquoise water of Anse Takamaka have put it among the top beaches in the world. And what more luxurious way to experience it than from a plush private villa with the 24-hour Raffles Butler service? You’ll get anything from a classic cocktail to a helicopter flip to another island or marine park at your fingertips.

This luxury resort lays across two of the best beaches in Mahe and looks over Port Launay Marine Park – famous for its sightings of whale sharks, gentle giants of the sea. Choose between garden-view rooms or beach or hillside villas set in gardens around shimmering lagoons and swimming pools. But there’s little better than chilling on a pristine beach.

The five-star swimming pool at the Savoy is the biggest in the Seychelles. Then again, everything about this resort is big, from the classically elegant rooms and suites with vast comfort-engineered beds, to the restaurants spilling out to poolside terraces, the soaring peaks of the Morne Seychellois National Park in the vista beyond, and the endless blue of the sea.

The only thing more luxurious than having an island to yourself is having it run by the Hilton group. This means you can hike the rainforests, snorkel, dive and go on a sunset cruise around Silhouette Island, then return to a beautifully appointed villa to freshen up, before exploring eight restaurants serving everything from barbecues on the beach to an intimate gourmet meal in the island’s original plantation house.

These quietly stylish villas hugging a hillside above a beach on Mahe bring the outdoors in, with natural stone feature walls and wood furnishings. Just the place to retreat to after a day diving, hiking Morne Seychellois National Park, or exploring the capital, Victoria, and the museums, art galleries and small independent art studios of the island.

This is your secret-island fantasy come true – a private coral island, where you can have a porcelain, palm-fringed beach to yourself, and dive in impossibly blue water to a maze of caves in a dramatic sheer drop-off. Afterwards you can dine in your rustic but luxurious villa or on the sands, splurging on a private in-villa chef and butler.

No real need to book one of the beach pool villas here, lovely as they are – the ocean is your private pool, thanks to a natural reef just 50m (165ft) from the dazzlingly white beach in this stretch of Mahe coast. Join a guided snorkelling tour, or simply swim out yourself, or take a kayak in this romantic water paradise. At night, under the white cotton canopy of your king-size bed, you’ll dream of surf and sea.