Mahe Island Highlights Day Trip with Lunch

Victoria: the smallest capital with the busiest market

Victoria sits on the north-east coast of Mahé and is one of the smallest capitals in the world, a grid of a few streets that you can walk in half an hour. At its centre stands the silver-painted clock tower, erected in 1903 as a copy of a London landmark, and around it are the courthouse, the Hindu temple with its brightly coloured gopuram, the cathedral and the covered market, where fish, fruit, spices and vanilla are sold every morning.

Our guide walks you through the market and the main streets, and the stop is long enough for a little shopping. Things to do in Victoria Seychelles usually begin here, and the botanical garden on the edge of town, with its coco de mer palms and giant tortoises, lies just along the route. Victoria is the starting point of this Mahé day tour, and from here the road climbs into the mountains.

Mission Lodge lookout and Morne Seychellois National Park

The Sans Souci road winds up from Victoria over the mountains of Morne Seychellois National Park, which covers about a fifth of Mahé, and the vehicle stops at Mission Lodge, high on the ridge. Here are the stone ruins of Venn's Town, a school and mission founded in 1875 for children freed from slave ships, now a national monument shaded by huge old trees. A few steps further is a wooden viewing pavilion, built for a royal visit, with one of the best panoramas in the Seychelles.

From the lookout you see the whole west coast: the forest dropping to Port Glaud, the island of Thérèse and the endless blue of the Indian Ocean. The Mission Lodge entrance fee is included and the stop lasts about thirty minutes. Is Mission Lodge worth visiting? It is the one place on a Mahé island tour where history and the island's finest view come together.

Le Jardin du Roi spice garden at Anse Royale

On the hills above Anse Royale, in the south-east of Mahé, Le Jardin du Roi is a working spice garden planted on the site of an eighteenth-century royal spice plantation. Shaded paths lead between cinnamon trees, vanilla vines, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, citronella and dozens of fruit trees, with labels and a small museum in the old planter's house. The entrance fee is included and our guide explains how the French first brought spices to the Seychelles.

You spend about an hour here, with time to walk the garden, smell the plants and visit the shop for spices, vanilla and local preserves. Lunch is included during the tour, typically a Creole meal of fish, chicken, rice and salads; drinks with lunch are at your own expense. The spice garden is a favourite with children, who can see where cinnamon and vanilla actually come from.

The coast of Mahé: beaches and viewpoints along the way

Between the stops, the route follows the coast of Mahé with short photo stops at the viewpoints and beaches that make the island famous: the long sands of Anse Royale on the east coast, the palm-fringed bays of the south, and the granite headlands that divide them. Our guide tells you which beaches are best for swimming, where the turtles nest and how the island's villages grew up around the plantations.

Mahé is about twenty-seven kilometres long and most of its roads hug the shore, so the drive is scenic for almost its entire length. The tour ends in the late afternoon with drop-off at your accommodation around 16:00, roughly eight hours after pickup. For a first day on the island, a Mahé island highlights tour is the best way to decide which beaches to return to on your own.