What should you look for in your baby-moon holiday? For us, it was a balanced mix between discovering a new place and relaxing. Depending on where you are in your pregnancy and how you feel, you can emphasise more one of the two components. For example, you can read about our first baby moon in Sri Lanka and Maldives here. As I was in early second semester, the accent was more on discovering a new place than relaxing at the beach/pool.

This time around we had already planned several trips before getting around to do the baby moon and I was in the last two weeks of my second trimester. We therefore had to prioritise resting a bit more, especially as the humid heat takes a toll on my heavier belly.

Of course, none of this should replace the advice of your doctor that knows how the pregnancy is evolving. I also recommend you carry a paper with the ‘ Fit to fly’ and pregnancy age, especially if the bump is visible. Some airlines might ask how far along you are and is good to have something on hand.

Now, why the Seychelles for a baby moon?

First, health/safety: there is no need for anti- malaria medicine or tropical vaccines. Also, there is no Zika risk. Although it is geographically in Africa, Seychelles are a comparatively safer area to visit, especially during pregnancy. This being said, there is a small risk of dengue fever so you should still take reasonable precautions against mosquitos bites at dusk. I did not find there were so many mosquitoes though. Even so, I used a natural citronella oil as repellent and it worked well.

Second logistics: getting there from Europe is not the shortest flight but still reasonable in terms of distance compared with other tropical destinations. It takes about 8h from Istanbul.

Once you reach the Seychelles, the area to explore is not that big. You will manage to get a good overview of the three main islands in about 2 weeks without having to change locations too often. Also transport links are good and run very often between the islands. On each island, the main attraction are the wonderful beaches, many of which can be accessed by car, boat or bicycle.

Third, accommodation: there are some amazing high-end properties just made for romantic days in the Sun and relaxing. So if you are in no mood for exploration or the weather is not that great, there is always an amazing pool or SPA where you can relax and get a pampering prenatal massage. There are even a few properties that have their own island for ultimate privacy. Some of these properties are prohibitive in terms of price but you will find some great beach properties on Mahe for a reasonable price.

We mixed it up a bit in terms of accommodation. We booked a couple of resorts on smaller islands and a very nice serviced apartment on the main island. That allowed us to have a luxury stay as well as a closer-to-culture experience.

Finally, the ideal weather. Seychelles has good weather year round. Many tropical destinations have their rainy season in the European Summer. Seychelles has lovely weather even if it is not the high season for travelling in the region. High season comes around in Dec- January and temperatures raise above 30 Celsius. Accommodation prices are also at their highest in the European Christmas and New Year holidays.

If you decided the Seychelles are a good fit, here is how I would recommend splitting your time and a few accommodation ideas for a DIY Seychelles babymoon.

Seychelles are composed of about two dozen islands of different sizes. Not all  islands are inhabited. Unless you will be looking for the ultimate escape in one of the few private islands, you will be interested in visiting the main 3 inhabited ones: Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.

We divided our time as follows and would not change a thing: 5 nights on Praslin, 3 nights on la Digue and 4 nights on Mahe.

First stop: Praslin

Praslin is the perfect start of the trip as is has a few attractions and is a great place to ease into the holidays. If you plan to spend time only on two islands, I would add a few days extra for Praslin compared to Mahe. Praslin is also the launching pad for visiting some smaller islands like Courieuse and Cousin.

In order to reach Praslin after arriving in the international flight, you just need to walk the 100m from the international arrivals to the domestic terminal and catch one of the hourly internal Air Seychelles flights. Tickets can be bought on their website in advance and average at 100 Euro per person return. It is the fastest and most effective way to reach Praslin as the flight only takes 15 min. It is also a very panoramic flight above the inner Seychelles islands and atolls.

The alternative (slightly cheaper) is the Cat Coco Ferry Mahe- Praslin but that would take about one hour and might get pretty bumpy if the sea is rough.

For accommodation, we enjoyed and can recommend the Constance Lemuria resort on the North tip of the island. Why we chose it: It has access to three lovely beaches (one of which turned out to be one of our favourite beaches in the whole trip: Anse Georgette，with about 100 suites still manages to retain a cosy and friendly feel and they had several complimentary water activities and a PADI diving Center ( for my husband) and a lovely SPA ( for me :). They even had a kids club and a play ground so it would also be a good fit for families. Our next post will focus on what to visit and where to eat local food on Praslin.

Second stop: ultimate relaxation on La Digue

The smallest of the three islands, La Digue is the most quiet due to the lack of cars. The mode of transport of choice is by rental bike. There are a few golf carts too (especiallly to and from the getty) but they are mostly for carrying luggage and not sightseeing.

How to get to La Digue: we took a short ferry ride from Praslin (Cat Rose). It leaves several times per day and it takes about 15-20 min for the one way trip. In high season, you can book your tickets online to be sure you will have a place on the departure that best suits your schedule. Once arrived, our accomodation was waiting with a golf cart to pick us and the luggage up and wisk us to La Orageraie Resort and Spa.

This was our second resort stay on this trip and it had a very different atmosphere than Lemuria. The accomodation was in villas scattered through the forest, that blended amazingly well with the surroundings. I loved the SPA view, it was located on the highest point of the hill, with a open air panorama stretching all the way to the beach. It was a very romantic place for a few days but the island is very small and we did get itchy feet after a few nights.

Last stop: Sightseeing and final beach days in Mahe

Mahe has the only international airport and is where you will land from your inbound flight. It is also where the capital is and where most of the population lives. While being a bit larger than its sisters, Mahe has a bit more to explore outside the famous beaches. It therefore made sense to rent a car for the entire duration we were there and have the freedom to move around. We arrived by internal plane from Praslin. The views from the small plane were really lovely!

Mahe can be split into 3 main areas: the North tip and Victoria, the East Coast and the West Coast. The interior is hilly, densely forested and home to a national park and Estates. The roads linking the East Coast to the West one are often narrow and winding up and down in some steep bends. Even if on the map the distance might look small, driving is often slow and traffic is common in the afternoon. However, a car is often the only way to reach some of the more secluded bays.

In Mahe, I would recommend using the area of Beau Vallon as a base. There are some great beaches and resorts on the East Coast too but that will put you quite far away from everything else. Beau Vallon is in the North of the Island and has an easily accessible beach if you are not in the mood for driving to a new beach every day. Restaurants are also available as are operators offering scuba and snorkel tours. There is also a great Wednesday food market but more on this and other things to do in the area in our next post with the itinerary.

In Mahe we went for s self catering apartment within 10 min walk from the beach. It has two bedrooms and a super large kitchen. It is ideal for a family as only 300m from the Supermarket. We enjoyed the extra space and the flexibilty around organising our own breakfast and dinner. The place was called Tropical Hideaway. The reception lady was very nice, always asking how I am and if all s weel with the baby and gave us some good recommendations for restaurants in Beau Vallon. The house has 3 floors and there are 2 apartments per floor. It is a cosy and familiar place.

One of the best dinners we had during our Seychelles vacation was a delicious Red Snapper at the Wednesday food market in Beau Vallon. Another good experience as the Takamaka rum distillery. Stay tuned for restaurant recommendations in our next post.

Let me know if you have any questions on Seychelles or organising your DIY baby moon.

Happy travels!

CGK