Matt of Canada

Although we greatly enjoyed our guesthouses in La Digue and Praslin, we were excited to get the true honeymoon experience for our three days in Mahé! Mahé is home to many 5-star resorts with the sky-high prices the Seychelles is (unfairly) known for. Fortunately, we hoard points for just these situations.  We stayed at Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove on Beau Vallon beach. This hotel normally goes for more than $500 USD/night, but I used 12,000 SPG points per night instead.

We arrived at the Le Meridien expecting luxury, but I didn’t expect to be very impressed, since I’m not that into luxury hotels in general, especially cookie-cutter chains. I was very wrong – this place is incredible. I understand why all the other honeymooners spend much more than we do! The moment we got to the door the incredible service started. They immediately took our bags and passport (to fill in all the registration details for us) and worked to get our room ready quickly (even though check in wasn’t for a few more hours). The only downside of this hotel: its pull was so strong that we didn’t spend enough time exploring the rest of Mahé!
We walked around the lobby and saw that the breakfast buffet looked excellent, but with a price 400 SCR/$30 USD per person. We politely asked the front desk agent for free breakfast since it was our honeymoon. After checking with the manager she gave it to us! Not only did they throw in the two free breakfasts each, they also brought us pastries and orange juice while we waited for our room.

My SPG Gold status (Americans and Canadians can get SPG Gold for free if you hold an Amex Platinum card) got us a free upgrade, so our room was a beautiful villa right above the boardwalk, overlooking the ocean and close to the pool. The room was huge and the bathroom even bigger, with a large bath and shower. We also had a big patio in the front which was perfect for meals with an ocean view. 

Once we spent a sufficient amount of time fawning over our room, we got in our car for a beautiful drive on very slow, winding roads to the Capolia Trail. This was a short but steep hike (200 vertical metres in around 1km) so it was the perfect workout. The flora reminded us of the Fond Ferdinand hike, and the views from the top were also outstanding. We only saw two other couples on the hike (both German) – hiking in the Seychelles is extremely underrated! 

On our way back we stopped at The Copper Pot for some excellent Indian food. There are only two options, a veg or nonveg thali, and we only payed 75scr ($5.50) each. We spent the meal chatting with a honeymooning American couple, the only North Americans we saw in the Seychelles. 

The afternoon was spent lazing around the hotels pool and the beach. For dinner we drove to Coco Soleil for affordable takeaway pizza and cake which we ate on our patio. 

The following morning we slept in, enjoyed the excellent breakfast, and settled into lazy fancy-hotel honeymoon mode. In the afternoon we went for a drive around southern Mahé to explore a few beaches, all of which were nice but not as nice as the best ones on La Digue and Praslin. For dinner we returned to Copper Pot, but after some miscommunication we learned they have no vegetarian meals for dinner. Fortunately we were happy with some excellent naan bread and curry. 

For our last day in the Seychelles, the plan was to hike to Anse Major, which I’ve read is a must-do in Mahé. But it was too hard to pull ourselves away from the luxurious life at the hotel! We spent the day at the pool and on the beach, and snorkeling. The snorkelling was good, especially around the shallow rocks right in front of the Le Meridien pool, but not as good as Hawaii or other Pacific islands. 

Eventually we dragged ourselves back to our room and into the car. We had lunch at the business class lounge at the airport, which was surprisingly good, and boarded our Ethiopian Airlines flight out of paradise.