Seychelles: The Bradt Travel Guide

First off, I'd like to say that when we booked our trip to the Seychelles, I immediately went to the book store to get Fodor's guide, as I've always used theirs in the past and found them very informative. The book combined Mauritias, Reunion, and the Seychelles. The Seychelles only took up 50 pages! It felt wrong to spend $25 on a 300-page book that only had 50 pages that I wanted. Then I found this 200-page strictly Seychelles book and I knew it would be perfect. It is! It has all of the info that I like - breakdowns on each island/region/town, with all of the hotels, places to eat, things to do... And correlating maps, too. The inside cover has a quick guide with time/money conversions and a key for the whole book. You know, the sort of stuff that a travel guide should have! I have yet to take my trip, it's 9 months away, but already I feel more prepared and aware. Thank you Bradt! I think I have found a new brand of travel guides!

This guide is by far the best Seychelles travel guide I found before my trip. The maps are helpful and up-to-date, restaurant recommendations are very good, and there's great historical context and information for general reading. I highly recommend this guide above Lonely Planet or other guides.

This was the first Bradt Guidebook I have ever purchased, and I was delighted to have discovered it. It definitely is the most complete guidebook Seychelles to date that I have found! The website lists all the series they have done, and I have to say they have been under rated and hard to find so far; and seem to cover more of the exotic locations that other publications. I highly recommend it!

Among the number of titles that we reviewed on our recent sailing charter in the Seychelles, this and the Sarah Carpin guide book (both 2005 publications) served us the best. In fact, this book was so recently made available that it arrived 2 days before our trip and we elected to ditch the Lonely Planet for the Bradt. The first 80 pages provides an informative guide - the background, history, and nature of the Seychelles as a visitor would want to know before arriving. The Carpin book covers most of the background better in terms of history and folklore (not to mention many, many beautiful pictures), but Mair/Beckley covers practicalities and resources (transportation, contacts, sport, shopping, etc.) much more thoroughly. (n.b. Carpin spent a number of years living there whereas Mair is a frequent visitor.) As with most guidebooks to the Seychelles, the focus here is mainly on the 3 large inner islands - Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue - and again, the practicalities covered by this guide is unmatched by any of the others that we researched. Good maps, ferry schedules (current as of 2005), thorough reviews and contact information (including web) of many hotels and restaurants, and descriptions of shopping which, in an area that is somewhat resource challenged like the Seychelles, is an invaluable resource. (As we were sailing/self boarding, we were much more reliant on whatever resources/people we could pry information on where to find things as simple as dish soap or soy sauce. If you are going resort/package, as it seems most visitors do, this may be less an issue for you.) Mair's road-by-road descriptions of downtown Victoria give you just about a shop-by-shop mental picture of driving/walking the smallest capital city in the world. Again, another reason why we pulled this book out time and time again on our trip. For car renters/day trippers, she gives an excellent point-to-point description for exploring Mahé and Praslin (the only two island that you can drive on anyways) on your own. Although Mahé is the largest island, and most often the largest and most central focus in many guide books, there is plenty of attention paid to Praslin and La Digue and more than sufficient practical information - including getting to and exploring the Valée de Mai and Anse Source d'Argent - to make this your primary guide to visiting those islands as well. When it comes to the other inner islands (Silhouette, North, Curieuse, Aride, Cocos, Cousin, Cousine, Felicite, Bird, etc...) there's about 25 pages devoted to information about these wonderful spots, getting there, accommodations, and other necessities (if any - the islands that have facilities tend to be single-resort type). For most Seychelles visitors, unless some of these resorts are your destination, getting to these islands may be more of a day trip from your base accomodation so there is sufficient advice and information provided here. For folks sailing these isles, the information here