Seychelles (Mahe Island) Tips
Thank you all for sharing this fare and all of the guidance. My trip a few weeks ago was great. Here are some tips for anyone considering the Seychelles in the future.
Also note that Le Meridian Hotel, Barbaron, is closed for renovations. Possibly opening up later this year, a local business owner told me, but there wasn't much activity visible when I was near.
I highly recommend renting a car. The smaller the better. You can arrange this through one of the guys at the airport. When you leave the secured area there are a dozen car rental stands from local companies. Going rate of a compact car is $40 Euros per day.
CELL SIM: You can buy a pre-payed package from either Cable or Airtel ( the two providers in Seychelles). There is a gift shop at SEZ that sells Airtel cards. You have to bring your own nano sim cutter if you want to use the card in an iPhone 5S (the lady doesn’t have any cutters). The activation process and getting it working in my phone was a bit difficult, but this info will help:
To check internet packs dial *121*8#
To check data packs dial *121*11#
To recharge dial *121*3#
To check balance dial *121*2#
I was able to get the voice signal to work immediately after putting the SIM card into the phone, but to get the data to work I had to change the APN to (without quotes) “airtelgprs.com” (in your iPhone settings - Cellular - Cellular Data. Leave the username and password fields blank.
Once up and running, voice worked fine and data was running at 3G speeds most of the time on Mahe island.
CURRENCY: The Seychellois Rupee is the currency of Seychelles. $1 USD = 12 SCR. Everyone takes euros without question. Retailers and restaurants will convert your total to Euros and will give you that number if you ask for it. Many retailers accept Visa but it usually takes 1-2 min for the transaction to be approved through their internet connection.
FOOD:
Recommendations from locals that I tried:
Veranda Cafe - really friendly owner, good for lunch and dinner (call them first if you want to do dinner, they’ll stay open for you), reasonably priced - opposite Le Meridian Hotel, Barbaron. Awesome reviews, my favorite meal on the island!!
Kaz Zanana - Pink Salt - good for lunch in Victoria (Revolution Ave). Tiny parking lot.
The boathouse = creole good price - AWESOME, CASUAL, LOCAL CREOLE BUFFET
La Fontaine near boathouse - pizza. Wasn’t very good.
Recommendations from locals that I never got around to trying:
La Perle noire = lobster whiskey pasta. Tuna capacho must try.
La plage - best seafood. Very fancy.
La scala - best creole food