Raffles Seychelles
Nestled on the magical island of Praslin, are exquisite private pool villas, touched by the sublime beauty of white powdered sands, opal-hued oceans and lush green hills.
We have introduced elevated hygiene & prevention measures to ensure your safety. The ALLSAFE label certification, developed with and vetted by Bureau Veritas, represents our new cleanliness & prevention standards, which and provide assurance that these standards have been met at Raffles Seychelles.
Beautiful location , service at times not 5*
The hotel is beautifully located and we had a stunning ocean Villa with fantastic views. The staff in the spa , pool bar and attendees who look after your every need whilst sun bathing are first class . However, the service in the restaurants and frankly some of the staff I can only describe as miserable and not interested do let down the overall feeling. We may have been spoilt having experienced Mango House & Four Seasons in the Seychelles on this trip but there is no comparison in overall service. Need to improve Raffles to be considered a premier location to choose for vacation in Seychelles, other hotels at similar prices are significantly ahead.
We’d go back in a flash…
We were lucky enough to spend 14 days, half board, at the Raffles Seychelles in February/March, 2023. The welcome from George, our Butler, was excellent: informative, friendly and accommodating. It was also lovely to meet Salwa Razzouk, the General Manager, who provided us with some excellent advice on our choice of villa. She popped up over and over again during our stay, always offering a down-to earth and friendly exchange. The beginning of a hotel stay is important. The hotel complex consists of 87 villas built on a hill above the ocean and is spread over quite an area. The views are spectacular from just about everywhere. Gorgeous location. A very efficient buggy system serves to transport guests effectively and efficiently to anywhere they want to go – we never waited for more than 5 minutes for the polite and friendly drivers to pick us up. Facilities are typical of a 5-star property – the villas are spacious, with their own plunge pool, many with lovely views of the ocean or the jungle. They are well-maintained and housekeeping really does an excellent job. The mini-bar staff ensured we had exactly the kind of water and coffee we wished for, every day. Restaurant range: typical international with some creole, a pan-Asian, Sushi, pool bar. Long (but somewhat warm) pool, small but adequate beach, gorgeous spa, fitness room (with a great view), children’s club and even its own helicopter landing pad, tortoise enclosure, yoga classes, snorkeling tours etc. What you might expect. It is probably time to do some maintenance here and there, as the hotel is losing a bit of its shine. Main dining room, the pool, some aspects of the villas. But this did not really detract from our stay – everything else was just too lovely. It should be noted that this is a spot to come and do very little – a 5-star for those who really want a break. Wonderful breakfast buffet every morning with an extensive selection of freshly cut fruit, western and Asian cuisine, copious juices, breads, condiments, pancakes… one couldn’t possibly want more. Loved breakfast. Excellent Indian Tandoori buffet evening with genuine Indian fare, Tandoori oven, interesting presentation. Also, excellent Creole evening with suckling pig, music, typical dishes of the cuisine. Two best food events during our stay. If you’re not on half or full board, the food is extraordinarily expensive. If you are on a meal plan (highly recommended), you will still be asked to pay extra for things like a better-quality steak (rib-eye instead of sirloin), upgraded seafood or lobster on the beach. The hotel prepares some dishes better than others, but generally the choice was good and the quality quite high. We pampered ourselves with a couples massage in an open pavilion looking out onto the ocean (gorgeous setting) and agreed that we had each experienced the best massage we had ever had. Very skilled and very professional. Lovely spa facilities. Thank you, Leyla and Sinta! We do have just a few complaints, however, the first being the outrageous price of wine, and alcohol in general. The wine selection is extensive, and there are some very interesting bottles on the list. But we didn’t try many of them. The F&B manager explained that transport is an issue, and that we’d have to spend these prices for a nice bottle of wine back home anyway. Not in our country, which is not known for being particularly cheap. A simple New Zealand Cloudy Bay Chardonnay, with a store price of €32.00 here in Switzerland costs a whopping €166 (incl tax and service). A somewhat more complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine des Senechaux with a store price of €44, is priced at €286! Want a bottle of red with your hamburger at lunch? Well, you won’t get one for under €76.00. Never mind a good Burgundy or Bordeaux. Huge mark-ups. We love good wine, and this was a real disappointment. We know other guests were disenchanted with the prices as well (and one finds similar complaints on other reviews of the property). Many of us are not wealthy oligarchs nor Saudi princes (though there are a number at the hotel most of the time). What about families with children or couples celebrating a special occasion? I bet the hotel would sell more wine if they provided a better range of prices and reduced their mark-up. Upon visiting other restaurants on the island as well as a couple of other hotels, we found wine lists with more reasonable prices. Sommelier Curvin explained that he will indeed be trying to add some more reasonable bottles to the list. Let’s hope he succeeds. These prices might explain why both the bar at the main restaurant as well as the one at the pool were dead most of the time (our second complaint), both before and after dinner. It might be an idea to liven up the evening. Some music? Dancing? A little night life? A local band on the beach? Nothing happens after 22:00 here, and everyone just goes off to bed. But that’s what some people want, I guess. Others might appreciate a bit more action. The last issue is the beach. It is lovely, but sometimes marred by seaweed, depending on the current. This is not a Raffles problem, but a Seychelles problem. The hotel could do more to keep the beach in pristine condition. Workers drop by once a day and take away the worst – but a 5-star should be doing more than that. A proper sweep first thing in the morning and from time to time throughout the day as the tide changes would be welcome. And just an idea – when the seaweed is a problem, why not offer guests a quick ride over to the exquisite beach just across the water on Curieuse Island? It is 5 minutes away. We found it the best beach of all, and the swimming is gorgeous. Would be an appropriate gesture when the Raffles beach is not at its best. Otherwise, we loved the swimming and the soft pale sand. In the end, the success of this kind of property lies with the quality of its staff. And the Raffles in Praslin soars in this respect. Here our compliments and thank yous: To Brigitte with her warm smile, who prepared our fruit each morning and made sure I had both dried prunes and brown bread (with Joel’s support) each day. Patricia, who delighted us with eggs every which way, with very little wait. Lots of excellent waiters and waitresses including – Beryl, Cristine, Brian (smiley) and Deo. To Maître D’s Darrel and Kareem. You took such good care of us, especially the way you catered to my husband’s garlic allergy making sure every dish was garlic free. Thank you to friendly Sherin (never seen such skilled coconut cutting!) and lovely Margaret at the pool bar. Lots of fun chatting with both. Curvin, the Sommelier, was ever at our table, once he knew of my interest in wine, exchanging tidbits of info on developments in the area – and Jean Luc, Sommelier in training (or his twin – inside joke) was always a joy to have around. I wish I remembered everyone’s names in service – an excellent group. Thank you also to Edmund and the team at the beach. Edmund greeted us each day with a warm welcome and took good care of us. Great bunch there. Concierges Brigitte and Mohammed booked us some good tours (expensive but good quality and personal service. For more reasonable rates try Creole Travel) and Mohammed actually gave us a call afterwards to see how everything went, congratulating us on our huge success at fishing (Kingfish, Grouper, Bonito, Emperor). Nice gesture. And our thanks to George, our butler, ever on the ball and ready to answer every request and question. Given that there are only two butlers for 87 villas, his attention was much appreciated. And last but not least, I was impressed to see, Salwa, the General Manager, standing there late on a Friday evening after we finished our dinner, to say goodbye. It’s that kind of personal attention that will tempt us to come back. Martha and David (the garlic guy)
It’s amazing
great stay, attentive, helpful and friendly staff, delicious food, super atmosphere. we'll be back again!
Great people!
Amazing panoramic view
TOP
Great Service and a welcoming attitude
I visited Raffles during the month of March 2023 with my wife, the place is very well maintained, the staff is extremely professional, welcoming, and accommodating to guests' needs.
Amazing
All good, just beer in the villa is to expensive 😀
Absolutely beautiful.
We got married here, on the beach. We stayed in a sea view villa with a private pool. The villa was gorgeous with amazing views and everything provided. Our ceremony on the beach was really special and in such a beautiful location, followed by dinner on the rocks under the stars. The staff are incredible, so kind, and so good at their job. Would definitely recommend this sensational hotel in paradise!
Perfect Hotel, calm, great service