Curieuse: the island of giant tortoises

Praslin: Curieuse & St. Pierre Full-Day Boat Trip with Lunch

The most-reviewed Curieuse trip on GetYourGuide, with close to 1,900 reviews. The classic day: snorkel off the granite islet of St Pierre, land at the ranger station to meet the tortoises, walk through the mangroves to a quiet beach, then eat a barbecue lunch and swim before the boat takes you back to Praslin.

• Giant tortoises and the mangrove walk on Curieuse
• Snorkelling at St Pierre, gear included
• Barbecue lunch on the beach

Curieuse Guided Tour, St Pierre, BBQ & 2 Snorkel Stops

A full-day guided cruise from Praslin to Curieuse with two separate snorkelling stops rather than one, a guided walk among the tortoises and a barbecue lunch with local drinks. Rated 4.9 from more than 1,100 reviews.

• Two snorkelling stops
• Guided visit on Curieuse with the giant tortoises
• BBQ lunch with local beer and rum

Praslin: Curieuse & St Pierre Island Day Trip with Barbecue

Another well-established full-day outing with nearly 900 reviews: tortoises and the nature trail on Curieuse, a Creole barbecue and time on the beach, and a snorkel in the clear water around St Pierre on the way back.

• Meet the giant tortoises
• Nature trails and a swim on Curieuse
• Creole barbecue, then snorkelling at St Pierre

Curieuse and St. Pierre Islands Day Trip with BBQ Lunch

A slightly shorter full day, around six hours, covering the same essentials — the reefs of St Pierre, Curieuse’s tortoises and mangroves, and a Creole barbecue on the sand. Rated 4.7 from over 500 reviews.

• Snorkel over the reefs around St Pierre
• Tortoises and mangroves on Curieuse
• Creole BBQ on the beach

Praslin: Curieuse & St-Pierre Boat Adventure with Snorkeling

The budget way to do the full day. The boat, the tortoises, the mangroves and the snorkelling are all included, but the barbecue is not, which brings the price down to among the lowest for a Curieuse trip. Bring a picnic and plenty of water.

• Tortoises, mangroves and beaches on Curieuse
• Snorkelling at St Pierre
• Lower price — lunch not included

Curieuse and St Pierre Snorkeling Half-Day Trip No BBQ Lunch

Four hours instead of seven: the mangroves, the tortoises’ habitat and a snorkel at St Pierre, without the long beach lunch. A good choice with young children, in hot weather, or if you want the afternoon for Anse Lazio or the Vallée de Mai.

• Mangrove swamp and giant tortoises
• Snorkelling at St Pierre
• Back in time for lunch or an afternoon on the beach

Praslin: Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio Beach Full-day Tour

The perfect companion to a day on Curieuse. The Vallée de Mai is the other home of the coco de mer — a UNESCO-listed palm forest where you can see the giant nuts on the trees — and the tour ends at Anse Lazio, often called the most beautiful beach on Praslin. Entrance fees: check what is included.

• The coco de mer forest of the Vallée de Mai
• A chance of the Seychelles black parrot
• Afternoon at Anse Lazio

From Praslin: La Digue Boat Trip with Bike Rental

The easy way to spend a day on La Digue from Praslin: the ferry crossing and a bicycle are arranged, and the rest of the day is yours — L’Union Estate and Anse Source d’Argent, the village of La Passe and the east-coast beaches. Rated 4.8.

• Ferry crossing to La Digue
• Bicycle for the day
• Free time for L’Union Estate and the beaches

Baie Laraie & the Giant Tortoises

Where the boats land — and the tortoises wander the lawn

The wide bay on the south side of Curieuse, facing Praslin, is where almost every visit begins. Beside the beach stands the ranger station of the marine national park, and around it, grazing on the grass or dozing in the shade, are some of the island’s Aldabra giant tortoises. More than 300 live on Curieuse, descendants of animals brought from Aldabra between 1978 and 1982; the youngest are reared in pens by the station until they are big enough to fend for themselves.

Mangrove Boardwalk & Trail to Anse José

A raised walkway through the mangroves, then over the red hills

From the ranger station a trail sets off around the head of Baie Laraie, where a raised boardwalk carries you over one of the finest mangrove forests in the granitic Seychelles. Crabs scuttle among the stilt roots below; herons fish in the channels. The path then climbs gently over a saddle of red earth, past young coco de mer palms, and drops down to Anse José on the other side — usually a walk of well under an hour.

The Doctor’s House & Anse José

The leper colony’s past, beside a perfect beach

For well over a century Curieuse was a place of exile: from 1829 to 1965 it served as a leper colony. The colonial residence of its doctor still stands above the beach at Anse José (Anse St Joseph) and now houses a small museum and visitor centre on the island’s history and nature, while the ruins of the old leprosarium lie nearby. The beach in front, with its granite boulders and calm water, is where most boat trips serve their barbecue lunch.

St Pierre Islet

The Seychelles in one picture — and a reef around it

A heap of sculpted granite crowned with a few coconut palms, rising from turquoise water between Curieuse and Praslin’s Côte d’Or: St Pierre is one of the most photographed views in the Seychelles. Almost every Curieuse boat trip stops here for snorkelling around the rocks, where parrotfish, surgeonfish, butterflyfish and the occasional turtle feed among the boulders and coral.

Vallée de Mai

The coco de mer forest — Curieuse’s twin

Curieuse is one of only two islands where the coco de mer grows wild; the other is Praslin, and the Vallée de Mai is where you see it at its most magnificent. This UNESCO World Heritage palm forest in the heart of Praslin — just 19.5 hectares — shelters thousands of the giant palms alongside the island’s other endemic palms, and is the stronghold of the rare Seychelles black parrot. Shady trails of one to three hours lead through it.