There is no shortage of beautiful places to stay in the Seychelles. Boutique beach hotels, private island retreats and luxury resorts all promise picture-perfect beaches, warm Indian Ocean waters and spectacular suites.
So why did we choose the Constance Hotel group for our recent visit?
Having visited all of their properties on Mauritius, it’s because for us Constance understands Indian Ocean luxury. They understand these islands, and as a result they make the most of where they are, from the food they serve and the wildlife they protect to the activities they offer. The rooms are spacious, the dining is consistently good, the service is warm without being stiff, and there is always something to do.
In the Seychelles, the brand has two very different hotels: Constance Ephelia on Mahé and Constance Lemuria on Praslin. Ephelia is the bigger, busier option, spread across 120 hectares between two beaches and overlooking Port Launay Marine National Park. Lemuria feels more intimate, tucked between granite boulders, tropical forest and three beautiful beaches, including the famous Anse Georgette.
On our recent visit, we stayed at both, and while they couldn’t be more different, they also work well combined for an island-hopping holiday. And here are the reasons we would choose them again and again.
1. Their story stretches back almost 150 years
Many people assume Constance is simply another international hotel chain. It isn’t. The company’s roots go way back in Mauritius, where Constance began as an agricultural and sugar business. It was only much later that the company moved into hospitality, opening its first hotel, Belle Mare Plage, in 1975 with just ten bungalows.
That history helps explain something we particularly like about Constance today: it still feels like an Indian Ocean company rather than a global hotel group that happens to have properties in the islands.
Over the decades, the company gradually expanded its hospitality portfolio, first across Mauritius and then into the Seychelles, Madagascar, and the Maldives. Rather than trying to build hotels everywhere, Constance has stayed relatively selective about where it operates, developing a real understanding of island destinations and the environments in which its resorts sit.
Constance Lemuria opened on Praslin in 1999 and was something of a landmark for the Seychelles, introducing the country’s first 18-hole championship golf course. More than a decade later, in 2010, Constance Ephelia opened on Mahé, offering something completely different: a huge, nature-filled resort offering everything you can possibly want on one property.
2. The list of facilities is almost ridiculous
Many Seychelles hotels are intentionally small, and there is something wonderful about that. You get a few rooms, a beautiful beach, and not much else. Constance takes a different approach. You can spend an entire week at either resort and still find things you haven’t tried yet.
At Ephelia, the resort stretches across 120 hectares between a North and South Beach, with access to the beautiful Port Launay Marine National Park. The water sports centre gives you plenty of ways to get onto the water with kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, pedal boats and snorkelling equipment available on a complimentary basis, while diving, deep-sea fishing, sailing and excursions can also be arranged.
And then there are the things you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find at a beach resort: floodlit tennis courts, squash, padel, a fully equipped gym, yoga, hiking and mountain biking. There is even a zipline through the forest.
Lemuria is quieter, but it has one rather spectacular trick up its sleeve. Golfers can play on the Seychelles’ only 18-hole championship golf course, winding through tropical vegetation and granite landscapes before reaching its showstopper: the 15th hole. The tee is perched high above Anse Georgette, with the turquoise ocean and white sand spread out below. Even if you have absolutely no interest in golf, ask to see it. The view alone is worth the detour.
3. The food deserves as much attention as the beaches
Dining is always one of the highlights for us when staying at a Constance resort, partly because there is so much choice and because the restaurants actually feel like different experiences rather than the same menu served in different locations.
At Ephelia, Helios offers relaxed Mediterranean fare, Adam & Eve serves Asian-inspired food alongside the pool and Cyann overlooks the marine park, but the main buffet restaurant is the place I’m still dreaming about. Corossol offers extensive live cooking stations for breakfast and dinner with some of the best cuisine I’ve tasted at a resort.
At Lemuria, dining is a little more intimate. The Legend is the main restaurant with spectacular views and a unique breakfast spread including quail eggs and donuts, while Diva sits beside the golf course and Takamaka is right on the sand. Takamaka was particularly memorable for us because we celebrated the Seychelles’ 50th year of independence there, with speciality cocktails, music and cultural dancing.
And then there is The Nest. Perched dramatically among the granite rocks above the beach, the setting is spectacular, but the seafood is what kept us there. Lemuria is also serious about wine. Its cellar holds more than 23,000 bottles, representing over 1,300 labels, so if wine is your thing, make sure you talk to the sommeliers.
4. The rooms are divine
One of the things you’ll notice across the Constance properties is consistency. The design changes according to the destination, but the rooms all have that same feeling. The open-plan bathrooms don’t feel like an afterthought squeezed behind the bedroom. There are large soaking tubs, walk-in showers and generous vanities, while the bedrooms open onto substantial terraces or verandas.
At Lemuria, even the entry-level Junior Suites start at 52 square metres. Move into the villas and the space becomes almost excessive, with private pools and large living areas. And at Ephelia, the hillside villas are particularly beautiful, tucked among the granite rocks above Port Launay.
5. The pools are destinations in themselves
With beaches like those found in the Seychelles, you might think nobody would bother with a swimming pool. But the pools are where we often ended up spending the longest stretches of the day.
Ephelia has five pools spread around the resort, meaning you don’t get that feeling of everyone gathering around one enormous central pool. Some are close to restaurants and family facilities, while others offer quieter places to disappear for a few hours. At Lemuria, the signature three-tier pool is part of the architecture. It cascades down towards the ocean, with the tropical gardens and granite boulders framing the whole thing.
6. The Coconut Tribe gets children
We have travelled with children enough to know that calling something a “kids’ club” doesn’t automatically make it appealing to children. Constance’s Coconut Tribe is different. At both resorts, children aged 4 to 11 can enjoy supervised arts and crafts, and there are also impressive outdoor play areas and swimming pools to keep little ones entertained.
One particularly lovely Constance tradition is the exchange bracelet. Each child receives a collection of colourful bracelets at the beginning of their stay. They can keep them, or swap them for treats such as ice creams, milkshakes and popcorn at various points around the resort.
It may seem like a small thing, but it’s these little touches that make us like Constance so much. The resorts don’t simply tolerate families. They are genuinely designed to make family holidays easier.
7. Conservation is part of everyday life
Luxury means very little if the environment that makes a place special isn’t protected. One of the reasons we keep coming back to Constance is that conservation doesn’t feel like something hidden away in a sustainability report. You see it around you. Across the group, there are initiatives around waste reduction, recycling, energy use, responsible sourcing and local communities. But at Lemuria, the connection between the resort and its environment is particularly obvious.
Grande Anse Kerlan runs alongside the resort and is an important nesting beach for hawksbill and green turtles. The conservation team monitors nests and turtle activity, protects nesting areas and works to preserve the vegetation that turtles depend on when they come ashore. Depending on the season, you can learn more about the turtles and the work being done to protect them.
Children can also learn about the island’s natural environment, with visits to Praslin’s UNESCO-listed Vallée de Mai available on a complimentary basis for kids.
8. The giant tortoises steal everyone’s attention
It doesn’t matter how old you are. Meeting an Aldabra giant tortoise is one of those Seychelles experiences that stays with you. These extraordinary animals are native to the Aldabra Atoll, the remote UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Seychelles.
At Constance Ephelia, the tortoise enclosure is home to some that are well over a century old, and you can watch them being fed at certain times of the day. At Lemuria, they are part of the daily experience as you are welcome to pop in and feed them anytime you like, and your walk to breakfast may be punctuated by looking for them around the natural river area.
9. The spas are worth making time for
The Constance Spas are award-winning. At Ephelia, the spa is more like a village hidden inside the resort, with treatment rooms surrounded by tropical gardens and spaces where you can linger before and after your treatment. There are steam rooms, saunas, plunge pools and relaxation areas. At Lemuria, the experience is much more intimate, but still absolutely lovely, with a range of signature treatments to choose from.
We first loved Constance for the obvious reasons. The beaches. The rooms. The pools. The food. But after staying at both Ephelia and Lemuria, it is the less obvious things that keep bringing us back. It is knowing that there will be little surprises to keep everyone happy. That there will be somewhere beautiful to swim when the children have had enough of the sea. That the room will have enough space to actually unpack. That dinner won’t become a nightly negotiation over where to eat. That there will be something for everyone, whether that means a sail in the morning, an afternoon at the spa, or arts and crafts with newfound friends.