7-Day Seychelles Sailing Itinerary & Route Guide

A Seychelles Sailing Itinerary Built from the Water Up

I've written about the Seychelles from land more times than I care to count — the granite boulders at Anse Source d'Argent, the coco de mer palms on Praslin, the way the inner islands look from a resort terrace like something assembled specifically to be photographed. But a Seychelles sailing itinerary is a different document entirely. It's written from the cockpit at 06:30, checking the wind against the tide tables, deciding whether Curieuse is worth the beat to windward or whether you anchor early and swim instead.

I spent the better part of a decade based in the Seychelles before my work took me to the Maldivian atolls and eventually further east. That time on the water — on charter boats, on supply vessels, on one memorable occasion on a fishing pirogue that had no business being out past the reef — gave me a reference library that I still draw on when I'm advising people on where to sail and, more importantly, when.

This guide covers a practical 7-day Seychelles sailing route through the inner islands: Mahé to Praslin to La Digue and back, with stops at St. Anne Marine Park, Curieuse, and Cocos Island. It's a route that works for intermediate sailors on a bareboat or anyone on a skippered charter who wants more than a single-beach day. I'll also tell you what the charter brochures won't — which months to avoid, which anchorages are more crowded than they look in the photographs, and why the Seychelles sailing route you plan in January will look nothing like the one you actually sail.

Seven days under sail here rewards preparation. It punishes assumptions.

Why a Seychelles Sailing Itinerary Beats the Alternatives

The honest answer is that it depends entirely on what you're optimising for. I've sailed the Maldivian atolls, spent time on liveaboards out of Phuket and Langkawi, and navigated the Kimberley coast in Western Australia where the tides run at speeds that would make most Indian Ocean sailors reconsider their career choices. Each of those places has a specific argument for why you'd choose it over the others. The Seychelles argument is this: nowhere else in the Indian Ocean gives you granite, jungle, reef, and navigable inter-island passages in a package compact enough to cover meaningfully in a week.

Thailand's sailing grounds — particularly around Krabi and the Mergui Archipelago — offer extraordinary limestone karst scenery and genuinely warm water year-round, but the passages are longer, the anchorages more exposed, and the marine park bureaucracy has become exhausting in ways it wasn't a decade ago. The Maldives is engineered for access in a way the Seychelles is not. Everything in the Maldives is flat, which makes it visually repetitive after three days and logistically straightforward in a way that removes most of the sailing interest. You're moving between sandbanks and house reefs. Beautiful sandbanks. But sandbanks.

The Seychelles inner islands give you actual topography — hills you can use as wind shadows, passages between islands that require attention, anchorages tucked behind granite headlands where the holding is good and the scenery is legitimately dramatic in a way that earns the word. And unlike the outer Amirantes, where I've watched a sandbank disappear completely between a morning and an afternoon tide, the inner islands are stable, charted, and forgiving enough for intermediate sailors to navigate without a professional crew.

That said — the Seychelles is not cheap, not uncrowded, and not forgiving of poor timing. Neither is anywhere worth going.

Island Density and Sailing Distances Compared

The inner Seychelles islands are unusually compact for an ocean archipelago. Mahé to Praslin is approximately 44 nautical miles — a comfortable day sail in good conditions, or a long half-day if you leave Eden Marina by 07:00 and have the southeast trade wind on your beam. Praslin to La Digue is 6 nautical miles. Six. You can see La Digue from Praslin's eastern shore on a clear morning.

This density is the route's single greatest logistical advantage. In the Maldives, inter-atoll passages run to 80 or 100 nautical miles across open ocean with no shelter and no bail-out options. In the outer Seychelles — the Amirantes, Alphonse, Farquhar — you're looking at similar exposure. But the inner island circuit keeps you within range of a sheltered anchorage at almost every point, which means a weather window that closes unexpectedly doesn't strand you somewhere uncomfortable.

Expect 3 to 5 hours of actual sailing per day on this route, not 8. That's not a criticism — it's a design feature. The passages are short enough that you arrive with daylight to spare, which means you actually use the anchorages rather than arriving exhausted and leaving before dawn.

Anchorage Quality vs Maldives Atoll Mooring

Maldivian anchorages are largely mooring-buoy systems managed by resorts or liveaboard operators, and the holding outside those systems is often poor — sand over coral rubble that drags in any kind of surge. The Seychelles inner islands offer genuine sand anchorages with good holding in 5 to 12 metres, particularly off Curieuse and in the St. Anne Marine Park lagoon. Cocos Island has a mooring field that fills fast in peak season — arrive after 14:00 in July or August and you may find it full, which means anchoring in a swell that makes dinner uncomfortable.

The best anchorages Seychelles offers on this route are, in my experience: the northeast bay of Curieuse (calm in southeast trades, excellent holding, 7 metres over sand), the St. Anne Marine Park anchorage off Île Moyenne (protected, good snorkelling directly off the boat), and the south side of La Digue off Anse Sévère (less visited than the main harbour, quieter, but requires a dinghy to reach the beach). Permit costs for the marine park anchorages are payable on arrival — budget approximately 500 SCR per person per entry, though this figure is worth confirming before departure as it has shifted.

Where to Start: Mahé Embarkation and the Seychelles Sailing Route

Most Seychelles yacht charter itineraries begin and end at Mahé, which is correct in principle and occasionally chaotic in practice. Mahé is the main island, the main airport, and the main provisioning hub — but "main" in the Seychelles context means something different than it does in, say, Phuket or Langkawi, where the marina infrastructure is genuinely mature and the provisioning is abundant. Mahé's chandleries are limited. The supermarkets near Eden Marina are adequate but not thorough. And the charter companies — primarily The Moorings and Sunsail, both operating out of Eden Marina — run tight turnaround schedules that don't always accommodate late flights or delayed provisioning runs.

I've seen people arrive on an evening flight from London via Dubai, clear customs, get to the marina at 23:00, and discover that their charter briefing is scheduled for 06:30 the following morning. That's not a disaster, but it's not the relaxed start to a sailing holiday that the brochure implied. Build a night in Mahé before embarkation into your plan. Not optional. Non-negotiable.

The provisioning reality is this: bring specialty items from home or from a stopover airport. Seychelles supermarkets cover basics well — fresh produce, local fish, rice, rum at prices that make the rest of the trip feel reasonable — but the selection of international goods is thin and the prices on imported items are high. I paid more for a block of decent cheese in Victoria market than I did for an entire meal in a local restaurant. That's the import economy at work, and it's not going to change.

Eden Marina vs Baie Sainte Anne as Base

Eden Marina on Mahé's east coast is where the major charter operators — The Moorings and Sunsail — are based, and it's the logical starting point for a Seychelles sailing itinerary heading northeast toward Praslin and La Digue. The marina itself is functional rather than atmospheric: fuel dock, basic chandlery, a café that opens at 07:30, and charter office facilities that are professional without being particularly warm. It does the job.

Baie Sainte Anne on Praslin's east coast is the alternative base for operators running shorter charters or for those who want to begin closer to the outer anchorages. If you're flying into Praslin directly — which is possible on inter-island Air Seychelles flights from Mahé — starting from Baie Sainte Anne saves you the first day's sail and puts you immediately in range of Curieuse and Cocos Island. For a 7-day charter, I'd still start from Mahé. The first day's sail to Praslin is one of the better passages on the route, and cutting it removes context. But if you're running a 5-day trip, Baie Sainte Anne makes more sense than trying to compress the full circuit.

Day-by-Day Seychelles Sailing Itinerary: The Full Route

What follows is a route built around the southeast trade wind season — April through October, with the practical sweet spots being April–May and September–October. Adjust departure times and anchorage choices if you're sailing in the northwest monsoon window, because the wind direction reverses and several of the anchorages I recommend below become exposed. I'll address that in the weather section. For now, assume southeast trades, 15 to 20 knots, and a beam reach for most of the Mahé-to-Praslin passage.

Days 1–3: Mahé, St. Anne Marine Park, Curieuse

Day 1 — Depart Eden Marina no later than 07:30. The southeast trade builds through the morning and by 10:00 you'll have 18 knots on the beam, which makes the St. Anne Marine Park crossing fast and comfortable. The marine park sits just east of Mahé — a 45-minute sail from the marina — and the anchorage off Île Moyenne is your first night's stop. This is Seychelles island hopping by boat at its most accessible: calm water, good holding in 8 metres of sand, snorkelling directly off the stern. It's also the most crowded anchorage on the route. Arrive by 13:00 to guarantee a position.

Day 2 — Leave Île Moyenne by 07:00 and head northeast toward Curieuse. The passage is approximately 35 nautical miles and takes 6 to 7 hours in trade wind conditions. Curieuse is a national park — home to the Aldabra giant tortoise colony and one of only two places in the world where the coco de mer grows wild — and anchoring in the northeast bay puts you within dinghy distance of the ranger station and the mangrove boardwalk. The walk through the mangroves to the beach on the north side takes 25 minutes each way and is worth every minute of it.

Day 3 — A rest day at Curieuse, or a short sail across to St. Pierre Island if the wind is light. St. Pierre is a granite outcrop surrounded by reef that offers some of the best snorkelling on the inner island circuit — the coral here is in better condition than most of what you'll find off La Digue's main beaches. Note that St. Pierre has no anchorage; you'll need to use the mooring buoys, and they're first-come. By 08:30 they're often taken in peak season.

Days 4–7: Praslin, La Digue, Cocos Island, Return

Day 4 — Sail from Curieuse to Praslin's northwest coast, a short 4-nautical-mile hop that gives you the afternoon at Anse Lazio. This is the beach that appears on every Seychelles charter brochure, and it earns its reputation — the granite formations here are more dramatic than anything on Mahé, the water is cobalt over white sand, and the beach itself is long enough that even in peak season you can find space. Anchor off the north end in 6 metres. The restaurant at the back of the beach opens at 11:30 and serves grilled fish that is considerably better than anything I've eaten off a charter boat galley.

Day 5 — Praslin to La Digue. Six nautical miles. You could sail it in 45 minutes but there's no reason to rush. La Digue's main harbour at La Passe is busy and the anchorage is exposed to any northerly swell — anchor instead off Anse Sévère on the south side, which is quieter and gives you a 10-minute dinghy ride to the main village. La Digue is the island that most visitors to the Seychelles remember longest, partly because it's the most human-scaled — bicycles instead of cars, a pace that feels genuinely unhurried rather than performed — and partly because Anse Source d'Argent, a 20-minute cycle from the harbour, is one of the most photographed beaches on the planet for reasons that hold up in person.

Day 6 — Cocos Island, 8 nautical miles southeast of La Digue. The mooring field here is small — 12 buoys — and the dive site on the south side of the island is the reason most boats make the detour. I've dived better reefs in the outer Seychelles and in the Maldives, but Cocos Island's reef is accessible, healthy, and can be dived directly from the charter boat with a short dinghy ride. Depart Cocos by 14:00 to make La Digue or Praslin before dark.

Day 7 — Return passage to Mahé. Leave Praslin by 06:30 to make Eden Marina by early afternoon. The return sail is typically into the southeast trade — a beat or a broad reach depending on the exact wind angle — and takes 6 to 8 hours. Budget time for the charter company's return briefing and boat inspection, which typically runs 90 minutes and cannot be rushed.

Wind, Weather, and the Seychelles Sailing Route Calendar

The Seychelles sits outside the cyclone belt, which the charter brochures mention prominently because it sounds reassuring. What they mention less prominently is that the northwest monsoon — running roughly November through March — makes several of the best anchorages on this route uncomfortable to dangerous, and that July and August in the southeast trades can produce conditions that are genuinely challenging for intermediate sailors who've only ever sailed in Mediterranean or Caribbean waters.

If you're planning a Seychelles sailing itinerary and you have flexibility on dates, the answer is April–May or October–November. Both are inter-monsoon transition windows: lighter winds, calmer seas, better visibility for diving and snorkelling, and anchorages that behave the way the charts suggest they should. I've sailed this route in both windows and the difference in comfort — and in how much of the itinerary you actually complete — is significant.

Southeast vs Northwest Monsoon: An Honest Comparison

The southeast trade wind season (April–October) is the more popular sailing window, and for good reason: the trades are consistent, the skies are clear, and the passages between islands are fast. But July and August bring the trades at their strongest — 25 to 30 knots is not unusual, and the swell on the Mahé-to-Praslin passage can run to 2.5 metres on the beam. That's manageable on a well-found catamaran. On a monohull with less experienced crew, it makes for a wet, tiring day that puts people off sailing for the rest of the trip.

The northwest monsoon window is calmer — 10 to 15 knots, flatter seas — but it reverses the wind direction entirely, which means the anchorages that are sheltered in the southeast trades become exposed, and vice versa. The anchorage at Curieuse's northeast bay, which I described as calm and well-protected, is directly in the northwest monsoon's fetch. Don't anchor there in December.

The northwest monsoon here is nothing like Phuket in October — it's not the dramatic, rain-heavy system that shuts down the Andaman Sea. It's subtler, wetter in a persistent drizzle way, and it moves the swell from a direction that catches most sailors off-guard because they've planned their anchorage strategy around the wrong wind. Check the pilot charts before you book. Not after.

Yacht Charter Options and What They Actually Cost

The Moorings and Sunsail are the two dominant operators at Eden Marina, and both run professional, well-maintained fleets. I have no particular loyalty to either — I've chartered with both and had competent, unremarkable experiences with both — but I'd note that The Moorings tends to have a slightly newer catamaran fleet at the time of writing, and Sunsail's monohull options are more varied if you have a preference for sailing performance over living space.

Bareboat charter rates for a 40-foot catamaran in the Seychelles run approximately €3,500 to €5,500 per week in shoulder season, rising to €6,500 to €8,000 in peak July–August. Add a skipper — which costs roughly €180 to €220 per day — and you're looking at a significant total. Add provisioning, marine park fees, mooring fees, fuel, and the inevitable sundowners, and a week on the water for two people costs what a good Maldivian resort costs per person. That's not a complaint. It's a budget reality check.

The charter market here has not softened since COVID, and I don't expect it to. Demand for Indian Ocean sailing has increased while the fleet size has stayed roughly static. Book 6 to 9 months ahead for peak season. For April–May, 3 to 4 months is usually sufficient, but don't test that.

Bareboat vs Skippered: Which Makes Sense Here

If you're asking whether you need a skipper in the Seychelles, the honest answer is: it depends on which part of the Seychelles. The inner island circuit covered in this 7-day itinerary — Mahé, St. Anne, Curieuse, Praslin, La Digue, Cocos — is navigable by competent intermediate sailors with bareboat experience and a current ICC or equivalent qualification. The passages are well-charted, the anchorages are manageable, and the traffic is predictable.

The outer islands — the Amirantes, Alphonse, Farquhar — are a different conversation. Those passages involve open ocean, significant current, and limited bail-out options. Don't attempt them without either a professional skipper or extensive offshore experience. I've met people who've done it without either. Some of them were fine. One of them spent three days at anchor on a reef waiting for a weather window that didn't come, eating emergency rations and reconsidering their life choices.

For the inner island route, a bareboat makes sense if your crew has logged at least 1,000 nautical miles offshore and someone aboard holds a valid certificate. A skippered charter makes sense if you want to focus on the destination rather than the navigation — and there's nothing wrong with that. The Seychelles rewards attention.

Practical Logistics: Permits, Provisioning, and Skill Level

The Seychelles Marine Parks Authority requires permits for anchoring in protected areas — St. Anne Marine Park and the waters around Curieuse being the two you'll encounter on this route. Fees are collected on arrival by rangers who come out to the boat, which is efficient in theory and occasionally absent in practice. Don't assume that because no ranger appeared you don't owe the fee — they'll find you on the way out. Budget 500 SCR per person per marine park entry as a working figure, though confirm current rates with your charter operator before departure.

Cruising permits for foreign-flagged vessels are handled through the charter company if you're on a registered charter boat, which removes that particular bureaucratic headache. If you're arriving on your own yacht, the Port Authority in Victoria handles clearance — allow half a day and don't arrive on a Friday afternoon.

Field Hack: If you're provisioning at Eden Marina, the Kenwyn House supermarket in Victoria — a 15-minute taxi from the marina, approximately 200 SCR each way — has a significantly better selection than the marina-adjacent shops and prices that are 20 to 30% lower on most items. Ask your charter company for the contact of a local provisioning agent; both The Moorings and Sunsail can connect you with one who will deliver to the boat the morning of departure. This saves two hours and considerable frustration.

Provisioning in Seychelles vs Southeast Asia Ports

Provisioning in Langkawi or Phuket — where I've based liveaboards on multiple occasions — is a different exercise entirely. The markets in both are abundant, cheap, and open at hours that suit sailors. Fresh fish is sold dockside. Produce is plentiful. The provisioning run is almost enjoyable.

Mahé is not that. The selection is adequate for a week's sailing but requires planning. Fresh fish is available at the Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market in Victoria — open from 05:30, best selection before 08:00 — and the quality is genuinely excellent. Local fruit is good and cheap. Everything else is imported, expensive, and occasionally unavailable. I once spent 40 minutes in three different shops looking for decent coffee and ended up with instant. That's the import economy, and it's not going to change before your charter.

Bring your own: specialty coffee, good olive oil, any dietary-specific items, and enough wine that you're not dependent on the marina shop's selection, which leans heavily toward South African labels at European prices. The local Seybrew beer is fine and costs almost nothing by comparison.

Extending Your Seychelles Sailing Itinerary: 10 and 14-Day Routes

Seven days on the inner island circuit is satisfying but compressed. You'll see the headline anchorages and sail the best passages, but you'll also feel the schedule — particularly on Days 6 and 7 when the return logistics start to shape your decisions. If you have 10 or 14 days, the itinerary opens up considerably, and the destinations you add in the extended window are, in my view, the most interesting sailing in the inner Seychelles.

A 10-day extension adds two to three days around Praslin's outer anchorages and the passage to Saint Pierre Island, which I mentioned briefly in the Day 3 notes. Saint Pierre deserves more than a morning stop. The reef system on the island's south side is the best snorkelling accessible from a charter boat on this entire route — better than Cocos, better than anything off La Digue — and the anchorage, while exposed to the northwest, is well-protected in southeast trades. Arrive at 08:00 before the day-trip boats from Praslin appear.

Honest Warning: Don't extend your itinerary into the outer Amirantes on a standard charter without a professional skipper and explicit operator approval. I've seen this attempted by experienced sailors who underestimated the passage length — 120 nautical miles of open ocean with no intermediate shelter — and the current behaviour around the outer atolls. The outer islands are extraordinary. But they are not an extension of the inner island circuit. They are a separate expedition, requiring separate planning, separate insurance, and a separate level of honesty about your offshore experience.

Adding The Sisters and Saint Pierre Island

The Sisters — two small granite islands northeast of La Digue — are reachable on a 10-day itinerary and worth the detour specifically for the diving. The underwater granite formations here mirror what you see above the waterline on Mahé and Praslin: dramatic, angular, covered in soft coral and patrolled by hawksbill turtles that have clearly decided the Sisters are their territory. There's no anchorage — mooring buoys only, and the field is small — so this is a day visit from La Digue rather than an overnight stop.

Saint Pierre Island, by contrast, offers a mooring field that can accommodate 8 to 10 boats and an environment calm enough for an overnight stay in southeast trade conditions. The snorkelling off the eastern mooring buoys at low tide — best light at approximately 09:30 when the sun is high enough to penetrate the water but the day-trip boats haven't yet arrived — is the kind of experience that makes the Seychelles sailing route genuinely memorable rather than just logistically impressive.

Add both on a 10-day charter. Drop one if you're pressed. But don't drop Saint Pierre.

What This Route Actually Delivers

A 7-day Seychelles sailing itinerary is not a relaxed meander. It's a compressed, logistically active week that rewards people who've done their preparation — who've booked the right charter for their skill level, chosen the right monsoon window, and arrived in Mahé a day early with their provisioning sorted. Do those things and the route from Eden Marina through St. Anne, Curieuse, Praslin, La Digue, and Cocos Island is one of the most satisfying weeks of sailing available in the Indian Ocean. The passages are interesting without being punishing. The anchorages are genuinely beautiful in ways that don't require you to squint at them. And the sailing itself — particularly the Mahé-to-Praslin beam reach in 18 knots of southeast trade — is the kind of day that reminds you why you sail.

But go in July without preparation, book a bareboat beyond your skill level, or arrive expecting the provisioning infrastructure of Phuket, and you'll spend the week managing problems instead of enjoying the destination. The Seychelles doesn't punish incompetence dramatically — it just quietly ensures you don't get the best of it.

Use this route as your baseline. Adjust for your season, your skill level, and your honest assessment of how much schedule pressure you can tolerate before it stops being a holiday. Then go.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best 7-day sailing itinerary for Seychelles?

The most practical 7-day Seychelles sailing itinerary runs from Eden Marina on Mahé northeast through St. Anne Marine Park (night 1), then to Curieuse (nights 2–3), across to Anse Lazio on Praslin (night 4), south to La Digue (night 5), out to Cocos Island (night 6), and back to Mahé on day 7. This route covers the best anchorages on the inner island circuit — St. Anne's protected lagoon, Curieuse's northeast bay in 7 metres of sand, the mooring field at Cocos — while keeping daily sailing distances between 6 and 44 nautical miles. It works best in southeast trade wind conditions (April–October), with April–May being the optimal window for calm seas and uncrowded anchorages. Depart Eden Marina no later than 07:30 on day 1 to make St. Anne before the anchorage fills.