BanyanTree Seychelles:
A white beach. A picture postcard sea. The constant roar of breaking waves. Perfect service and small enough for you to feel at home. These are some of the snapshots we carry back from the Seychelles (Oct 2004). In fact, I was won over from the moment the taxi door opened, after a journey from hell when Kurt the assistant manager welcomed us by name and took us inside for a hot towel and iced tea.

Incidentally, the journey contained the following highlights - transfer at Heathrow, "I'm sorry sir but this evening's flight is delayed until 8.30 tomorrow morning", after 35 minutes circling Praslin in a storm - the captain "Well, I guess I'll attempt a landing now", and as the last ones in the luggage hall, "Well sir, it seems your bag decided to come via Paris and will be joining you tomorrow".

The Banyan Tree made sure the journey was quickly forgotten. This is a hotel with style and tip top service.

We stayed first 3 nights in a hillside villa (507) with great views of the bay and then 4 nights in a Beach Front Villa. The HSV is great - a junior sweet sized bedroom, designer bathroom with sunken bath, roomy terrace, own small pool (dipping rather than swimming) and outdoor seating / eating area + a day bed.

Lots of designer style - a glass walled shower exposing you to the bay, glass sinks, a different message in petals every day on the bed, scented oil burning each evening, complimentary bottled water, shampoo and moisturiser in ceramic pots - not plastic bottles...you get the picture.

For the Beach Front Villa, you pay more, but get a larger pool (4 x 8 m), more space, a garden, an outdoor as well as indoor shower, steam room, Jacuzzi and a massage pagoda. You also felt in a slightly more solid structure (which means more like a hotel room). In the HSV all the doors and windows slide open, but are not flush against a frame, meaning there were gaps at the edges of all windows to let in the noise of the sea, but also the occasional mosquitoes, gekkos and beatles. You felt closer to nature.

The HSV would already be very special, so there is no absolute need to go for a beachfront villa, but we are glad we did.

Apart from a superb and fairly empty beach, you have two restaurants (one east meets west Mediterranean, the other Thai), + you can order lunch pool side. Nb: No shorts or collarless t-shirts in the evenings. It stays warm, however, so you won't need a jacket or sweater.

The infinity pool is about 20 metres long, so good for laps. The main building also includes a bar / terrace for the sunset and a small library - with a computer for free, but slow internet access (if you really can't pull yourself away from the world). There are rudimentary water sports, a fitness room and there is the fantastic spa. Book the spa in advance for 10% discount. My wife and I did a two hour rejuvenation package which was terrific - why did I wait 40 years to get a first massage. You can borrow DVDs and CDs for the machines in the room.

If you want to dive you will probably need to go to one of the schools or other hotels around the island.

You can, of course, explore the island, but to be honest except for one trip to Praslin and La Digue we simply spent our eight days chilling and reading and keeping well away from the PC in the library. This is not the place for wild nightlife (or at least not of other people's making) or for kids aged 5+, but for the newly weds, anniversary couples and other twosomes it was ideal. If you go to Praslin, visit the Valle de Mai - the ancient tropical forest, and try picking up a guide at the entrance.

Albert (€20 per person for just over an hour) was entertaining and showed us much that we would have missed, going around on our own.

Of course, Paradise comes at a price, but for a special occasion this is to where you should be pushing the boat out. You felt you were getting value for money

Finally, on some practical issues having been hunting on the web for info before the trip:

- The Banyan Tree reservation staff were very helpful in planning stuff ahead of the trip.

- Pearl Class with Air Seychelles was fine - the planes (just two B767s do the European routes) are looking a bit run down, but the service was fine and selection of films and food was good, but nothing remarkable. The seats partially recline, but are not close to flat bed or extensive reclining of other airlines. The lounge in Heathrow British Midland was nothing special, but much better than the windowless box in Seychelles airport.

However, I hear that competition is on the way from Qatar and Emirates from January (obviously with Mid-East transfer), so this may improve service choice and level.

- Yes, it is true that you can pay everything by card, or in dollars or euros.

- No, we didn't have to pay a departure tax (it was bundled into our airfare).

- Good information and reviews can be found on tripadvisor.com.

- Weather while we were there (period of changing wind direction 18 -25 Oct) was "tropical", i.e. some great sun, but quite a lot of heavy rain and some overcast days, with sunny intervals.

- Snorkelling was great, saw a reef shark a few meters below. The diving goes without saying.

- No terrifying insect encounters - no spider incidents (despite web-warnings), but the mosquitoes bite so bring some repellent. Rooms have screens on the sliding doors.

- Don't need beach towels, beach bags or even slippers - as Banyan Tree provides these.

- BT shop has some nice stuff, but no toys for easing guilt over leaving kids at home. Fortunately airport has small selection of Lego, other toys and t-shirts in the departure area.

- Finally, BT location is great in terms of the bay, but is at the far end of the island from some of the restaurants like La Scala that I read about on the web (which would have meant a 45 minute drive or more), so you may not travel much without a car or a taxi. Taxi to the airport is 200 rupee and about 30 v. winding minutes.

Enjoy.

Banyantree, Seychelles is the epitomy of luxury for those who can afford it.

A beautiful multi million dollar private resort, it consists of a few beautiful creole style villas, which have their own massage parlours, pools, staff, chefs and beautiful interiors. If that wasn't enough, the resort owns a whole cove, so the few high brow clients can stroll along the beach alone.

The Seychelles itself remains untouched by tourism. An unspoilt gem in the world, although in my recent visits, German tourists have been increasing. Still, the secluded Seychelles remains the lap of luxury, no high rise buildings, only beautiful tropaz oceans, deserted beaches, and friendly locals. A true "Sanctuary for the senses" and Banyantree is the cream of the luxury crop in the high class resort market. Banyantree even outshines award winning Beachcomber (based on a nearby island). I would recommend anyone to go here... but luxury comes at a price.