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The nicest thing about the Craft Village is not the craft shops, but the former plantation owner's house, built in 1870. Everything has been preserved exactly as it was more than a century ago. The wooden furnishings inside the house are the finest crafts you will see anywhere in the village.
The Craft Village is a former plantation, which has been set aside to showcase the arts and crafts of the Seychelles. The setting is good and there's no charge for wandering around the former plantation owner's home or the houses of his workers, which are now arts and craft shops.But, the Seychelles were uninhabited until fairly recently in history, have no indigenous population and no great artistic or cultural traditions.Consequently, you are only able to buy some overpriced trifles, like wooden fish mobiles. Anything with any artistic merit whatsoever, like a hand-made, model sailing ship is sold at a grossly inflated price. Hand-painted model fish.
The Coco de Mer is available in almost every tourist shop, polished or unpolished. You must make sure that the vendor gives you an export certificate to go with the nut. You cannot get through customs without it. The small ones are not real, they are made out of wood. Some are hollowed out to make them lighter and easier to carry. We also bought a bottle of Coco D'Amour,,a unique coconut liqueur. It comes in a bottle shaped like the famous nut.
There is not a wide choice of bookshops and books on the islands. The best one on Mahe in Victoria just near the little Big Ben which has a good selection for the Seychelles, still they did not have all what we were looking for. We found some good buys at the end of a street down from the market.
Perfume:I am not much taken with perfumes, but some of the local Seychel brands are quite nice on the right lady. The main brand is Kreol Fleurage and comes in several varieties touching on flower and tree names. Give me a frangipani one and I’ll be sold. Couldn't find that, though - anyone??? On pair with good global brands, but not extraordinarily expensive.
The Seychelles has some fantastic stamps; I suspect it is a tourist trick and a good income source for the state. You can find almost any motif to compliment your postcards. Both post offices and souvenir shops have an assortment of stamps available for the discerning post card writer… The contemporary assortment always seems to have something nice. And the Seychellois seem to take delight in this, too, so it shouldn’t be a hassle to ask in the post office.The Seychelles has not only the best postcard motifs in natura, but also some really nice cards, and then the stamps. As an added bonus: early darkness and not much in terms of organized nightlife provide and extra good opportunity to think about friends and family and write those cards, too! There are some collector’s issues that fetch a collector’s price tag, but no need to go for the overpriced variety. The contemporary...
The shells, coral and tortoise shells for sale in the Seychelles is illegal to import to any country signatory to the CITES Treaty (on protection of rare animals etc). That means most countries. You are likely to have your souvenirs confiscated and yourself fined. Also on departure from the Seychelles this may happen.Treat these things as protected and don't buy.An exception could perhaps be simple jewlery made from plain shells in the traditional East African variety.Some of the goods for sale is probably imported to the Seychelles from East Africa in the first place.
Seychelles teas are not that special compared to the super stuff you can get elsewhere (Eastern Nepal, Darjeeling, Assam, Yunnan, Sylhet, Sri Lanka), but there are some very fine spiced and naturally scented teas. I especially liked the lemon tea, and stuffed my home bound pack with attractive-looking packages of this.I did not detect much of a difference in taste between the souvenir-packaged/gift wrapped teas and those available in the local super markets at the fraction of the price.Hotly recommended as a decent gift and take-home-thing for anyone who likes tea.
The office of the Geographical Survey of the Seychelles located at the lower end of the same block as the tourist office in Victoria, will fix you up with all necessary maps of the Seychelles. There are very detailed maps good for hiking and exploring the islands, so go here to secure yourself a reliable map. The stuff they sell in souvenir shops isn't good enough for off-trail terrain negotiations.At the end of our trip we bought one map and had it rolled up for transport home to be framed and used as wall decoration.
They have their own shop on La Digue, in La Passe, but I also found their wares elsewhere. And I know they have a shop in Victoria (but never visited).Note that the duty-free shop at the airport has a good selection of their stuff, too. Kreolor sells some really nice things out of wood and stone found on the Seychelles. I was particularily taken by small trays, office things and cups made from a mix of thin granite slate rimmed with various colorful natural wood. Simple, genuine and useful things, a lot of what they had. Yes - this was expensive, but I found they had nice and nicely made things in all price categories. So there will be something...
1 Review and 371 Opinions We stayed here for a week for friends wedding. This hotel is large and our first opinion was, that...
Chateau de Feuilles Praslin
1 Review and 123 Opinions I recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a very romantic and unique honeymoon. You are treated...
Fregate Island Private Victoria
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Reviews and photos of Seychelles attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Seychelles sightseeing.
Q: That’s our ideal beach accommodation any time we go on holidays. Thailand, Mexico, Goa, each time we stayed in this kind of...
A: Hi there I stayed in almost what you've describe in Beau Vallon on the main island: a simple bungalow with terrace and just a road (with approx 5 cars max a day!) to...
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