Flying From Four Seasons Desroches Island To Mahe
- Konrad Tillman
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Intro
It’s always sad leaving paradise, but even more sad when you are leaving one of the most naturally beautiful hotels in the whole world. Following a stay at the Four Seasons on Desorches Island, it was time to head off on the next adventure to Madagascar, but first, we had to get to the main airport: Mahe.
How I Booked
For tourists, there is only one way to book a flight from Mahe to Desroches, and that is through the Four Seasons concierge team. While the process is as simple as sending an email with your booking confirmation, the price is 475 Euros+taxes for roundtrip transportation. Highway robbery if you ask me.
Keep in mind that flights sometimes do not operate daily, and the prices rise during the off-season.
Boarding
With the plane scheduled to depart at 11 am local time from Mahe, the FS team advised us that our check-in luggage (everything but a backpack) had to be ready at 9:30 am for pickup. Additionally, they informed us that we should report to the departure lounge at 10:30 am to make sure we were not stuck on the other side of the runway when the plane landed. Yes, they close the runway for the twice daily flights…
Just beating the inbound plane, we made it to the departure lounge where our newfound friends were all waiting. A couple of formalities took place, but there was no such thing as security here…
As the plane taxiied in and the jetbridge was attached (I am joking), we were advised to prepare for boarding. See the interesting thing is that there are no boarding passes, probably for the reason that people don’t want to leave the island 😅.
Bidding farewell to the FS staff (some of them were amazing), it was time to get back on board this bird.
The Flight
The (almost) daily flights between Desroches and Mahe are simply routine. Boarding gets wrapped up within minutes, and the captain comes out to announce the flight time of 35 minutes over to Mahe.
As the engines fired up moments later, there was a certain buzz to the cabin which you don’t find much. With everyone laughing, chatting and simply enjoying life, we were wheels up to Mahe moments later.
Looking out over the gobsmacking views of the Indian Ocean, we got into hilarious conversations with the lovely couple we had met at the hotel. The whole flight was filled with laughter, and chatter, but also a bit of sadness knowing our time had come to an end.
We were in such deep chatter that before we knew it, we were on final descent into Mahe after 30 minutes. Now, here is the cool part: as someone who loves flying, looking out through the front at the runway might be the coolest part of a passenger experience. Okay, not quite as cool as the time I sat in a copilot's seat in rural Africa, and we were forced to divert due to Zebras on the runway, but still up there.
Anyways, we touched down ahead of schedule into Mahe on another beautiful day, and ready to head off on another Emirates First Class flight. There are certinaly worse way to get to Madagascar!
Final Thoughts
Flying IDC on both this leg and the inbound leg, wasn't bad at all. There isn't much to report on as the flight is very run-of-the-mill stuff from takeoff to touchdown. It's quite neat that you are able to board right at the hotel, and don't have to go through security, but the price is obviously quite expensive. If you are looking to go to the Four Seasons in Desroches, this is pretty much your only choice to get there, unless you want to sit in a cargo ship for 18 hours...
Note: Interestingly, there are certain individuals that have residences at the Four Seasons Desroches, and some of them apparently have private planes. Of course, the runway is small, so these have to resemble the likes of a Twin Otter, as you can't land a G650 on the strip 😅.
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