Review: Flying From Mahe To Desroches Island (Seychelles 🇸🇨)
- Konrad Tillman
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Intro
After a lovely night at the L'Escale Hotel on the mainland (and a flight onboard Emirates First Class), it was time to embark on the journey to the reason we came here: Four Seasons Desroches.
While most major hotels are located on the mainland, Four Seasons opened up a hotel on the island of Desroches back in 2018. Seeing as this island is somewhat "private", getting there is not only challenging but expensive.
How To Book
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 when booking that flights do NOT operate daily, and the price to head to the island fluctuates depending on the time of the year.
During the holiday period, the prices are raised to a whopping 745 Euros. Guess fuel seems to be quite expensive over the holiday period 😉.
Considering a flight to Afghanistan was easier to book, this is ridiculous...
Check-In
Arriving at the all too familiar Mahe airport, we were warmly greeted by a Four Seasons staff member who informed us to take a seat as check-in had yet to open. While the domestic check-in area is miniscule, the good thing is that the airport is connected landside, meaning there were plenty of shops to buy some water from.
At 10:30 am sharp, check-in rolled around which took just a few moments due to how small the aircraft is that flied to Desroches.
A couple of things to note:
The check-in lady providing assistance to passengers was a lovely person and tried to chat with as many passengers as possible to accommodate the short wait. Props here Four Seasons.
You must check all luggage bigger than a small backpack, due to the lack of overhead bins in the plane.
Not everyone flying on this flight was staying at the Four Seasons. It seemed that two passengers were returning home where they live on the island, as this is by far the fastest way to get between the two (the airline is run by the island).
Boarding
Golden ticket in hand, we headed off through a quick immigration check to a small waiting area, grabbed a beer and within 20 minutes we were boarding.
All 12 of the passengers followed a lady out to the plane as guess what? No jetbridges (obviously). I can't lie, this plane is gorgeous!
The Seat/Cabin
Stepping onboard, after touching the plane five times, I was pleased to see direct aisle access for all passengers 😂; not that it matters since there are no lavatories, IFE, or meal service on the short 35-minute flight.
Seats are laid out in 1-1 configuration, across 7 rows, totalling 14 seats.
Legroom was on the tight side, but at the end of the day, it was a 35-minute flight. It's not like we are crossing the Indian Ocean for 7 hours on this bird. 😒
The Flight
Due to it being a full flight with 300 passengers, boarding ended up taking a whopping 40 minutes to complete.
Boarding was wrapped up within 2 minutes, at which point the captain came out (no doors were separating the cockpit) to inform us of our flight time of 30 minutes and to enjoy the views out of the window.
We started moving right on the dot at 11:00 am...
And took off 2 minutes later from Runway 13. Here I was thinking that we'd backtrack the runway and then use most of it since that was the pattern for the morning. Nope.
Chatting with passengers onboard and enjoying the magnificent views the Seychelles has to offer, we began our descent into Desroches Island 20 minutes after takeoff.
We touched down on the beautiful island of Desroches right on the dot at 11:30 am, and I've gotta say, this runway is very narrow. I know this is usual for the captain, but the only other time I have experienced this is on Maya Air flying to Caye Caulker.
A Four Seasons Greeting
On the ground in Desroches, the first thing I noticed was that all of the staff were on the edge of the tarmac anticipating our arrival. It was a true Four Seasons, as once we were off-board the aircraft, our bags were transferred to our villa, and we were driven by a golf cart right to a spot to have some lunch.
But that was the extent of the service. Find out tomorrow what I mean...
Final Thoughts
While very expensive, flying from Mahe to Desroches Island is a pleasant flight onboard IDC and one that I would love to take again. The views are stellar, the cabin is fine, and the flight deck seems well-trained. Just keep in mind that this isn't like an ordinary flight, and the runway is literally in the hotel 😅 (so cool).
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