Review: L'Escale Hotel Mahe, Seychelles
- Konrad Tillman
- 7 days ago
- 6 min read
Intro
After a sensational flight onboard Emirates First Class from Dubai, we spent one night on the main island of Mahe before our 3-night stay at the Four Seasons Desroches.
There are plenty of options to choose from on the island of Mahe, with the utmost luxury hotels consistent with the Four Seasons, and the slightly lower category (and still luxury) sitting with the likes of the Kempinski.
Usually, we tend to stay at a name-brand hotel such as the Four Seasons or Anantara, but we decided to take a gamble this time and stay with a new hotel: L'Espere. I am so glad that we did, as L'Espere is one of the best hotels we have stayed at in terms of service. In addition, the hotel is beautiful, the staff is friendly, the food is good, and the massages are reasonably priced.
Overall, this is a place I highly recommend if you are staying for a night or two. It is an 8-minute drive from the airport, a 10-minute drive to town, and it's reasonably priced at 700 ish USD per night depending on the season.
Check-In
Arriving, slightly tipsy from the Dom P on Emirates, a lovely woman by the name of Peggy greeted us with Seychellois hospitality. From the second we got there, we knew we had chosen the right place.
Settling out all of the finer details, somebody dropped our bags off at our room as we were given the grand tour of the hotel by Peggy (more on that in a second). As we made our way through the hotel, and back to our room, Peggy informed us that we had been upgraded to a 2 bedroom villa, retailing at 1400+ Euros per night, for free. WOW!
The Villa
Blown away by the upgrade, we entered the villa to find one of the most gorgeous-looking villas I have stayed in. L'Espere really goes above and beyond when it comes to decorating their villas, even providing interesting books on the bedside table to read and relax at night time.
On the right-hand side was the beautifully ambient master bedroom, featuring a walk-in closet, a comfortable king-size bed, and a walk-in shower. It honestly felt like a mix between a modern Hamptons house, and the Seychelles. Fantastic.
Moving back through the common room, I found my room located on the left-hand side of the villa (of course, I am giving my mum the master...). While not quite as spacious as the master bedroom, it still featured a beautiful design and a comfortable bed.
Okay, wait a minute, in the back lay the showers which featured, wait for it, Hermes soap, shampoo and conditioner. After no hot water in the Emirates Lounge (B), and barely any hot water in Afghanistan, having a shower was delightful.
Oh yeah, the toiletries are Molton Brown. Not bad!
Lastly, in the back of the villa lay a beautiful private plunge pool along with some lounge chairs. The pool was accessible through the living room, and each bedroom, providing the perfect place to relax for our first day in the Seychelles.
I took many refreshing dips, especially after all of that champagne!
A simply gorgeous villa and I cannot thank Peggy enough for the very generous upgrade 🙂.
Around The Hotel
Relaxing at the pool for a bit, I figured that it was time to go and re-explore L'Escale. There are two main ways to get from the villa, spoiler: both are green, but the first way takes you down a small pathway and over to the main entrance.
But the second way is much more swanky, passing through a walkway running over the water, straight up to the back door of the villa.
If you are interested in going to the gym: it is located here as well. But this is vacation, not gym time...
For those looking to escape someone else (definitely not me 🥴), there is a small indoor seating area nearby to the main pool in the main building. Much like the villas, this space was decorated beautifully!
The Main Pool
Unless you are in a villa, the main pool available to guests is located in the very front of the property, with views reaching out in front of the dock. The pool features everything one could ask for: a lovely bar, modern sun loungers, small cabanas to eat lunch on, and a lukewarm pool (it's hot here).
So let's address the elephant in the room: the views. Honestly speaking, this isn't a hotel you stay a week at, as it simply doesn't have the beach that plenty of other hotels have. However, for one or two nights, this isn't an issue as the beaches are quite close by if you want to go.
Dining
Happen to feel peckish? No need to worry about food, but definitely need to worry about prices. There is no two ways about it: The Seychelles is bloody expensive. We stopped by for a late lunch at the restaurant by the pool, where a beer came out to 11 USD, and a burger was a whopping 40 USD. Just keep in mind that this is everywhere across the Seychelles as most items have to be imported.
I will say that the burger was quite good, and the local beer: I had way too much fun with that 😉.
In the morning we headed off to the main restaurant, which is also available for lunch and dinner, to eat our breakfast which was included in the rate.
This place had a decadent, yet modern feel to it, with friendly staff and great made-to-order food. I had a couple of orders of delicious pancakes, a few fantastic cappuccinos, and some fresh orange juice.
All in all, a very solid complementary breakfast.
The Spa
Another place where L'Escale shines is its spa offerings. Luxury hotels around the area charge quite significant upcharges on their massages, but L'Escale offers reasonably (somewhat) prices. My mum and I got massages at the last minute for roughly 80$ per person (don't quote me on that, it's what I remember), and the massage was sensational.
Overall, being able to book a last-minute massage at a reasonable cost was fantastic.
Service
Now for the part where the L'Escale hotel really shines: The Service. Throughout our one-night stay at L'Escale we were treated to some lovely service, and these are a few of the instances that stood out to me:
Peggy, one of the staff members at the hotel, is one of the kindest souls I have personally ever met. Every time we saw her, she greeted us with a smile and asked if we needed anything.
Of course, getting a free upgrade was a big winner here. Oftentimes you might get a one-category upgrade, but a free upgrade from a basic room to a 2 bedroom villa is practically unheard of.
All of the staff around the property were kind. The man working the bar at the pool (I forgot your name sorry) was very kind and just chatty in general.
As talked about in the review of Emirates First Class, what separates good service from great service is when the company seems like they want you to stay. L'Escale recently opened back in 2021, and it seems like they have a point to prove, and they are proving it. Top-notch service.
Final Thoughts
As we headed to check out the next day, I reflected on the one-night stay at L'Escale. Minus the lack of direct beach access, there isn't really an avenue in which I could fault L'Escale on. Obviously, the location of the Four Seasons Mahe is better overall, but I can personally tell you that everything else is nicer at L'Escale (okay, maybe the food as well). However, if you are in town for a night or two in Mahe and need a nice place to stay near the airport, look no further than L'Escale.
Oh yeah, they provide airport transportation for cheaper than a taxi: 35 Euros.
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