Beau Vallon

Beau Vallon is the busiest beach on Mahé and the closest the Seychelles come to a resort strip, a three kilometre curve of pale sand on the sheltered northwest coast with hotels, dive centres and a row of takeaway grills behind it. Its sea is calm and shallow through the southeast trade wind months, which is exactly when the exposed southern beaches are unsafe. A Wednesday evening market fills the beach road with Creole food stalls. Boats leave from here for the dive sites around the northern islands and for sunset cruises. Almost every dive operator in the country works out of this bay.