24 hours at Waldorf Astoria on Platte Island, Seychelles

I had a week in the Seychelles in November 2024 island hopping this gorgeous archipelago. One of my stops was to the remote Platte Island, spending the night at Waldorf Astoria, which opened in the spring of 2024, previously an uninhabited island.

You arrive in style on a private domestic flight, but this isn’t any flight, this feels like arriving by luxurious private jet. With a capacity of 14 seats, the flight takes 20-25 minutes flying south of Mahé. Flights are daily, and the good news is there is a healthy baggage allowance of 30kgs. The hotel staff warmly greeted us, and then my private butler, Angel, whisked me off on a buggy. Angel gave me a quick tour of the island, and then I checked into my beautiful One Bedroom Hawksbill Villa, where she had already arranged thoughtful touches of beach shoes and snorkelling equipment.

The villas are stunning and so different, only 57 villas on the island, and each thoughtfully designed within the confounds of its own garden with enough foliage to make it a private cocoon. My villa had a pool to relax in all day long and fun swing seat and sun loungers. Each villa has a discreet pathway that leads down to the beach. Inside the villa is a lounge, separate bedroom which leads onto your grand bathroom, with both an indoor and outdoor shower and delightful Aesop toiletries.

After a quick turnaround, we took our complimentary bicycles, with personalised name tags, and headed off to La Perle, one of three restaurants on the island, for a light lunch. I was travelling with a colleague from Masons Travel, who after lunch went for a dive, arranged through Blue Safaris, whilst I returned to my villa and then decided to walk my lunch off, taking a stroll around the whole island, which took about 45 minutes. I passed no-one apart from seeing some tracks from a turtle, which clearly just came on land to lay her eggs. Platte Island is a natural breeding ground for the Hawksbill turtles between November and March.

As day turned to dusk, I participated in a sunset Pilates session while watching the sunset. Our dinner that evening was at Maison Des Epices, which offers Creole-Latin fusion food.

The highlight was an early morning snorkelling session, to a secret spot behind the spa, and we were lucky enough to snorkel with a turtle who followed our every move, and a manta ray also joined us. The spa has individual treatment rooms, all designed in the shape of a Coco De Mer. We finished our morning with breakfast and a relaxing bike ride around the island, stopping off to see the Sea Scouts Kids Club and the pirates ship for their playground.

But paradise must come to an end, and 24-hours after our arrival, we returned to Mahe, back the same way we came, on our domestic flight.