The last trip before the world fell apart...
We visited Seychelles in March 2020.
We booked the hotel through Expedia which seemed to have the best deal.
Our flight arrived early morning.
The hotel is about 45 Minutes driving from the airport, we arranged our transport beforehand with Brandon Taxi, should you be interested they can be contacted through Whatsapp (+248 2 526 038).
On arrival at the hotel we were given welcome drinks and could already go to our room as they prepared it for an early arrival (10 AM), a great start.
We booked a junior suite and were on the first floor in the middle circle close to the Adam and Eve restaurant.
We were given a bottle of Champagne and Chocolates also as welcome gift .
We were greeted by some of the inhabitants of the hotel
The suite had a big bathroom with shower and bathtub. All usual room amenities you can find in a 5 Star Hotel.
While it was located near a restaurant we did not have any noise .
They have air-conditioning and a fan inside and also a fan outside on the terrace which is great to keep mosquitos away (they are plenty).
The curtains were not the black out type thus did not block the light fully.
Once in a while we had a Gecko in our room but it didn't bother us.
The Seychelles has 2 monsoon seasons. Wind direction is generally by season
- Northwest from November till April
- Southeast from May till October
As a result Northern beaches have stronger winds during the Winter months and Southern beaches during the summer. Similarly seaweed can be a problem in these months on beaches located on that side of the island.
The best part of Constance Ephelia is that it has beaches facing North and South, in each season there will be a better beach in this resort.
We share some pictures below of all the beaches
Lans Ilet is the closest beach to the resort in the South, It is calm during winter season and has a noticeable tidal change. Its is very suitable for Children as it does not go deep quickly and during certain times of the day you can walk to Blet Island as it's very shallow.
Lans Ilet had alot of crabs, they are very shy and run away usually.
On the southwest side there is also Lans Trusalo, it has more seaweed but is very beautiful also
If you keep walking over Lans Trusalo you can cross through the small bushes and you'll arrive at a Lans Angle which was more wavy and rocky, not so suitable for swimming but great for quiet sunbathing as we were all alone there.
Across Lans Illet there is an Island called Blet. While it is private property it seems you can walk there during low tide through the water. Take into consideration it is private property.
On the North Side there are 2 more beaches.
Port Launay is close to the villas of the hotel and has a coral reef and more sea life.
The hotel also has a bar service and free water dispensers near the beach.
As it was March, winds were usually from the North and this beach had more wavy condition although some days the wind was relatively calm which allowed snorkelling.
You can do some nice snorkeling, the reef is not in the best condition and you'll only see smaller fishes here. We did spend two days snorkelling here.
The last beach, by my opinion the most beautiful is Lans Koken, to reach this beach you would need to go up the hill near the hillside villas, once you pass them there are stairs and a path down again to the beach. You can ask the staff to ride you up to the hillside villas but the part from there you can only walk. It's a scenic walk.
Some of the days the beach was calm, other days it was very windy and you could barely walk on the beach as it is not so wide.
If you continue walking to the end of the beach and turn left you can walk the Ros Lepa trail.
The ros Lepa trail will take you 2-3 hours depending how fast you walk, the Devils stairs are a great spot to sit down and admire the waves crashing into the rocks.
Other than Snorkelling, walking and sunbathing you can also admire the oldest inhabitants of the Seychelles.
These Turtles are easily over 100 years old and live on the resort, you can touch and feed them just be careful not to loose a finger.
One has to eat offcourse,
For that Constance Ephelia offers plenty of options.
Corossol offers Breakfast Buffet and Dinner buffet.
Helios, Adam and Eve offers Lunch-Dinner A La Carte Menu.
Selswa offers all day A La Carte Menu.
Cyann offers Upscale Lunch-Dinner A la carte Menu.
We have also eaten at Helios for Lunch and Dinner and Adam & Eve for Lunch.
They both offer a nice A La Carte Menu but we did prefer the Buffet as it had a lot more variety.
The Cyann restaurant we didn't try, as part of our stay we booked Half Board and this restaurant had an extra fee which we felt wasn't worth it.
Our stay was cut short by the Pandemic, we left a few days earlier as borders started to close and made it home on the last flight before they closed.
We lost 2 nights of non refundable stay, before we left I spoke to the manager and he assured us that he would try to refund it to us.
About two months and a few e-mails later we did actually get our lost nights refunded even though it was a non refundable booking.
I appreciate that Constance hotels did a great job with customer service and I applaud they put their customers first.
We highly recommend Constance Ephelia for your stay in Mahe.
It has a fantastic location so you will find easily a quiet spot to stay on one of the many beaches connected to the hotel. It is perfect for couples but also great for kids as the southern beach is very suitable for children.
The food was great, we loved the buffet. The Only comment is that some of the desserts were not cooled which I believe could have been fixed easily
The resort offers a Spa which we didn't try as it was very pricey.
There is a convenience store in the hotel and also just outside the resort.
The staff was friendly and very helpful.
Constance Ephelia Website : https://www.constancehotels.com/en/hotels-resorts/seychelles/ephelia/