The Maldives, Mauritius or the Seychelles: which island suits you?

On a map they look like neighbours. In practice the Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles are three quite different holidays, with different weather calendars, different landscapes and different ideas of what a day should involve.

We plan all three and love all three. This is how we help people choose.

The one-line version

• The Maldives is about the water. Low coral islands, one resort per island, overwater villas, and some of the best snorkelling from a beach anywhere.
• Mauritius is about variety. A large volcanic island with mountains, a long coastline, golf, food and culture, and resorts that suit families especially well.
• The Seychelles is about the scenery. Granite boulders, forested peaks and beaches that look like nowhere else, with the chance to hop between islands.

The landscape

The Maldives is flat. Its islands are coral, rarely more than a couple of metres above sea level, and each resort is usually its own island. The view is sea and sky in every direction. You spend your days in, on or beside the water, and there is not much else to do. That is exactly the point.

Mauritius is a single, large island with a mountainous interior. There are gorges, waterfalls, tea estates, sugar cane and a capital with a market. The coast is ringed by a reef, so most beaches face a calm lagoon. You can hire a driver, eat in local restaurants and see a very different side of the island from one day to the next.

The Seychelles is two worlds. The inner granitic islands, Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, have steep green hills dropping to beaches strewn with huge granite boulders. On Praslin, the Vallée de Mai is a UNESCO World Heritage palm forest and home to the largest population of the coco de mer, the palm with the largest seed in the plant kingdom. Further out, the coral islands are flatter and more remote, and several have a single private resort.

The weather, season by season

This is where the three really diverge, and where getting it right matters most.

The Maldives

The Maldives Meteorological Service describes a dry northeast monsoon from January to March and a wetter southwest monsoon from mid-May to November, with December and April as changeover months. Temperatures stay between about 25°C and 32°C all year. The wet months still bring plenty of sun between showers, and they coincide with the manta season in Baa Atoll. Our Maldives month by month guide goes into detail.

Mauritius

Mauritius is in the southern hemisphere, so its seasons are the reverse of ours. The Mauritius Meteorological Services describes a warm, humid summer from November to April and a cooler, drier winter from June to September, with May and October as transition months. The wettest months are February and March. The coolest nights, in July and August, drop to around 16°C on average.

That makes Mauritius a strong choice for the British spring and autumn, and a pleasant, fresher option in our summer. The southern summer is also cyclone season across the southwest Indian Ocean.

The Seychelles

The Seychelles Meteorological Authority's climate guide describes January as the peak of the rainy season, with the northwest monsoon. April is the calm changeover, with light winds. May is one of the sunniest parts of the year. From June to September the southeast trade winds blow, peaking in August with rough seas, and the south and southeast-facing beaches can collect seaweed while the sheltered west and northwest coasts stay more pleasant. October and November bring lighter winds again.

The main granitic islands sit outside the usual cyclone tracks, which the Authority notes rarely affect them.

Putting it together

• January to March: the Maldives is at its most reliable. Mauritius is hot and at its wettest. The Seychelles is in its rainy season.
• April and May: a good time for all three. The Seychelles is at its calmest, the Maldives is hot and quiet, and Mauritius is easing into autumn.
• June to September: Mauritius is in its cool, dry winter. The Seychelles is windy but dry, best on its sheltered coasts. The Maldives is in the southwest monsoon, with manta season in full swing.
• October and November: a sweet spot for Mauritius and the Seychelles, and a good manta month in the Maldives.
• December: all three are busy and expensive over the festive weeks. The Maldives is usually settling into its dry season by the second half of the month.

Getting there

Flight times from London are broadly similar, all in the region of 10 to 13 hours, but the options differ.

Air Mauritius flies direct between Gatwick and Mauritius, which is a real advantage for families and anyone who dislikes connections.

For the Maldives, Virgin Atlantic runs a seasonal direct service from Heathrow to Malé, with a flight time of 10 to 11 hours. Outside those dates, and for most other airlines, you connect in the Gulf. Once you land, there is a second leg by speedboat, seaplane or domestic flight, which adds anything from 20 minutes to a couple of hours.

The Seychelles is the one where we most often plan a connection. Moving between islands then means a short flight or a ferry.

Who each one suits

The Maldives

• Honeymooners and couples who want privacy and water. It is the most natural fit for a honeymoon of the three.
• Snorkellers and divers. A good house reef can be a few steps from your villa.
• People who want to do very little. A Maldives resort is designed so that you never need to leave.

The honest caveat: if you get restless after four days on a small island, the Maldives can feel confining. A two-resort stay helps.

Mauritius

• Families. Big resorts with kids' clubs, calm lagoons and a direct flight make Mauritius the easiest of the three with children. Our family page has more.
• Couples who like to explore. Hiking in Black River Gorges, a day at Le Morne, lunch in a Creole restaurant.
• Golfers, and anyone who likes a larger resort with a choice of restaurants.

The honest caveat: Mauritius is more developed than the other two. It does not have the Maldives' seclusion or the Seychelles' drama, but it does more things well.

The Seychelles

• Couples who want scenery as much as sand. Few beaches look like Anse Source d'Argent on La Digue.
• Island hoppers. Two or three islands in one trip is easy and rewarding.
• Nature lovers. Walking trails, endemic birds, giant tortoises, and the Vallée de Mai.

The honest caveat: the snorkelling from the main islands is generally less consistent than in the Maldives, and the Seychelles can be the most expensive of the three for what you get.

Where the money goes

All three can be very expensive, but they spend your money differently.

In the Maldives, the resort is the holiday, so almost everything is bought there: meals, drinks, excursions and the transfer itself. A meal plan often makes sense, and the choice between a speedboat and a seaplane resort can change the cost of a trip considerably.

In Mauritius, the range of hotels is wider, and eating out, excursions and a driver for the day are all easy to arrange outside the resort. For a family, that flexibility usually makes it the best value of the three.

In the Seychelles, island hopping adds flights, ferries and transfers, and some of the outer islands are home to a single private resort with prices to match. Staying on Mahé and Praslin, with a few nights on La Digue, keeps things simpler.

Combining them

A few trips combine two of them, most often Mauritius with the Seychelles, or a safari with any of the three. The Maldives is the hardest to combine because of its onward transfers, but a beach week in the Seychelles or Mauritius after a safari in Kenya or South Africa works well.

Before you go

For health advice, check TravelHealthPro for the Maldives (opens in a new tab), Mauritius (opens in a new tab) and the Seychelles (opens in a new tab). The FCDO travel advice pages for each country cover entry requirements.

If you are still torn, tell us what you want to feel on the second day of the holiday, not the first. The first day is always good. It is the second day that shows whether you chose the right island.