Choose the Seychelles for variety: granite islands with mountains up to 905 m, rainforest hikes, giant tortoises and ferries between islands. Choose the Maldives for a single resort island on a flat coral atoll, with the reef off your villa and a seaplane or speedboat transfer. Both suit snorkellers; the Seychelles suits restless travellers better.
Choose the Seychelles if you want to do things between swims: climb a 905 m mountain, walk through rainforest, meet giant tortoises and take a ferry to another island. Choose the Maldives if you want one island, one resort and the reef outside your door, with almost nothing above sea level to climb.
Both are Indian Ocean island nations with warm water and white sand. The difference is the ground under your feet. The Seychelles’ inner islands are granite, steep and green. The Maldives is a chain of flat coral atolls where Wikipedia gives the highest natural ground as 2.4 m.
| Seychelles | Maldives | |
|---|---|---|
| Landscape | More than 40 granite islands around Mahé, plus outer coral islands; Morne Seychellois rises to 905 m | 1,192 coral islands in 26 atolls; natural ground averages 1.5 m, maximum 2.4 m |
| Land area | About 457 km² | 298 km² |
| Typical stay | Hotels, resorts and self-catering on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, with roads and buses | One resort per island is the classic model; local-island guesthouses since 2009 |
| Arrival | Seychelles International Airport on Mahé, about 11 km from Victoria | Velana International Airport on Hulhulé, next to Malé |
| Getting to your hotel | Taxi, bus or hire car on Mahé; ferry or flight to other islands | Speedboat or seaplane to the resort jetty, arranged by the resort |
| Island hopping | Public ferries: Mahé to Praslin about 1 h 15 min, Praslin to La Digue 15 min | Transfers between islands by seaplane, speedboat, domestic flight or dhoni |
| On land | Hiking trails, giant tortoises, the coco de mer forest of the Vallée de Mai, Victoria | Mostly the resort island itself |
| In the water | Marine parks such as Ste Anne, a 10-minute boat ride from Victoria | Atoll reefs; Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll draws large manta ray gatherings |
| Entry | Online Travel Authorisation before you fly | Free 30-day visa on arrival; online IMUGA declaration within 96 hours |
| Currency | Seychelles rupee (SCR) | Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR) |
Sources: Wikipedia country and tourism articles, SPGA, Cat Cocos, Air Seychelles; checked October 2026.
This is the biggest difference, and it shapes everything else. The Seychelles’ inner islands sit on a submerged granite block. Mahé alone is about 157 km² and climbs to 905 m at Morne Seychellois, and its national park covers more than a fifth of the island. Beaches here are framed by granite boulders, like Anse Source d’Argent on La Digue in the photo above.
The Maldives is the opposite. Wikipedia calls it the lowest country in the world. Its 1,192 islands are coral, grouped in 26 atolls, and only about 200 of them are inhabited. The views are horizontal: lagoon, reef and sky.
In the Seychelles, a typical week mixes water and land:
Our things to do in the Seychelles guide covers the rest.
In the Maldives, the day revolves around the water. Diving and snorkelling are, in Wikipedia’s words, “immensely popular”. Baa Atoll was named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2011, and Hanifaru Bay there sees some of the largest gatherings of manta rays in the world. If what you want is to step off your villa onto a reef and do little else, the Maldives model is built for that.
Both have one main international gateway. In the Seychelles it is Seychelles International Airport on Mahé, about 11 km from Victoria. From there you are on a road network: taxis, SPTC public buses and hire cars (driving on the left).
In the Maldives, most visitors land at Velana International Airport on Hulhulé Island, next to the capital, Malé. Resorts then send a speedboat or a seaplane, depending on how far away they are. Wikipedia notes that speedboats and seaplanes are the expensive options, and the traditional dhoni boats are slower and cheaper. Velana’s seaplane terminal serves what Wikipedia calls the world’s largest seaplane operation.
The Seychelles makes it easy to change islands on a public timetable. Cat Cocos ferries run Mahé to Praslin in about 1 hour 15 minutes and Praslin to La Digue in 15 minutes. Economy fares were roughly €45 to €60 one way (Ferryscanner, October 2026). Air Seychelles runs up to 30 round trips a day between Mahé and Praslin. See our island hopping guide for the full picture.
In the Maldives the classic setup is “one island, one resort”, where a single hotel occupies the whole island. Hopping between resorts means booking a transfer each time. Since a 2009 rule change, guesthouses on inhabited local islands give a cheaper, more mobile alternative.
Both follow the monsoons, roughly in step. In the Seychelles the northwest monsoon runs about December to March and the southeast trades about May to October, with the calmest seas usually in April to May and October to November. In the Maldives the dry northeast monsoon turns into the wetter southwest monsoon in April and May, and the southwest monsoon lasts from June to the end of November. Our best time to visit the Seychelles guide breaks it down by month.
Go to the Seychelles with realistic hopes for the coral. The Seychelles national reef report (May 2026) put live hard coral cover on the inner islands at about 20% in 2025, after the 2024 bleaching, well below pre-2016 levels. Fish life is still good. We did not find an equally current, official figure for the Maldives, so we make no claim either way.
Moyenne is the kind of thing the Seychelles does and the Maldives doesn’t: a 9 to 10 hectare granite island in the Ste Anne Marine Park, about 10 minutes by boat from Victoria, where a Yorkshire newspaperman spent decades planting trees and raising giant tortoises. You can snorkel the park in the morning and walk among the tortoises after lunch, all from a base on Mahé.
The Saint-Anne Marine Park and Moyenne Island Cruise packs that into one day: a catamaran, snorkel stops, a Creole lunch and a guided tortoise walk on Moyenne, with the landing fee paid. It was from $158 on GetYourGuide, rated 4.7 from 580 reviews (October 2026). If you pick the Seychelles, start with our where to stay in Mahé guide to find a base near the boats.
7 hours
A catamaran day in the marine park with snorkel stops, a Creole lunch and a guided walk among the tortoises on Moyenne, with the island landing fee already paid.
from$158
Check availability6-6.5 hours
The cheapest and most-booked marine park day: glass-bottom boat from Eden Island, snorkelling, the Round and Long Island sandbank, a stop at Moyenne and a beach barbecue on Cerf.
from$84
Check availability11 hours
A long catamaran day that goes inside the Vallée de Mai forest on Praslin, then takes an ox-cart to L'Union Estate and Anse Source d'Argent on La Digue.
from$298
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
It depends on what you want to do between swims. The Seychelles has mountains, rainforest trails, giant tortoises and ferries between islands, so it suits people who want to move around. The Maldives is built around one resort per island on flat coral atolls, so it suits people who want to stay put on one island with the reef right outside.
Both are snorkelling destinations, and we have not compared their reefs survey to survey. The Seychelles has marine parks a short boat ride from Mahé, such as Ste Anne, but its inner-island reefs lost much of their coral in the 2024 bleaching, with live hard coral cover around 20% in 2025. In the Maldives, most resorts sit directly on an atoll reef.
The Seychelles requires every foreign visitor to apply online for a Travel Authorisation before arrival, for a small fee. The Maldives issues a free 30-day visa on arrival to most visitors, and everyone must submit the online IMUGA traveller declaration within 96 hours before the flight. Check both official portals before booking, as rules change.
The seasons line up roughly. In the Seychelles the calmest seas usually come in April to May and October to November, between the two monsoons. In the Maldives, the dry northeast monsoon gives way to the wetter southwest monsoon in April and May, and the southwest monsoon lasts from June to the end of November.
The Seychelles. Public ferries link Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, with Mahé to Praslin taking about 1 hour 15 minutes, and Air Seychelles flies small planes between Mahé and Praslin. In the Maldives, transfers are arranged by your resort, by speedboat or seaplane, and moving between resort islands is a transfer each time.
Most things to do in Seychelles sit on three islands.
Seychelles island hopping runs on the Cat Cocos ferry: 1 hour 15 minutes from Mahé to Praslin, then 15 minutes on to La Digue.
The best time to visit Seychelles is April to May or October to November.
For a Moyenne or marine park day, stay on Eden Island: Eden Bleu Hotel is a short walk from the boats.