Anse Lazio, Praslin: We Found a Secret Beach Just Past the End of It
Anse Lazio has been ranked the third best beach in the world, and there is a better one about four hundred metres past the end of it that almost nobody walks to.
I am going to tell you how to find that one. But first I want to save you the two mistakes we very nearly made ourselves, because both of them are the kind of thing you only learn by getting them wrong and neither is in most guides.
The first is that you should not drive down to the beach. The second is that if you turn up in the wrong half of the year you may not be able to swim, and that has nothing to do with luck.
We were on Praslin for three nights in August. Anse Lazio was the best swimming of our entire twelve days in Seychelles, and the little beach past it was the single best twenty minutes of the trip!
Anse Lazio, My Quick Answer
Park at the top point and walk the fifteen minutes down. Then walk to the far end, turn right, and go over the boulders.
That is the entire article in two sentences. Everything below is the detail.
Do Not Drive Down to the Beach
This is the tip I would most want somebody to have given me.
If you drive all the way down to Anse Lazio, two things happen. You pay for parking at the bottom, and the road that gets you there goes about forty minutes around the island, because Praslin's roads go around rather than over.
Drive up to the top point instead, park there, and hike down. It takes about fifteen minutes on foot, it costs nothing, and you arrive at the beach through the trees rather than through a car park. It is a genuinely better way to turn up somewhere this good.
You will want a car on Praslin to do this at all. We paid 145 euro to OLA for a Suzuki Swift for three full days, which is roughly A$78 a day, and it was the difference between seeing the island and negotiating taxis. There is more on that in our full Praslin guide.
What Anse Lazio Is Actually Like
It absolutely deserves the reputation, and I say that as somebody who is usually quite suspicious of a beach with a ranking attached to it!
It is a wide curve of the whitest sand with granite boulders at either end, thick green hills behind it, and water that goes from clear to that particular turquoise about ten metres out! There were a handful of catamarans anchored off it when we were there and not many people on the sand.
The swimming was the best of our whole trip! Calm, clear, and shallow enough for a long way that you can just stand in it.
There are a couple of places to eat at the beach itself, so you do not need to carry a day's food in with you, which is genuinely not true of every beach in Seychelles!
Why It Was Calm in the Windiest Month of the Year
Here is the part that turns this from a nice beach into a beach you can plan around.
From roughly May to September the southeast trade winds blow hard across Seychelles. Beaches facing south and east take the wind and the swell head on. Beaches facing north and west sit in the shelter behind the islands. From about November to March the whole thing flips.
Anse Lazio faces roughly northwest. That is why it was glassy in August, the windiest month of the Seychelles year, while on the same trip we stood at Grand Anse on La Digue and watched locals telling people not to go in the water at all.
Look at the flag in the photograph further up. It is standing straight out, so the wind was genuinely strong that morning, and the water underneath it is completely flat. That is not a calm day, that is a windy day on the right beach, and once you understand the pattern you can pick beaches by it.
We wrote the whole thing up, with the four beaches we swam at and the two we could not, in the best time to visit Seychelles.
The Beach Past the End of Anse Lazio
This is the best tip in anything we have written about Seychelles, so here it is properly.
Walk to the far end of the main beach. Turn right. Look for the big boulder rocks, and you will see a path going up the side of them. Follow it.
It comes out on a tiny beach with nobody on it at all. Not fewer people. Nobody!
Daniel's words when we got there were "we've made it, our little private beach, it's all ours", and that is genuinely what it felt like, standing on our own patch of sand a few hundred metres from a beach that gets called the third best in the world!
Two honest notes. Wear something on your feet you can scramble in, because it is a short clamber rather than a stroll. And take your water with you, because there is nothing over there at all, which is rather the point.
Anse Georgette, the Other Beach on This Corner
I want to flag this one because it comes up constantly and we did not go, so I am giving it to you as research rather than experience.
Anse Georgette sits inside the Constance Lemuria resort grounds. From what we read, you need to ring ahead because they let a limited number of non-guests in each day. It is on the same corner of Praslin as Anse Lazio, so it pairs with it easily if you make the call.
We did not make the call and I cannot tell you what it is like. If it matters to you, plan it before you arrive rather than turning up.
Where to Stay for Anse Lazio
We stayed at Chez Rona, about A$190 a night, and the host was one of the highlights of our whole trip. He cooked us a Creole dinner for nothing on our last night and gave us better stories about the island than any guide did!
But it is a drive from Anse Lazio, and that is the one thing I would change. Chez Rona is over at Anse Possession. If you are coming to Praslin on a proper holiday rather than passing through between islands, I would look at staying nearer Anse Lazio itself. Waking up and walking onto that beach would be a completely different trip.
Chez Rona
About A$190 a night at Anse Possession. The host is genuinely the reason to book it: he cooked us a Creole dinner for nothing on our last night and gave us better stories about Praslin than any guide did. Honest caveat, it is a drive from Anse Lazio rather than a walk.
Watch Our Seychelles Vlog
Anse Lazio and the walk over the boulders are in the middle stretch.
Watch our Seychelles vlog on YouTube
The full eight day route across all three islands, with the ferry crossings placed on the right mornings and every beach pinned with our notes, is in our Seychelles itinerary.
FAQs About Anse Lazio
Is Anse Lazio worth visiting?
Yes. It was the best swimming of our twelve days in Seychelles and it earns the ranking. Walk past the far end and over the boulders as well, because the small beach on the other side was the best twenty minutes of our trip.
Do you have to pay for Anse Lazio?
The beach itself is free. You pay for parking if you drive all the way down to it, which is why we would park at the top point and walk the fifteen minutes down instead.
How do you get to Anse Lazio?
By car, and park at the top point rather than driving to the bottom. Praslin's roads go around the island rather than over it, so driving to the beach itself is about forty minutes.
Can you swim at Anse Lazio?
We could, and it was calm and shallow a long way out. It faces roughly northwest, so it is sheltered during the May to September southeast trade wind season when exposed beaches on the other side of the islands get a strong current.
What is the secret beach at Anse Lazio?
Walk to the far end of the main beach, turn right, look for the big boulder rocks and follow the path up the side of them. It comes out on a tiny beach with nobody on it. Wear shoes you can scramble in and take water, because there is nothing over there.
Is Anse Lazio better than Anse Georgette?
I cannot answer that honestly because we did not go to Anse Georgette. It is inside the Constance Lemuria resort and you have to ring ahead for access, which we did not do.
When is the best time to visit Anse Lazio?
It is sheltered from the southeast trade winds that blow from about May to September, so it works well in the half of the year when a lot of other Seychelles beaches do not. April and October are the calmest months everywhere, though we have not been in either.
