Often Compared in
Maldives Seychelles Guest Books

"The Seychelles is both Maldives and Mauritius
rolled up into one package!"

In Maldives Seychelles guest books you often find the uninitiated comparing the two countries. Let's do our own side-by-side comparison between Maldives and Seychelles. In my opinion the latter has the best of Mauritius and the best of Maldives together in one country.

What do I mean? It's this: The mountains of Mauritius with the flat low-lying islands and the weather of Maldives. You often find Maldives Seychelles guest books comparing and contrasting Seychelles and Maldives as mountainous vs. low-lying cays.

They don't seem to know that Seychelles has both... Some talk of one being dry and the other wet, again because they do not know any better. Those people couldn't be further from the truth...

You see Seychelles is made up of 42 granite islands... That makes it mountainous like Mauritius - but with different kinds of rocks. But that's not end of story. There are another 113 coral islands making a total of 155 islands in Seychelles.

More than half of these are absolutely flat sand cays of 2 to 3 metres in height. Examples of these in Seychelles are Bird Island, Platte Island, Denis Island, Desroches Island, Alphonse Island and 60 more islands and atolls.

In this respect Maldives and Seychelles are identical flat coral atolls and sand cays. When you want to see Maldives in the Seychelles just go to Bird Island or Denis Island. It's only 30 minutes by light aircraft, with one advantage - much less tourists.

Anse Lazio Beach in Praslin Seychelles

Incidentally just like in the Maldives Seychelles Bird Island has succumbed to heavy erosion in the last decade. The sea has encroached on the land - up to 50 metres in some parts.

The other 50 or so coral atolls and islands of Seychelles like Aldabra Atoll and St Pierre Island are raised coral Islands but even these are only 6 to 8 metres above sea level at their highest point!

So visiting Seychelles gives you a chance to experience both Mauritius and Maldives in one country with one big difference... Seychelles is not crowded. Yes you have more space to yourself.

The weather:
Maldives and Seychelles have very similar climates. Both Seychelles and Maldives have a moderate tropical oceanic island type climate. The heat is tempered by the sea breezes. Both are outside the cyclone belt, meaning no hurricanes - no cyclones that ravage Mauritius annually.

Maldives and Seychelles are warm the whole year - no winter at all, just like the Galapagos in the Pacific. As in Seychelles the climate in Maldives is determined by 2 major prevailing winds.

The only difference is that the dry and the rainy seasons are shifted by 6 months. That's right - the exact same weather pattern in both countries, only 6 months out of sync. The weather in Seychelles and Maldives are the mirror image of each other.

And Just like in a mirror, the wind directions are inverted laterally. In Seychelles they are the SE trades and the NW monsoon winds; in Maldives the NE trades and the SW monsoon. And it's the monsoons that bring rain in both countries.

So, interestingly for visitors the dry season in Seychelles corresponds to the very wet season in Maldives, and when it's dry in Maldives it pours in Seychelles. At a glance here it is:

November to March:
Seychelles: rainy season, winds NW...    Maldives: dry, winds NE

May to September:
Seychelles: dry, winds SE...    Maldives: rainy season, winds SW

Flat sand cay - Seychelles or Maldives?
Bird Island Seychelles

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Do you see the pattern here? Who says Maldives and Seychelles weather are different? Just depends on the time of year you travel. That's all...

In Maldives most rain falls in June & July. In Seychelles the heavy rains are in December and January.

Height:
Maldives is renowned for its highest elevation of 2.3 metres above sea level. Similarly in Seychelles 65 coral islands are flat with a height of only 2 to 3 metres.

Another 48 coral islands in the Seychelles are slightly raised to a mere 5 to 8 metres above sea level. The rest of Seychelles is made up of 42 granite islands, which are mountainous with heights of up to 905 m (2979ft) for Mahe Island, and the 5000-acre island, Silhouette rises to an elevation of 750 metres (2461 feet).

Due to sea level rise some of the Seychelles and Maldives could disappear beneath the surface eventually but for Seychelles the people still have the mountainous islands, and that's where 99% of the people live anyway. So in the long term it looks like the people here are more fortunate.

Population:
The Maldives has a population of over 300,000 with 100,000 living in the capital, Male. Seychelles has a population of less than 90,000 with less than 10,000 in the Capital. 24,000 live in Victoria and its suburbs.

The language of Maldives and Seychelles are different. In Seychelles English, French and Creole are official languages. In Maldives people speak Maldivian Dhivehi and English of course.

 

The Countries:
In Maldives the 26 atolls made up of almost 1200 small islands cover a land area of only 65 % of that of Seychelles' 155 islands. While about 250 islands are inhabited in the Maldives Seychelles Islands with a permanent population number around 50.

How big are the islands? In Seychelles some are very small the size of a football field, but Aldabra and Mahe the two biggest islands in the Seychelles have dry land area of 60 sq miles and 55 sq miles respectively.

In Maldives the biggest island is 3 sq miles (8 sq km) while the main island Male is less than 1 sq mile (2 sq km)

The Cities:
Male the capital city of the Maldives with a land area of only 200 hectares (500 acres) is built up. It has a population of 100,000. The small capital of Seychelles, Victoria, is certainly less crowded with fewer than 10,000. There is no city in Seychelles. The capital is a small quiet town.

Notice those two very similar names in Maldives and Seychelles: In Maldives the main island and capital city is called Male (pronounced maa-leh). In Seychelles the main island is called Mahe (pronounced maa-ay) but the capital is Victoria.

Tourism:
In Seychelles selective quality tourism is practiced with 5,000 beds targeting 150,000 visitors a year; in Maldives 17,000 beds targeting 650,000 visitors a year. So you see Seychelles is not a mass-tourism destination.

This is the reason why visitors to Seychelles are ecstatic when they find they can share a 65-acre island with 3 other couples or a 500-acre private island with 10 other couples.

Seychelles and Maldives are often compared by the uninitiated in Maldives Seychelles guest books. The facts are here - Seychelles vs. Maldives.

Please bookmark this page and tell your friends about Maldives Seychelles compared, and tell us of other similarities or differences, you find on your travels, between Seychelles and Maldives. We would love to hear from you.

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Which is Your Favourite,
Seychelles or Maldives?

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