AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa
Given the service, beach and facilities, Avani Seychelles Barbarons is one of the best hotels in Seychelles for families. It is a relative world and Seychelles overall may seem a tad expensive to you if you were to compare similar or a notch better properties in Thailand or Goa. But if you are looking for a Seychelles family resort all inclusive stay, this could be one of the most pocket friendly options.
Location:
It is a 40min drive from the airport. Housed on a busy road (by Seychelles standards), it doesn’t feel in the middle of nowhere like some of the other hotels/ vacation rentals.
It is a beachfront property with a beach that is good for snorkeling, swimming and lazying around. Towards one side it’s a bit rocky while the other side is more of sloping sands.
The resort is around an hour’s drive to the main city of Victoria. The not so isolated location with a good beach makes it one of the best hotels in Seychelles for families.
Facilities and Amenities: It is not a large property and has all the basic and actually only basic facilities that are expected of any resort:
It has a pool although not a lavish one and no kiddie pool. The pool is quite deep at one end and there are no designated life guards on duty many a times.
A dedicated children’s activity and play area called Avani Kids. For a Seychelles family resort all inclusive stay, it does pretty well.
The beach itself is one of the better beaches in Mahe with a blend of good for snorkeling and not too rocky on one side to enjoy the waves and swimming. It is a long beach (long enough) as its mostly the people staying at Avani who visit this beach. Beach is a big part of why this is one of the best hotels in Seychelles for families.
Traveler Note: All beaches in Seychelles are public beaches so while a lot of resorts are beachfront properties, the access to beach cannot be restricted by the hotel. For more information on Seychelles beaches, check out this post.
Rooms:
Rooms are spacious with all basic amenities like a tea box, kettle, mini bar, safe, bathrobe, ironing board, toiletries etc in place
The staff makes the room everyday (as expected)
Restaurants: Avani Seychelles Barbarons has 2 restaurants and a bar area overlooking the Indian ocean.
The restaurant where they serve breakfast is like their all day dining area where they also serve ala carte lunch and buffet dinner (which is Indian). Although at SCR650 per head we felt it was a little expensive since none of us was particularly famished during dinner time
Breakfast spread is quite decent with a variety of tropical fruits, cereals, salads, cheese, fresh fruit juices, bakery fare, live eggs counter and a few other delicacies which are repeated every 3rd day
Tamarind is their specialty Thai restaurant. Oddly the restaurant did not allow walk-ins. One had to book a table in advance and only then one could be served probably due to a paucity of chefs and cooking staff.
As for food, we found their Pad Thai noodles, spring rolls and summer rolls quite delectable and their Thai green curry below average.
Beachfront bar doubles up as the beach and pool towel repository.
Food options totally make this Seychelles family resort all inclusive stay worthwhile.
Service:
- Check in was a standard procedure. Cold face towels and ice lollies were offered upon arrival. Check in took around 20minutes and otherwise hassle free.
- Check out was also a fairly swift process
- We requested for washing and sterilizing of some baby mugs and Tupperware and it was done with alacrity.
- Nothing to complain about at all in the service. Service with a smile seemed to be their motto
Cost for 2 night stay: EUR 800
Ratings: With 4.0 rating on Tripadvisor and a 7.8 (Good) on Booking.com, this property is a bestseller (no points for guessing) purely for its value for money element.
