As I’ve talked about before, I like to undertake a lot of research on countries I’d like to visit, have visited, places I would like to see and often take note of a hotel or resort that catches my eye for a future trip. I’d looked at a few island locations in the Seychelles, and have been before to the main islands of Mahé and Praslin, but also wanted to try something different. I love remote islands, especially luxury ones, and this is where Denis Private Island came into its own. As you will read in my review, it was the perfect combination of absolute luxury and comfort but with a boutique rustic island charm.

As soon as I started to look at details of the island, I knew it was one for the list - there is an airstrip on the private island (flights by helicopter or plane can only be organised with the island itself) so it’s easily accessible but still wonderfully remote. That said, despite the remote location, there was nothing foregone in terms of luxury - accommodation, service, food wise etc.

Why Book with Classic Travel and The Private Traveller

By booking through my affiliation with Classic Travel, I am able usually to secure additional benefits and amenities on any booking, which might include the following. On this occasion, Denis Island was not available and I booked direct, but you would be able to either to book direct yourself using their website below (in Fast Facts - please do mention me, if you do) or you could check out other options in the Seychelles here:

• Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability

• Daily full breakfast for two guests per bedroom

• Usual virtuoso credit of $100

• Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability

• Complimentary Wi-Fi

Fast Facts for Denis Private Island

• Address - Denis Private Island, Seychelles

• Website - https://denisisland.com

• Group website - Mason’s Travel https://masonstravel.com

• Contact - info@denisisland.com

• Instagram - @denis.private.island

• Nearest airport - Private island airstrip

• Opened - 1975

• Number of cottages / villa - 22 (3 Beach, 10 Deluxe Beach, & 9 Beachfront Spa Cottages; 1 Beach Villa with private pool)

• Number of floors - 1

• Bars - 1

• Restaurants - 1

• Wellbeing - Our Beachfront Spa Cottage had its own private massage/wellness pavilion in the garden

• Visited - December 2020

What about the Seychelles location?

Denis Private Island is located about 98km (61 miles) away from the main island of Mahé (where the international Seychelles airport is located) and 58km (36 miles) from Praslin, the second largest island. Although Denis organise scheduled flights from Mahé (to and from) several times a week, we had opted to fly direct from Praslin (after having stayed for the first week at Raffles Seychelles - full review here) with Zil Air (who incidentally also fly the scheduled services too on behalf of the island). We could also have opted for a helicopter direct from Raffles, but already doing another couple of helicopter trips between islands and resorts we thought we would opt for the small (Vulcanair) plane option to get to Denis.

One of the scheduled flight days coincided with our plans for returning to Mahé so took that option on our inbound flight back to the main island. Denis is one of the most northerly islands of the Seychelles - it really is remote and wonderful to look out from the island to not see anything nearby. It was also a stunningly scenic flight, to and from.

Hotel Accommodation on Denis Private Island

There were only 25 cottages in total on the island, these were split between 4 Beach Cottages (about 90m2); 10 Deluxe Beach Cottages which also had a private beachfront with sun loungers (the standard cottages still had beach access); 10 Beachfront Spa Cottages (about 150m2), the private deck being extended to include an additional sala and the rear courtyard and garden featuring a massage/wellness pavilion. There was one Beach Villa (about 325m2) which also featured a dining and barbeque pavilion and a small plunge pool in the walled rear garden.

We had one of the Beachfront Spa Cottages (cottage #12) which was in a great location on the (north) west side, extremely private with a large beachfront area leading down onto the majestic beach with the stunning ocean views. As well as the private garden/massage pavilion (which was so good to be on site for treatments) you had a full choice of whether to sit in the air-conditioned cool of the cottage itself (dedicated seating/lounge area), out on the covered deck, on the loungers in the sala or on the beach itself in steamer chairs or wooden loungers (the staff would put the cushions out in the morning and take them away each evening).

Food and Drink at Denis Private Island

All meals were included within the package (breakfast and a 3-course lunch and 4-course dinner), as was (still) bottled water in the cottage (replenished daily) and with meals. All other drinks, including bottled branded sparkling water, were chargeable, but prices were reasonable. A mini-bar could be filled up in the cottage, by advising from a room service menu what drinks you wanted, and these were then chargeable on usage.

There was only one main restaurant and bar, in the main building, though again if you wanted you could organise a private dinner in other locations, a picnic, or take a sunset cruise for drinks and canapés before dinner. With the island maybe being around 50% full when we were there, they tended to use tables out on the (covered) deck for breakfast and lunches, then the more inside tables for dinner (but with the glorious weather and warm temperatures day and night) the main building which housed most facilities was covered but open on all sides. At breakfast, with everything being served to your table, was a full choice of juices and hot drinks, you were always given a large fruit platter and bakery basket, then you could choose all sorts of egg options, bacon, tomato etc. as you wished.

There was a menu for lunch with usually a choice of two/three starters and mains, always having vegetarian choices or something that could be easily adapted. It was a great mix of different foods, vegetarian and not, with a lot of produce and meat supplied from the on-island farm. There was always one desert option too; totally unnecessary but equally always absolutely delicious and felt like a real indulgence.

All meals including dinner were informal, though men were asked to wear long trousers in the evening. Again at dinner there was a choice of starters and main courses, a soup course with an additional sorbet course thrown in too; main, then a choice of either a dessert or a cheese board.

There was a sunken bar in the main building, under a huge vaulted ceiling and this was open from morning to night, serving the (always very quiet) pool area, the restaurant, the Library (fine to have drinks in there when catching up on WiFi) and there were also lots of indoor and outdoor seating areas situated around and about. We’re not big wine drinkers, but they also had a beautifully appointed wine-cellar; down a few stairs from the main lobby/bar area.

Facilities & Service at Denis Private Island

In terms of facilities for a private paradise island, there was everything you could want. WiFi was limited (as you’ll read in one of my other blogs) to only the Library and the very immediate surrounding area and there was only one TV there too for news, but there was also all water sports and diving options if you wanted, stunning beaches surrounding the island, island walks and guided tours too by golf buggy. I will write a separate blog post about our five-day trip to the island (one of my Travel Diaries series blogs) with more details, but there were fishing and sunset cruise options, a full tennis court with equipment provided, the large swimming pool and sun deck in the main building, a pool table and also a very well stocked on-site boutique and shop. As you will read in that other blog, there were also the various routes (red, yellow and blue) marked up around the island which you could walk, run or cycle. Each cottage was provided with bikes during their stay, brought each morning and taken away each evening to check if they needed any maintenance.

Spa - you can read in more detail about one of my in-cottage spa treatments at This Man’s Journal but it’s amazing to have a full range of treatments, all available in your villa where you have the massage pavilion (Spa beachfront cottages). The Sens Spa offers massage, hair treatments, hands and feet manicures and pedicures, Signature treatments (combination treatments up to three hours in length), speciality massage for pregnancy and reflexology, facials, scrubs, wraps and specialist nail treatments too. Prices were very fair, a fraction of the cost of Raffles, but then to be fair with in-room treatments there wasn’t the overhead cost of what was (undeniably) a spectacular Spa complex there.

From the time I started to engage with the resort (through Masons Travel, their appointed agents for booking) about visiting, the service was exemplary - extremely helpful, informative and efficient; and this great service continued throughout our stay from being met at the airfield on arrival, our welcome to the resort and every interaction during our time on the island from reception staff, at the water sports centre, in the restaurant and bar. This also included staff we met when walking around the island like those working at the farm, gardeners etc. There was only one staff member we didn’t warm too - on booking spa treatments with another member of the front desk team, this other man jumped into the conversation to say that we couldn’t have any spa treatments as we were still in our quarantine period. This was just wrong, in that having already been in the Seychelles for over a week before heading to Denis, our quarantine period had passed and we had already received our negative day 6 Covid tests from Raffles. On another day, he confronted us after breakfast to say he had to find out our onward plans. Knowing that the island scheduled service, which we were taking back to Mahé, was operated by Zil Air I’d already booked an onward helicopter with them to take us to the next resort. I know the intention was to be helpful, but on saying that we already had a helicopter booked with Zil Air to connect to the arriving flight (we were then travelling onto Constance Ephelia on Mahé for the last few days of our trip) he said he had to know where to; and I’m afraid it all sounded accusatory. That said, these were only two isolated incidents with one staff member, and it was great to see an omni-present Manager who would often greet residents at each meal time. Such a well-run island resort!

Highlights of our stay

There were so many highlights of the stay at the but here are just a few of the key points, which I hope you find a useful summary.

• Meals on our first day, the lunch and dinner menus were standard, albeit they adjusted for vegetarian options. From our second day though I was always given a bespoke vegetarian menu and all dietary preferences had been taken into account. A fantastic choice of food, beautifully cooked and presented, a great combination of ingredients and flavours, and a perfect array of dishes that suited both of us.

• Massage in the cottage garden by Sens Spa - just wonderful. Pity we hadn’t been able to get further appointments.

• The island location and island style - easy to get to, yet wildly remote; absolutely loved the combination of exemplary service and facilities, yet really appreciating that you were on a small, remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, miles from anywhere.

• Go for the Beachfront Spa Cottages if you can, or the beach villa - although all cottages would be great if it was fantastic having the prime beach location, huge private beachfront area and also the large rear garden (and of course the massage/spa sala) off the open-air bathroom.

Areas for improvement

Wherever we stay, I do always like to look at the positives on any property we stay in, and airlines we fly with etc. but sometimes you can’t help but notice things that (for me, but I realise this is always personal) might have made for a better stay.

• Very minor, but with the villa being right on the beach; coming from the beach it would be good to have either a tap or some sort of foot bath just on the first point of the villa decking, to clean your feet of sand. There was however direct access into the private garden with both an ‘inside’ and outside shower.

• With spa treatments being a big part of a holiday for me (not least for my ‘This Man’s Journal’ spa blog) it would have been good to have been able to book more treatments. Maybe it was just unfortunate timing with Christmas, but we tried to book on day 1 to no avail, but they said that there was a complete choice of times and treatment on day 2. After having an excellent treatment with Kelly (in our spa pavilion) we thought we would be able to book more, as did ‘Mrs’ ThePrivateTraveller want to try too. Unfortunately though there was only one slot remaining available, at a time we wouldn’t have chosen, and rather than have the dilemma of which of us would get it, we opted just to leave it. With hindsight, it would have been good to know in advance that we should have booked before we arrived, or booked all treatments on arrival to ensure appointment times.

Would I stay here again?

Yes, no doubt whatsoever - it’s a perfect place to be, the weather (despite raining on arrival) was glorious throughout and had the right amount of people to provide great services and a decent choice of things to do, yet not too many to feel that this wasn’t actually your own private island to enjoy.