Our next island hopping in Seychelles – Platte Island where the new Waldorf Astoria private island resort opened just a few months ago. I redeemed 3 nights with my 2 free night certificates and 130K Hilton points. Even though the stay was “free”, getting there alone cost โฌ700 per person roundtrip on a chartered flight from Mahe to Platte Island! As soon as we landed in Mahe at 10 AM, we walked up to the luggage belt area (only one for domestic flights) to collect our luggage and were greeted by the staff from Waldorf Astoria Seychelles. From there, they took care of us at every single step! The check-in to the 11 AM charter flight was at the same counter as Air Seychelles’ domestic flights and then we were given a cardboard boarding pass. You hear it right…cardboard and it looked like this:
For โฌ700, I would think they will have some fancy boarding pass LOL!!! The security and boarding areas were the same as domestic flights so we know the drill. Our aircraft to Platte Island:
Inside the aircraft:
The flight time was 30 minutes or so and we landed on the tiny airstrip on the island. A group of staff were there to meet guests, I think only 4 and the rest are all the hotel’s staff. Our butler, Victoria, introduced herself and offered to take a photo of us with the plane:
She led us to her buggy and gave us a tour around the property…the main reception area where the breakfast and lunch restaurant is located, the bar across, and then to our room, villa #4. The check-in was done inside the comfort of our room (which was different from other luxury hotels we had been to). Since the hotel is new, their system doesn’t support American Express (very strange as Hilton’s branded credit cards are American Express) but they can process it at the main reception area with an additional authorization form (they process via one of their sister properties in Mahe). After the “paperwork”, Victoria said as part of the tradition, she’ll make us a cocktail drink. Jason picked the pina colada and since I don’t drink alcohol, I said no thanks. She asked if I would like some juice? I gladly said yes, watermelon juice and she said she’ll arrange that.
The complimentary fruit plate beautifully presented!
Victoria handed us our room keys which were made of wood and with a picture of the villa’s design, very unique! I saved them to take back home as a memory ๐ She also asked for our shoe sizes so she could arrange water shoes to deliver to us, that was a nice touch so you don’t need to pack them (although we didn’t need to use them).
Let me show you our beautiful, brand new 1000+ square feet villa! As soon as we entered the villa, there were two hats and a beach bag at the bench area for us to use and take home. I love that beach bag, it has little pockets to organize the sunglasses, sunscreen, and my phone; very well designed!
Then the living area with a comfortable bean-shaped soft and a little wooden table. Two display shelves on each side of the living one; one is the mini bar and the other is the tea and coffee.
Behind the living room is the bedroom, separated by a sliding door. The bedroom has a comfortable king bed and plenty of closet space behind the bed.
After the bedroom is the bathroom area, it’s as big as the bedroom with two vanity sinks, a huge egg-shaped bathtub in the middle and the toilet and shower are separate; one of each behind those glass doors.
The toiletry brand they used is Aesop, very creamy and smooth but I didn’t like the wooden smell of the body wash.
After the bathroom is the door to the outside shower area of the villa and that has a door to the pool deck.
You can get out to the pool deck area from any of the glass doors in the living room, bedroom, or bathroom. The deck area was huge with a circular sunbed, a swing, and an outdoor patio chair and table set.
The pool was bigger than most of the plunge pools. I would love the view to be the ocean from the room/pool but they designed it that way to not interrupt the wildlife on the island. The island is a known nesting ground for sea turtles!
Before I finished taking pictures around our villa, the fresh watermelon juice was delivered! They gave us two bottles, they were very refreshing!
Outside our villa were two brand new bikes and they added a nice touch of personalized name tag onto each bike!
We rode our bikes to the main reception area, only one restaurant (La Perle.) and pool bar were open for lunch. The lunch menu: very expensive (as expected in a private island and at the Waldorf Astoria brand) but at least the price included a 10% service charge and 15% VAT. Whereas, the prices in the Maldives do not so you need to add 25% in addition.
Victoria gave us a tip to ask for the “bento” menu, it is offered at the pool bar but you can also ask for it at the restaurant. There’s no price listed on the bento menu (we ordered from the bento menu the 2nd day so continue reading to find out the prices).
The complimentary flatbread, it tasted pretty good and good portion.
We ordered the “Seychelles” (seafood) pizza and the scallops and spanner crab risotto. The seafood pizza was delicious and surprisingly big portion (more than enough for 2 people) it was the best value for $62. The risotto, on the other hand, the portion was small but very flavorful! It was an expensive lunch but the quality was superb!
It was too sunny, otherwise, lunch in one of those circular tables in the water will be photogenic ๐
The shell curtains at the main reception looked impressive with the number of shells.
From the restaurant, we walked out to the dock and there was a little stretch of beach. Unfortunately, the sargassum seaweed polluted the white sand beach, something to keep in mind when traveling during the sargassum season! The hotel staff did their best to clean up the seaweed each day!
Diamond members get a complimentary sunset cruise but the sea condition was choppy when we were there so they canceled the cruise until further notice ๐ Instead, we were offered a complimentary coffee class (stay tuned later).
We rode our bike back to our room and walked out from our “backyard” to check out the grounds. The sargassum seaweed was more visible here and piled up!
We found a hidden swing but the seaweed….otherwise, would be picturesque.
Next, we rode our bike to the end of the runway to check out the “sand bank beach” but the high tide completely covered the beach with water. Thus, we rode our bike to the other end of the runway and there was a little beach too but also polluted with seaweed.
Lots of hermit crabs there and Jason put his crab-catching skill from the Cook Islands to work hahaha!
Our cute bikes ๐
The next place to check out: “shark point beach”, the beach there was much wider. This is the most picturesque beach of the island and we make a note to come back during low tide in the next morning.
This beach is also a popular nesting ground for turtles! The hotel staff marked each spot of when the turtle eggs were laid.
It started to rain so we ran back to our bike and rode back to our villa, the other side of the island! When we were back to our villa, our water shoes were there but the size was too small so I WhatsApp Victoria to change to one size up.
The rain stopped so we took a dip in our pool:
At 6 PM, Victoria came with her buggy to give us a ride to dinner at Maison Des Epices, located near the “shark point beach”. When we got there, there was another couple at the bar and later on two more couples/groups dined at the restaurant, that was it! We wondered how many guests were actually in the hotel during our stay.
Service was very attentive as you would expect from a Waldorf and also with less than a handful of guests ๐ The breads and the amuse-bouche were full of flavors of spices that we couldn’t even name them.
The decors felt warm and relaxing.
Photo of us two with the help of our waitress, she was very friendly.
Jason ordered the tomahawk (for 2 people) and it was quite good of a value for 1380 SCR ($106) for the portion. The steak was cooked perfectly as medium-rare and the peppercorns added a spice kick to it. I ordered the crab curry for 1100 SCR ($85), the portion was smaller than I expected for the price but nevertheless, it was very rich in crab flavor!
The meal was delicious for the price we paid so although it was pricey, we didn’t feel like we got ripped off. When I was done signing the bill, the waitress said she called the buggy to give us a ride back to our villa, see that was a 5* luxury hotel service!
Everything was so comfortable inside our villa, we had a great night sleep!
The next morning, our morning routine started with a lovely breakfast at La Perle. It was made to order to reduce waste instead of a buffet. As a diamond member, I got free breakfast which saved us $$$. Here’s the breakfast menu that you can order anything and as much as you like ๐
The waiter asked if we would like some coffee. We said no, we are not coffee drinkers but would like juice instead. He said absolutely, watermelon juice correct? WOW they really know our preferences! We got a plate of mixed pastries, a plate of fruits, and refreshing watermelon juice.
I remember Victoria recommended the coconut yogurt made right from the island as the island was a coconut plantation so I ordered that. It was good and tasted coconut although not heavy.
I ordered the English selection and it was good; we should be more adventurous but we have two more days to try! During breakfast, one of the directors came and greeted us. He asked how was our breakfast? I was being honest, after a few days in Africa, I missed Asian dishes so I wish the breakfast menu was more diverse to include some Asian dishes. He immediately responded how about noodle soup? That sounded great! He said he would have the chef prepare us for that tomorrow. Woah we were treated like a king, never has “no” as the answer.
After breakfast, we rode our bike to “shark point beach” and the beach looked so clean from yesterday, the staff did a great job cleaning up the seaweed. At low tide, the beach was much wider that you can walk out much further. But keep an eye on the tide, the water level quickly raise within half an hour we were there.
The water was super clear and blue, the sand was powdery soft!
More crab-catching by Jason LOL.
Time flies when in paradise ๐ We went back to La Perle for lunch and this time we tried out the bento menu.
The 3 choices we picked: tuna sashimi – Jason said it was fresh and good quality.
And two orders of the wagyu beef slider with foie gras, it was delicious!!!
In addition, we ordered the fritto misto from the main menu as an appetizer to share in case we don’t have enough.
The bento menu has no price so we were guessing how much the lunch would cost us. Surprisingly, less than we expected!
After lunch, the sun fully came out! We rode our bike to the other side of the runway to check out the tortoise habitat. They have 5 resident tortoises there and will have more. We found 4 only. This one is big, must be over 100 years old!
The habitat was beautifully lined with coconut trees.
We didn’t have much time with the tortoises since Victoria booked us the coffee class at 2 PM so we headed back to attend that. It took place at Peacock Terrace and the barista was from Bali, Indonesia! We told him that we visited Bali just past October!
The coffee class started with tea-tasting haha.
Tea could be so colorful and fruity!
The iced-cold tea was refreshing for the hot weather!!
Now the coffee……the barista explained there are two major types of coffee – Arabic and Robusta. Arabic mostly from Africa is “dry” whereas Robusta famously grown in his hometown Bali is “wet” so the appearance looked more oily. I told him that we are not coffee drinkers but I love the coffee taste in desserts such as tiramisu. He made me a coconut cream iced-coffee and it was really good!
Now to the coffee beans, the color actually from how long the beans were roasted for. Ahh now I know why it’s called medium-roast LOL! The longer, the darker the color and the more bitter.
How about Bali’s famous Luwak coffee (digested from Luwak cat)? There was a jar of it hahaha. We tried Luwak coffee in Bali, not sure if it was real since we couldn’t tell the difference as we are not coffee drinkers.
The machines to roast and brew coffee!
This modern coffee machine cost 5K Euros!!!
And a cold rip one :O
We got to taste Tanzanian coffee as well, it has a very unique bitterness after a few seconds of swallowing! I lost track of how many different coffees we tasted! When our 1-hour class almost ended, it was pouring out so we stayed and chatted with the barista for another hour!!! Once the rain stopped, we rode back to our villa to relax before heading out for sunset. We were told that Lalin (the bar) has the best sunset view so we had a drink there while waiting for sunset. We weren’t too hopeful on a great sunset due to the low-hanging clouds over the horizon.
Once again, we were the only guests there :O
The clouds covered the sun on the horizon but there were some colors!
The ceiling of the bard has those small lights that make it look like twinkling stars in the sky. At the bar, we met Peng (if I remember his name correctly) from Malaysia and he works in marketing among the Hilton hotels in Seychelles. We had a wonderful chat before heading to La Perle for dinner.
Our first dinner at La Perle, the menu was the same as the lunch menu but we ordered different dishes. The bread was different than the lunch flat bread.
The amuse-bouche was a fish dish, I am not a fan of fish so I offered that to Jason ๐
Jason ordered a fish fillet and it was good but the portion was small for the price.
I ordered the seafood linguine, which was one of the best I ever had! The sauce/taste was so unique that I don’t know how to describe it but the right amount of spiciness and flavorful! I totally recommend it if you are a seafood pasta person! The chef came out and asked how were the dishes? I told him the pasta was one of the best I ever had! The chef is from Indonesia (the 2nd staff we met from there) and knowing that we are Asians, he asked if we would like Asian dishes tomorrow night like stir-fried? Absolutely! I like beef with lots of vegetables and Jason loves seafood or crab meat fried rice. He said he’ll look for ingredients to prepare that…WOW!
The next morning, the same drill but this time they didn’t have the watermelon juice ๐
Our specially prepared – noodle soup with chicken! It was hearty and full of flavor!!! I really appreciate the chef did this for us and we found out this is the same chef from Indonesia who met us last night. The director came again and asked how was our noodle soup, very good! He said the chef loves to make his hometown dishes for guests ๐
We got up a little bit earlier today so we could finish breakfast and be at “shark point beach” earlier to catch the low tide. The weather was perfect today with white clouds and very blue sky! When we got to the beach at around 9:30 AM, we could even walk further out due to the low tide.
After the beach, we made a stop at the runway to catch the plane arriving for photos.
Then, we took lots of pictures of our beautiful villa ๐
For lunch at La Perle, Jason asked if he could order just one from the bento menu instead of having to order three choices. Of course, they won’t say “no” at the Waldorf! Jason tried the reef fish sashimi today, he said it tasted better than tuna :O
We liked the seafood pizza so much that we ordered it again and two of us finished it ๐
After lunch, we biked to the runway for photos! We had so much fun, how often would you have the chance to bike on the runway?
Next stop the tortoise habitat!
We got more time today to “play” with the giant tortoise ๐
The “sand bank beach” was more accessible during lower tides.
We walked about 20 feets out, the water was warm and clear!
We even spotted two baby black tip reef sharks!
Postcard perfect location for photos!
In half an hour or so, the water started to come in so we need to walk back up to the shore.
We checked out Moulin, the spa area, and the beach on that side of the island, not as pretty as the “sand bank beach” nor the “shark point beach”. It was so relaxing to bike around the island and stop for photos here and there. We came across a family and that was it!
We had another attempt for the sunset at the dock but no luck ๐
We were so looking forward to our chef’s special dinner! The amuse-bouche of the day was fish again so for Jason.
The crab meat fried rice was very good, lots of crab meat and flavor. The beef stir-fried was delicious, the right amount of sauce and not salty! The beef was excellent quality it would be perfect if more green-leaf vegetables but totally understand given the remoteness of the island! We had a great dinner and the chef came out to have a chat with us. We really appreciate the extra effort he made for us, I was craving for Asian food after a week in Africa!
The dinner cost around $100 per dish; expensive for fried rice but given the special order, quality and quantity, at least we enjoyed the food!
When we got back to our room, more surprises waiting for us! Victoria made me a rose bouquet made of leaves :O We also got a handmade card and a wooden painting from her.
Even more, bath goodies!
And….personalized luggage tag, wow wow wow! We never get so much free gifts from a hotel before, they really went above!
Our last breakfast at the Waldorf, we ordered the breakfast pizza and it was good and filling.
The spring onion pancake was different, I was thinking more of a scallion pancake but it was not. It was more of an omelet to me than pancake.
After breakfast, I walked to the main reception to settle the $$$ bill. Since the property is new, they haven’t support Amex payment yet so I had to sign some forms in order for them to process the payment via one of their sister properties, in my case, the Hilton Northolmeย Seychelles. FYI, weeks after our stay, the points for the stay haven’t post to my account yet, only the points from the Hilton Amex credit card were posted. I called the Diamond Desk and the lady resolved it within minutes after investigation, apparently, the sister property processed it as a one-time payment charge and not tie to a stay.
Our flight was at 11 AM, we were checked out and picked up by 10:30 AM to the main reception. They “checked in” our flight, no cardboard boarding pass this time hahaha, and as we were waiting for our flight, Peng stopped by to say goodbye. We said we’ll have a few hours to hang out at Mahe airport before our 5:30 PM flight and probably can’t check in until 3 hours prior. Peng immediately contacted his colleagues in Mahe to arrange the lounge for us wow!
The short 20 min flight to Mahe, goodbye Plattle Island! Our 3 nights stay was incredible in terms of service while the scenery was just okay. It’s definitely not as picturesque as Bora Bora or the Maldives. 3 nights was enough to enjoy and relax, I would be bored if I stayed more. For the price of the private chartered flight (โฌ700+taxes), I would recommend Bora Bora or the Maldives than Platte Island. However, if you have visited both and visit Seychelles anyways, give Platte Island a try…I wouldn’t go to Seychelles just for Platte Island; Praslin and La Digue are prettier. Platte Island was our 2nd Waldorf property we stayed at (1st was in Los Cabos), both services were top-notch and beautiful properties, Waldorf Astoria is my favorite hotel brand!
Once we arrived Mahe, the Waldorf staff were there on arrival to take our luggage and took us to the lounge located up the stairs of the domestic terminal. The lounge looked like a regular airport lounge, nothing fancy; it was empty and for Waldorf guests, food and drinks (excluding alcohol) were included. We ordered a fish fillet and a curry dish for a late lunch and we were surprised by the presentation, they looked like from a high-end restaurant!
