North Island

Escape to North Island, one of the Seychelles’ most exclusive private-island hideaways. Situated 30km north of Mahé, North Island offers complete privacy for an unrivalled romantic retreat or unforgettable family holiday. Only eleven ocean-view villas are surrounded by sheer natural beauty, where luminous white sands, granite peaks and turquoise waters provide infinite opportunity for relaxation and rejuvenation.

North Island is a multiple award-winning hideaway that epitomises the freedom that complete privacy allows, extraordinary experiences, perfectly personalised to your preferences, and service that is generously big-hearted. The Island’s abundance naturally extends to the luxury of choice that a peerless all-inclusive offering provides. Experience a true barefoot-luxury escape on North Island where your footprints will be the only evidence on the Island’s vast, untouched beaches.

What makes North Island truly unique is its barefoot-luxury atmosphere, which affords guests a rare connection with nature. Committed to conservation, North Island is a sustainability success story where the environment has been rehabilitated into a pristine sanctuary for guests and endangered species alike. Your experience on this private island is completely customised to the holiday you are seeking. The rules on North Island are the ones you make yourselves: your schedule is only as full as you wish it to be, and the dress code reflects your own personal style.

Located amongst the inner granitic islands of Seychelles, North Island is a fertile paradise – the perfect setting for their Noah’s Ark conservation and island rehabilitation programme. The setting and natural beauty of Seychelles has inspired the island conservation practices and philosophies and has also influenced the design of guest spaces.

North Island is so much more than a luxury holiday destination – it’s a way of life. A perfect fusion of energy and relaxation, of indulgence and wellness, of luxury and giving back.
It’s an experience that cannot easily be distilled into a few words – it’s your own bespoke holiday experience, all about you and your perfect Island moments. The North Island team is dedicated to giving you the best possible experience, whatever that might mean to you. Every detail is carefully thought out and customized to your perfect holiday vision.

North Island features just 11 private guest villas, offering each guest an unparalleled sense of exclusivity and luxury. The villas have all been created from local materials harvested during the island rehabilitation process, balancing luxury and simplicity to form a signature architectural style they call “barefoot luxury”…..your villa will become your own private beach home, guaranteed!

• Beachfront Villas: North Island features 10 elegant yet relaxed Beachfront villas, set along East Beach and with direct access to the beach and ocean. Each villa is completely screened from view by careful siting in harmony with the natural vegetation, ensuring total privacy as well as ocean views. The open-plan flow of the villas invites exploration; the mixture of textures encourages touch and the organic shapes of the artisan-made furniture and fittings entice the eye. You’ve come home to your very own 450 sqm beach villa!
• Villa North Island: Also known as Villa 11, Villa North Island is perched on the granite boulders at the far end of East Beach and is the quintessence of privacy and seclusion. The sheer volume, scale and luxury of this villa are unimaginably decadent as it spreads out across multi-tiered levels, cascading down through a coconut grove, with direct beach access to the ocean below. At 750sqm from the surprise of the concealed entrance across a leadwood bridge, to the wooden waterfall of decks descending to the beach, Villa North Island offers the perfect setting for your honeymoon. With an over-sized marble bathtub – ideal for sharing – and perfect sunrise views, this is the ultimate North Island experience and the last word in honeymoon luxury and romance!

North Island offers an unmatched level of personalization and generosity to each guest, particularly with the culinary experience. Daily menus are designed in collaboration with Michelin Starred Chef, Akira Back, according to the latest Island harvest with special consideration being given to your favourites along with any dietary requirements you may have. The many dining venues on the Island lend themselves to a range of food experiences depending on your mood. The Piazza Bar & Lounge offers gracious candlelit, private dining with the gentle sounds of the ocean setting the scene for a romantic evening. Sunset Beach serves up fresh hot pizza, salads and tapas-style barbecue snacks, all perfect for sharing as you watch the sunset, lingering over a cocktail and relaxed music. The in-Villa dining experience is all about comfort food and choice. Enjoy the diverse options within your generously stocked pantry or the home-style menu, with a local Creole curry or classic dish of your choice, delivered to your door while you relax in the privacy of your own villa.

Guests on North Island can choose from a generous list of activities, including kayaking, scuba diving and stand-up paddling, all without leaving this beautiful, lush island. Activities, lessons and guided excursions are all included as part of your completely customized experience.

• Scuba Diving: Housed in a historic coral building near the Piazza, North Island’s Dive Centre offers full PADI tuition and certification. Expert Seychellois dive-masters with intimate knowledge of the local reefs and the very best dive spots, plus state-of-the-art SCUBA equipment, make for a memorable dive experience.
• Advanced Wreck Diving: To the north of Mahé lie two slowly rusting wrecks, which are being reclaimed by ocean wildlife and becoming impressive artificial reefs, combining the thrill and mystery of wreck diving with the wonders of marine life forms. Both wrecks are festooned with life – moray eels, lionfish, jacks and a number of shark species can all be seen at both locations. While this diving excursion is not for novice divers, it offers you a wonderful historical and natural experience to more experienced divers – as well as the opportunity to relax over a delicious brunch on board between dives!
• Snorkelling: Snorkelling in the Indian Ocean just off North Island allows you to glide along the line where the sky meets the sea, a unique perspective on remarkable marine coral and fish biodiversity. Spend time with a passing turtle as the hustle and bustle of reef life continues just beneath you, with schools of fish occasionally darting this way and that as they detect your shadow.
• Fishing: The waters off North Island offer excellent chances of a good catch, followed by a delicious meal – and nothing tastes better than your own fresh-caught sushi or chargrilled tuna steak! The Equatorial waters off Seychelles offer some of the best fishing in the world and the boat captains know these waters like the backs of their hands, and the best places to throw in a line depending on the time of day, wind direction and sea conditions. Half-day fishing trips are just one of the activities in North Island’s famously generous all-inclusive offering.
• Sea Kayaking: The perfect way to explore the calm turquoise waters around North Island as a couple… enjoy a gentle work-out paddling in the light swell. Encounters with harmless rays and dolphins are a real possibility! Kayaks are the ocean equivalent of a tandem bicycle, making them a perfect activity for two. The currents are mild enough that it is possible to paddle all the way round the Island, stopping off at secluded beaches and secret coves along the way and being the first people in who knows how long to leave your footprints on stretches of pristine white sand.
• Full Day Excursions: You could be forgiven for never wanting to leave North Island, but there is also a whole archipelago out there to explore. Optional extra full-day excursions on board one of the full-equipped guest boats let you explore more of what Seychelles has to offer – the culture, cuisine, and scenery of an island nation that has long been a blend of many different influences.

Exotic and rare, La Vie by Goldhands the Spa on North Island is a holistic journey of visual and textural contrasts, arousing the senses, rejuvenating the mind, body and soul. On arrival at North Island, you will be invited to visit the Spa for a complimentary welcome treatment at your leisure. Enjoy a private consultation with the dedicated therapists, who can create a bespoke spa experience tailored to your needs and preferences. La Vie by Goldhands uses a range of results-based aromatherapy, natural skincare and wellness solutions founded on authentic Ayurveda principles.

To celebrate the sense of well-being that infuses North Island, why not join the Team in saluting the sun at our morning yoga sessions? The perfect way to begin your day in calmness and serenity. For the more energetic, the gym (located just below the Spa) provides state-of-the-art Technogym equipment.

Let North Island become the ultimate playground for your children, with a wide range of activities on land and in the water designed to keep young minds and bodies active, to satisfy the most inquisitive and thrill the most adventure-seeking. North Island has a children’s play area with an arts and crafts area, jungle gym, swings, trampoline and toys galore. All activities are supervised to ensure your children will be well looked after and entirely safe – and of course adults are welcome to join in too!

The natural beauty of North Island will touch and inspire you at the deepest level. Islands have been referred to as the “laboratories of evolution” and North Island biodiversity is living proof of this. Spending time with the Environmental Team or simply exploring the island at your own pace will allow you to appreciate the results of the effort that has gone into rehabilitating this natural idyll.