Patatran Village Hotel — Hotel in La Digue

Spent 3 glorious nights/days here at the end of september, and would have stayed longer given the chance.|On arriving at the airport in our taxi, the drive towards the hotel was simply breathtaking with the bluest ocean on your left, white sand beaches dotted with colourful reggae bars..and jungle on the right interspersed with small guesthouses|The view of Patates beach as you arrive at the hotel is like something from a movie set...swaying palms, white white Sand, the huge granite boulders and the bluest sea. The excitement set in and all tiredness from the 30 hour journey from Liverpool UK vanished! Just wanted to get down there on that beach and in that sea!!|We were greeted from our taxi by the staff, who took our cases from us and sat us down in the reception area with a refreshing cocktail and ice cold cloth.|After completing formalities (reminiscent of long haul holidays 25 years ago...handwritten duplicated forms!) we were taken to our rooms..."Buisson" was our room!) And although basic and quite old fashioned , this I feel is the general style around the island unless you're prepared to pay a few thousand euros for a week in one of the top end hotels. Although a little dated, there was certainly nothing wrong with it... it was comfortable and clean with a good working shower and very comfortable beds and pillows. And a view that was worth every single penny of our money! And I think all of the hotel rooms have a similar view, so there is no paying extra for an "ocean view room" here. Our balcony had a table and two chairs and also one sunbed. Could Literally sit on that balcony all day listening to The waves and looking out at the ocean.|Air conditioning worked well too.|The rooms have a mini fridge, where you will find a couple of beers, Fanta, coke and some water. Prices pretty much in line with what you would pay in bars elsewhere on the island.|Staff at the hotel were very friendly and I did not feel that they were expectant of tips. Particularly friendly were the restaurant staff.|Talking of the restaurant, we were half board and this meant we had breakfast and evening mail. Now I have been to half board and all inclusives hotels around the world and this is probably a score of 4 out of 10 in comparison to them! However.... This doesn't mean it was bad, It just does not compare to the European / Turkish half boards/all inclusives. Breakfast was nice...chef cooking eggs to your liking, sausages, potatoes, curry, ratatouille etc. Generally there will be different hot offerings each morning based on what was had for dinner that evening before...|There are also some fruits, cereals, yogurts, toast, croissants and cakes.|It was sufficient, it was tasty enough and it would last us through the day until dinner time. Dinner was pretty similar, with a few hot offerings, some nice salads....again...not fantastic, but sufficient. And being self-catering for the next 4 days of our holiday, and eating rubbish meals in restaurants for around 50-60 euros for 2 for one meal without drink, actually the hotel proved to be great value.|We had entertainment on the Thursday evening which was a group of local women, Creole dancing and some guys with drums and instruments.... It was basic stuff but nice!!|The pool area outside is beautiful with a few sunbeds overlooking the ocean and beaches. No umbrellas for shade though.|There are some lovely rattan huts and Cabanas dotted around, providing shade.|The beach is absolutely beautiful....|But do beware as the sea can be quite rough, with frequent random waves!!!...|We didn't venture in that much as it was hard to stay standing and I was stripped of my costume a couple of times in front of everybody on the beach!!!!;)... But I think if you swim out past the breaks, Then it is fine and I believe there is some good snorkeling.....TIP..do take water shoes!!! |The beach is picture postcard perfect...and other than the famous Anse Source D'Argent, I would say that this is the most beautiful beach on the island.|And if you go on the snorkeling boat trip with Simplicity, or one of the other snorkelling trips, and they take you past Patates, the views of the hotel and the beach from the sea are breathtaking.|Bikes can be rented at the hotel and are 150scr per day or 100 if rented for 3 days or more...as of now.|But make sure you get a decent one...there are some real clapped out ones for offer! I swapped mine after one day riding a bike with no gears and no stand!! Also they do not have lights and we did find that the roads are pitch black at night time. I think we would take a small headlamp light next time.|Finally the area around the hotel.|It's very easy to cycle to back towards Anse Severe, whereby you have the many small beach bars to choose from, and bikini bottom beach bar with the two big tortoises. Another 5-7 minutes cycling brings you into La Passe.|If you cycle on around the island from the hotel, it's mainly beach to the left and jungle to the right, until you come to Chez Jules, a lovely bar/restaurant facing the beach. It's about 10-15 minutes gentle ride to reach.|So in brief here are my thoughts;||Setting - 10/10...absolutely beautiful|Staff - 9/10...friendly, polite and willing to please.|Hotel decor - 7/10 - standard for Africa/Indian ocean mid-price hotels. The exterior could do with a lick of paint.|Food - 5/10... I might be being a little bit harsh... I really didn't mind the food and thought it was sufficient,.. It just didn't compare to other hotels I've been to. That's all....|Rooms - 8/10 ... Possibly the best Seaview I've ever had from a hotel bedroom. comfortable and adequate.|Pool and grounds - 8/10 - pretty, lush and well kept.||All in all to sum it up, this is a great value mid-range Hotel. And going by the food offerings at restaurants on the rest of the island then it's not a bad thing to go half board and book here!! You certainly won't be sorry for the views and the beach.....||I forgot to mention that it was our anniversary when we were there. We told the staff and they decorated one of the outdoor huts for us with flowers and decorations. Also, when we returned to our room that day, they had made our bed with petals spelling out happy anniversary, and had left as a beautiful bottle of sauvignon blanc with a beautiful meaningful letter....such a...

Firstly the views from the balcony are amazing and sell the hotel. Rooms are very dated (we stayed in a deluxe room called Bamboo) and in need of a refurb but we did have everything we needed in our room except a chest of draws for out clothing. It provided plenty of wardrobe space but no draws. That being said it would have been nice to have a bottle of water provided after travelling for 20 hours and the steep steps needed to be climbed to get to our room The Towels were very old, off colour and frayed. When walking in the main reception areas it also appears not to have been decorated for many many years, The pool area and communal areas are fair but again dirty sun beds. We have to leave a deposit for the beach towels again very stained, frayed and off colour which I found very embarrassing when using them on the beach. We paid for bed and breakfast and the food was appalling. Egg station when was ok but all the ingredients look liked it had been there for days. Fruit was cut up but dry and looked like it had been there for days. Food in the silver trays appears to be what was left over from the night before and perhaps a few sausages added to cover the breakfast aspect. One evening we decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant as a buffet was advertised. When we arrived there was not buffet and we were given the menu for full board visitors and there were only two choices, I did not like either and asked if there was a vegetarian choice and was told no. I asked what other options there were and she then asked if I would like to see the a la carte ( think she was trying to avoid preparing anything that was not on the menu). Again the menu had very little to choice. We opted for the chicken curry - well I really did not think we were given chicken as it was so tough and dry that we could not eat it. We charged the meal to our room and left. We have since been charge £70 for the meal which really was uneatable. We did not bother with breakfast again.|Hired bike through the hotel bike hire, at an expenses, but we enjoyed this and it made getting around the island very pleasurable. Hotel at the far end of the island and not walkable at night as there is no lighting and it get very dark very quickly. If you do decide to walk to the port area I would advise you bring a good torch as riding a bike would not be advisable due to steep drops that cannot be seen.|The Island of La Digue is very beautiful and we would return and stay at one of the better hotels. We chose to eat a a few and the there really was a huge difference. On our final morning we went to reception to settle out bill and my card was declined 4 times! I asked if she could try again as I had used it the night before and there was no problem with credit. Again it was declined. I ended up having to call my bank who had not received any requests. When I explained this the lady tried another card ready and it went straight through. All this took around 30 minutes, was very stressful as we had a booked ferry take us to the Mahe to the airport. She did not apologies once and rolled her eyes. We have since received out mobile phone bill and the calls costs £89!!!! for the two calls to the bank. This was a fault of the hotels machine and not mine.|Overall hotel was a huge disappointment, staff uncaring, unapologetic and hugely overcharged. Would never recommend this hotel. The beach is public and can be used be all so no need to book the hotel because of the beautiful beach and views |The Island is beautiful and well worth a visit but don't stay at this hotel as it will put a spoiler on...

Together with my husband, we stayed in the hotel in July 2021. We both are from Ukraine and decided to get married here in Seychelles. Below I will describe each topic separately:

Room: every day cleaning. We had a standard room - it was really spacious. Each room has its own balcony with a sunbed. There are a wardrobe (for clothes hangers mainly) and a tiny fridge where you can chill water.

Hotel team: very nice and pleasant people! I love them. Everywhere - in the restaurant or on the street they always smile at you and offer help.

Beach: there is a small but very beautiful beach near the main building of the hotel. It looks like a paid beach in the national park of the La Digue (Anse Source d'Argent). but a smaller version of it

Hotel Territory: the hotel is located near the water. On the rocks (so there are stairs to each room). there is a thin road that separates the hotel from the water (guests use it for cycling). There is a swimming pool with a view near the restaurant. Also, there are a few free bungalows with the ocean view

Food(we had a half board plan): there are 3-4 salads and 5-6 main dishes on each dinner. A lot of fish and seafood are served. Breakfast - cereal, local fruits (mango, papaya, oranges, pineapple, etc), different local jams, eggs, beans, sausages. drinks are not included in the half-board plan, the price of the cocktail is around 120 sr. soft drinks cost less. There is no water in the room as well, but at the nearest store, you can buy it for 15 rupees.

The Island: la Digue is a perfect island for the couple's vacation. People are very kind. Everybody is smiling at you (population +- 2000 persons). there are no fancy restaurants, but the nature is gorgeous. The size of the island is 3x5 km and its possible to rent a bike and visit everything in 1-2 days

Wedding: Our wedding ceremony was perfectly organized by the hotel manager Lizzy. She helped us with everything starting from documents and ending with photo shooting. Best emotions. Thanks for everything!. PC. to get married you just need to bring passports (English) your birth certificates (with Apostil, translated into English - there is no need to get Apostil into the English version of the document, it is enough to have it on original), and application document (can be found on Seyshellas gov site)

PPS: якщо ви з України і вам треба допомога, можете написати мені, я...