For many, Anse Lazio is the most beautiful beach in the Seychelles and one of the best in the world: a wide crescent of fine white sand in the north of Praslin, with clear turquoise water, framed by huge pink granite boulders and takamaka trees leaning over the shore. It is the very picture of a tropical paradise, the postcard that sums up why the Seychelles are synonymous with dream beaches.
What makes it special is how perfectly everything comes together: the quality of the sand, the colour and clarity of the water (deep enough for swimming), the sculpted granite boulders that close off the bay and the natural shade of the takamakas. The rocky ends are good for snorkelling, with colourful fish among the rocks, and unlike some of Praslin's other top beaches, access is free and there are a couple of restaurants by the sand.
This guide takes a practical look at Anse Lazio: how to get there through northern Praslin, when the water is calmest for swimming, where to snorkel, where to have fresh fish for lunch by the sea and how to combine it with the Vallée de Mai for a perfect day. If you are travelling to Praslin, Anse Lazio is a must-stop and one of the great treasures of the Seychelles archipelago.
The name 'Anse Lazio' ('anse' means 'cove' in French) recalls the French colonial past of Praslin, an island once known as 'Île des Palmes' for its coco de mer forests and visited by pirates and privateers in the 18th century. 'Lazio' is thought to come from 'lazaret' or from Italian, a reference to old maritime quarantines in colonial times. Like the rest of the Seychelles, Praslin was French from 1768, British from 1814 and independent from 1976. With no harbour or reef to exploit, this beach kept its wild beauty untouched until tourism arrived. The island's full history is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The country's second island and its cluster of reserves: here, in the Vallée de Mai, grows the coco de mer, and on the neighbouring islands pioneering conservation in the Indian Ocean was born.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The unmistakable beauty of Anse Lazio comes from the unique geology of the Seychelles. The archipelago's inner islands —Mahé, Praslin, La Digue— are neither volcanic nor coral like most oceanic islands, but granite: fragments of ancient continental crust, some 750 million years old, that once belonged to the supercontinent of Gondwana. When that landmass broke apart and India split off and drifted towards Asia, one piece was left stranded in the Indian Ocean, forming the 'microcontinent' of the Seychelles.
That is why the beaches of Praslin, and Anse Lazio above all, are framed by those spectacular pink and grey granite boulders, rounded and polished by millions of years of wind and water erosion. These monumental blocks, which look like sculptures placed on purpose at each end of the bay, are the visual signature of the Seychelles and what sets its beaches apart from any other in the tropics. The white sand, formed by the erosion of coral and of the granite itself, completes the picture.
Anse Lazio combines these geological features with a lucky orientation: facing north-northwest, it is sheltered from the southeast trade winds, which gives it calmer, clearer water for much of the year. With no reef directly offshore, the water gets deep close to the shore, which makes it ideal for swimming. It is this perfect combination of ancient granite, white sand and turquoise water that has made this beach one of the most admired on the planet.
Anse Lazio is part of Praslin, an island whose early history is tied to two big themes: the mystery of the coco de mer and the presence of pirates. Before it had a European name, Praslin was known as 'Île des Palmes', the Island of Palms, for its forests of the palm that produces the coco de mer, the enormous seed that for centuries turned up floating in the Indian Ocean with no one knowing where it came from, fuelling legends of underwater trees and sky-high prices.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the uninhabited islands of the Seychelles, lying on the Indian Ocean trade routes with no authority watching over them, became a refuge for pirates and privateers. Praslin's sheltered coves, with their fresh water, turtles for food and hiding places, were used to careen ships and stash loot. Legends of treasure buried by corsairs such as Olivier Levasseur, 'La Buse', surround the island and are part of its folklore, although no treasure has ever been found.
The name 'Anse Lazio' itself points to that colonial past. 'Anse' means 'cove' in French, a legacy of the French who mapped and named these shores from 1768, when they took possession of the island and renamed it Praslin. There are several theories about the origin of 'Lazio': some link it to 'lazaret' (a quarantine station) or to Italian sailors. Whatever the case, the beach kept that evocative name, a witness to the mix of stories —French, pirate, colonial— that shaped Praslin.
Like the rest of Praslin and the Seychelles, the Anse Lazio area lived for centuries from plantation farming. After French colonisation in 1768 and the handover to the British in 1814, the island was given over to growing coconut palms —whose copra was exported—, spices and other crops, worked by enslaved labour brought from Africa and Madagascar until slavery was abolished in 1835. From that mix came the Creole society that still defines the island.
The north of Praslin, where Anse Lazio lies, was a remote, rural area. The beach itself, with no natural harbour or conditions for port facilities, had no particular economic value beyond fishing: it was simply a beautiful cove on a coast of plantations and fishing villages. That lack of commercial interest, paradoxically, saved it: it was left out of development and kept its wild character and untouched beauty for generations.
For almost two centuries, Praslin changed very little. Life moved at an unhurried pace, between the sea and the coconut palms, with Baie Sainte Anne as the main village and the coco de mer as a famous curiosity. Beaches like Anse Lazio were known to locals but ignored by the rest of the world. It was not until the second half of the 20th century, with the arrival of tourism, that those unspoilt sands and granite boulders began to be recognised as one of the archipelago's greatest treasures.
The big change came with tourism, after Seychelles International Airport opened in 1971 and the country gained independence in 1976. Suddenly, the wild beaches that had been left out of development became the archipelago's greatest treasure. Anse Lazio, with its perfect mix of white sand, turquoise water, pink granite and takamaka trees, emerged as one of the iconic images of the Seychelles and began appearing on international lists of the world's best beaches.
Unlike other top beaches that ended up inside exclusive resorts —such as neighbouring Anse Georgette, on the grounds of a luxury hotel—, Anse Lazio has remained public and free to access, in line with Seychelles law, which guarantees that all beaches are public. A couple of restaurants were set up next to the sand, but the beach kept its natural character, with no large buildings on it. That combination of beauty, easy access and basic services has made it especially popular with travellers.
Today Anse Lazio is a must on any visit to Praslin and one of the symbols of Seychelles paradise. It pairs beautifully with the Vallée de Mai, the UNESCO World Heritage coco de mer forest just a few minutes away, in a day that sums up the best of the island: unique nature and a perfect beach. The once-remote cove of the Island of Palms, known for centuries only to fishermen and pirates, is now one of the most admired and photographed beaches on the planet, a treasure the Seychelles looks after as part of its greatest wealth: its nature.
