Etoile Labrine

The rooms are described again and again as lovely, clean and well equipped, cosy and practical, set around a pretty garden, and the position at L'Union makes it easy to cycle to the beaches and sights of La Digue. Bicycles are brought round for guests, transfers from the jetty are arranged, and the hosts help book guides and boat trips, so a stay here is smoothed from arrival on.

The food is the thing guests come back for. Dinner in the garden is singled out over and over, the Red Snapper especially, and breakfast is called delicious with fresh fruit, an experience worth the price even though, at around four hundred rupees, guests note dinner is not the cheapest. The hosts, Johanne and Jamal named warmly among them, are praised for genuine warmth and good energy that make the stay. Several call it their best on the islands.

L'Union sits on the west side of La Digue, just inland from L'Union Estate, the old coconut and vanilla plantation with its giant tortoises, ox-driven copra mill and colonial house, and the gateway to Anse Source d'Argent, the famous beach of pink granite and shallow turquoise water often called one of the most photographed in the world. La Digue is a slow, largely car-free island where the bicycle is king, and the village of La Passe, the harbour and the shops are a short, flat ride away. The ferry links La Digue to Praslin and Mahé. For a warm B&B with standout food a ride from Anse Source d'Argent, Etoile Labrine is one we are glad to recommend.

L'Union sits on the west side of La Digue, just inland from L'Union Estate, the island's historic coconut and vanilla plantation, where giant tortoises roam, an ox still turns the old copra mill and a colonial plantation house stands among the palms. It is also the gateway to Anse Source d'Argent, the celebrated beach of sculpted pink-granite boulders and shallow, glass-clear turquoise water, reached through the estate and often named among the most beautiful and most photographed beaches on earth. La Digue is a slow, largely car-free island where almost everyone travels by bicycle, and L'Union is a short, flat ride from the harbour and shops of La Passe. The ferry links La Digue to Praslin in minutes and on to Mahé, the main island with the airport.