Zanboza Self Catering

In feel it is a little like a homestay. Guests enjoy a good breakfast, describe a friendly caretaker on site and note that day tours around the island can be arranged for you, so it suits travellers who want a quiet, personal base rather than the bustle of the village. Several reviewers spent five nights or more here and came away calling it a relaxing spot to unwind between days out on the beaches and trails.

One honest point is worth knowing before you book. Despite self-catering appearing in the name, the rooms do not have their own kitchen inside, so in practice it works more like a guesthouse, with a main kitchen you are welcome to use if you wish. Reviewers make this observation plainly rather than as a complaint, but it is the kind of detail that shapes who the place is right for.

A couple of other honest notes complete the picture. Zanboza sits some way from the ferry, so a hire bicycle is the sensible way to reach it and get around, and one guest found the caretaker friendly but not always deeply versed in island tips. Set the quiet setting, the mountain views, the good breakfast and the neat rooms against the shared-kitchen arrangement and the ride from the jetty, and most guests leave happy with a genuinely peaceful, green retreat on La Digue.

La Retraite lies in the leafy inland heart of La Digue, on the route that climbs across the island toward Grand Anse, Petite Anse and Anse Cocos, the trio of wild, surf-washed beaches on the exposed south-east coast. It is a quiet, residential and thoroughly green corner, a world away from the ferry bustle, and the reward for staying here is calm and the sight of the island's granite peaks rather than a beachfront doorstep. A hire bicycle is the way to get about, with La Passe and its shops, restaurants and jetty a pedal to the north-west, and the celebrated Anse Source d'Argent reached through the L'Union Estate on the same side. Grand Anse itself is beautiful but has strong seasonal currents, so heed the local advice on swimming.