Four Seasons Resort Seychelles

Petite Anse is the Seychelles postcard made real—a horseshoe of powder sand braced by granite boulders and takamaka trees—and Four Seasons has the bay entirely to itself. The resort climbs the amphitheatre of jungle behind the beach, its villas built as stilted treehouses among the canopy so that each private pool and deck looks down the hillside to the Indian Ocean's shifting blues.

The elevation is the signature: sunrise from a top-ridge villa, with fruit bats gliding over the canopy, is worth the buggy rides the terrain demands. Interiors mix plantation-house timber with contemporary comfort, and the sense of privacy in the foliage is near total. Families get their own beach-level pool, kids' club and easy sand access, keeping the hillside romance undisturbed.

Days revolve around the bay—swimming, snorkelling at the rocks, sunset paddleboarding—supplemented by the clifftop spa, whose treatment pavilions float in the canopy. Dining spans a hilltop grill with sweeping views, beachfront Creole cooking and easy poolside fare. Victoria's markets and the island's wild south are both an easy drive away. It is the complete Mahé resort, and the bay remains the star.