Cheval Blanc Seychelles

Character and identity

Set on a private peninsula at Anse Intendance, a wide bay on the southwest coast of Mahé, this is LVMH's sixth Cheval Blanc and the only hotel on the beach. Jean-Michel Gathy's architecture is deliberately low-slung, with 52 villas (24 beachfront, 28 stilted into the forested hillside) ranging from 2,400 to 6,675 square feet, each with a 40-foot infinity pool. Interiors marry Creole-inspired lofty ceilings with stone-and-white palettes, mother-of-pearl inlay and Madagascan artwork. Five restaurants span Japanese (Mizumi), French haute cuisine (Le 1947), Italian (Vivamento), beachside (Sula) and brasserie (Le White). A Guerlain spa with eight cabanas sits up the hill, and majordomes deliver attentive service with a light touch.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The defining feature is the marriage of Gathy's architecture to a genuinely cinematic beach, backed by cooking and majordome service that justify the maison's price tag. Book a beachfront villa for the indoor-outdoor flow and Creole ceilings, or a Panorama Hill Villa for 180-degree views. Avoid the northwest monsoon months if calm seas matter; come in shoulder season for the resort at its most luminous.