Constance Lemuria

The fifteenth at Lemuria is a par three, and from the tee the ball drops about 50 metres to a green in the valley, with the white sand of Anse Georgette off to the left across a small mangrove marsh. It is the signature hole of the only 18-hole course in the Seychelles, whose fairways run through tropical forest and along the coast between granite cliffs. The resort opened in December 1999 as the country's first five-star hotel, on 370 acres at Anse Kerlan, and it was built low, the suites and villas set among the boulders and under the trees rather than cleared for them. Each suite is about 15 metres from the sand. There is one pool, stepped down in three levels towards the Indian Ocean, and the beaches outnumber it.

Recommended for golfers, who play without green fees as long as they are staying, and for families. The kids' club takes four- to eleven-year-olds at no extra charge, there is babysitting, and the villas open straight onto the sand, the two-bedroom ones with a pool of their own. Diva, the fine-dining restaurant, keeps a cellar of about 12,000 bottles, which is upwards of a hundred for every suite and villa. Anse Georgette is inside the grounds, twenty minutes or more on foot across the course, or a ride in a golf buggy. Ten kilometres inland by road is the Vallée de Mai, the forest of coco de mer palms on UNESCO's list, and a piece of Praslin's green that has been kept from the golfers.