Buy a house in paradise: New resort to open in Seychelles’ Félicité island

Photo of the main pool. The new resort, ‘Six Senses Zil Pasyon' on the Seychelles island, Félicité, include 17 residences being sold and 30 luxury villas.  (Six Senses Zil Pasyon)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Looking for a house in paradise? Here’s your chance to have one. If you can’t afford to buy one, there's a rental option too, as one of the Seychelles’ islands begins auctioning luxurious residences.

The island of Félicité, located within minutes of La Digue, the third-most populated island of Seychelles, is selling 17 residences which are part of a new resort about to open called ‘Six Senses Zil Pasyon.’

Aerial view of Félicité island. (Six Senses Zil Pasyon) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

Previously part of the La Digue Island Lodge resort, Félicité had a facelift which took seven years to complete.

“This project could not open now if we haven’t done this long journey. It has been an advantage to have worked so long with a team on site to make the island even better than it was before,” says Edouard Grosmangin, manager of Six Senses Zil Pasyon.

The new resort is part of the international brand ‘Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas’ and includes 30 luxury villas all with the breathtaking view of the ocean, available for renting.

Félicité was a former coconut plantation in the 1900s. The architecture of the ‘Six Senses Zil Pasyon’ resort has taken into consideration the beauty of the island and has blended sky, land, and sea. (Six Senses Zil Pasyon) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

While Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, is well known for its sandy beaches and turquoise coloured waters, Félicité is popular for its huge and smooth black granite boulders along the shore.

The architecture of the ‘Six Senses Zil Pasyon’ resort has taken into consideration the beauty of the island and has blended sky, land, and sea. The proprietors have gone to great length to ensure privacy for their clientele with the only intrusion being the sounds of waves lapping against rock crevices in the crystal clear waters.

Part of the facelift was the removal of invasive species and the re-introduction of endemic species on the island.

“Over the past few years we have planted up to 50,000 trees on the island,” says Grosmangin.

Bedroom and bathroom views of the new resort which is expected to welcome its first clients in July. (Six Senses Zil Pasyon) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

With hotels in various part of the world including Europe, Middle East, and Asia, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas hopes to provide another impetus to the tourism industry, the main pillar of the Seychelles' economy. 

“We haven’t seen many new opening in Seychelles in the past few years and definitely not on a private island. So it is a very interesting time for us and I think good times for Seychelles as well.”

Solar panels to generate hot water, heat exchangers, organic garden and a daily water bottling facilities are some of the sustainable initiatives that the parent company have already implemented on Félicité as part of its sustainable goals on the island.

As Félicité gears up to receiving its first client in July, Grosmangin says they are targeting as many locals as possible for the resort’s workforce.

The proprietors have gone to great length to ensure privacy for their clientele with the only intrusion being the sounds of waves lapping against rock crevices in the crystal clear waters.(Six Senses Zil Pasyon) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

The island has welcomed high-profile visitors including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and world female tennis player Steffi Graf.

A former coconut plantation in the 1900s, Félicité was the home of Malaysian monarch, Sultan of Perak exiled by the British in 1877.