Fregate Island is the most remote of the Seychelles' granitic islands, a tiny speck of green rising from the Indian Ocean far from Mahé. Getting there requires a short flight, a helicopter ride, or a boat trip — and the isolation is the whole point.
The island is ringed by seven beaches, the finest of which is Anse Victorin on the northwest coast, once voted the world's best beach by the Sunday Times. A luxury resort opened here in 1999, but Fregate's real draw is the wildlife: giant Aldabra tortoises roam freely, and the island is one of the last refuges of the Seychelles magpie-robin. In earlier centuries, Fregate is said to have been a hideout for pirates — a history that feels entirely plausible when you see how far it sits from everything else.