The lodges themselves are OK – provided you really get one. But if you have chosen half-board, you will be totally disappointed. Whereas the quality of the food offered is far from being satisfying, the quality of the service is simply inaccaptable. So you best save your money preferring another place on La Digue. Thus you will leave this beautiful island without being totally annoyed. La Digue Island Lodge is simply not worth the considerable amount of money you have to pay for it.

Hotel
The price for the rooms are absolutely over the top. The hotel grounds are lovely, but the beach was disappointingly covered in seaweed and a certain amount of litter. Fortunately, there are other more beautiful and clean beaches to visit.

Location
The hotel is well situated in a central location, with opportunities for shopping just around the corner.

Service
With the exception of the room maid and the man on reception who doubles up as ship’s captain and guide, the hotel personnel are moody and unfriendly. This is clearly connected to the manners of the manager, who does not consider it necessary to greet his guests personally. The poolboy also takes the opportunity to swim in the pool with the guests.

Gastronomy
The food is varied, although breakfast is clearly missing the usual cold cuts of meat which other hotels manage to offer. Hygiene in the restaurant is a catastrophe, with birds helping themselves to bread and cakes and walking all over the food and tables.
Have they never heard of the H5N1 virus?? In the evening, you can count yourself lucky if the ants haven’t already eaten themselves full from the side plates. But with the restaurant having nothing more than a sand floor, this is not easy to control. Prices are typical for the region.

Sport and Entertainment
There is an office on the hotel premises which rents out diving equipment, but the opening times shown on the door are rarely kept to. The hotel offers free boat trips and transfers to good beaches on a regular basis, which are very worthwhile and highly recommended.

Accommodation
Here, extreme caution needs to be applied. According to the management (Simone), the so-called “Yellow House” is not standard accommodation for a 4-star hotel. Indeed, our experience was that it is more of a Youth Hostel than a hotel house, with the bedrooms ca. 2.5m x 3.5m, just wide enough to take a double bed with 25-30cm around the edge to get in and out. The rooms have no wardrobe or set of drawers – simply three narrow shelves and a pole to hang up shirts and trousers. Any long skirts or dresses need to be hung up on the curtain rail. None of the room safes were working as the batteries for the whole hotel had run out, so everyone had to leave their valuables at reception. A set of binoculars is recommended to see the tiny television screen. An extremely narrow spiral staircase leads down into the basement where there is a large bathroom with shower and bath. Here the taps were loose, the shower dripped and the shower door was broken. Careful attention is also needed going up the spiral staircase to avoid bumps and bruises. The doors and windows have large gaps which enable the unwelcome visits of geckos and spiders. On the other hand, the standard of “Le Petit Village” is OK, although the rooms we have seen were dark and the lamps were only fitted with 20watt bulbs! The chalets, by contrast, are 4-star standard.

Tips and Recommendations
Unless you book Le Petit Village or a chalet, you should stay on Praslin island and visit La Digue for a day trip, as the island itself is beautiful. Bring cold cuts of meat and cheese with you for breakfast.
In the restaurant, prepare yourself for zero hygiene and the distinct possibility of bird flu.

About the only good thing I can say is I stayed just three nights. Aside from the very spartan, almost sterile 'chalets', there isn't enough hot water to nearly fill the tub, the room safe doesn't work, forcing you to deal with a reception staff that ranges from professional and polite to completely rude, and the food gets very monotonous after the first day. The employees are a complete hodge-podge of genuine pros to inept, pretentious, "I'd rather be anywhere but here" types. The beach water is completely not fit for swimming, with sharp rocks everywhere - it's a knee deep wading pool disguised as ocean. The air conditioner features "fuzzy-logic", which translates into either "too hot" or "too cold". The t.v. is antique with a remote control I defy anyone to understand, let alone use. The place is very close to Anse Source D' Argent, arguably one of the most stunning beaches anywhere, but skip this place if you're looking for anything more than minimal accomodation (a roof over your head) with a variable staff skill-set and seemingly endless series of identical buffet meals. I recommend seeing La Digue as a day trip from Praslin, which has fine accomodation. Or try a bed and breakfast -anything to avoid this disappointment. My visit to this "Lodge" was the longest three days of my life. Truly sub-par.

Probably best hotel on island. Very nice, spacy and comfortable bungalows. Food is ok. Beach long and sandy, but less suited for swimming and snorkeling when tide is low. When tide was high the water was not very clear. However, nearby Anse Lazaire(ten minutes by bicycle) is not only one of the most impressing beaches by its huge granit formations and cosy hideaways. It is also an interesting snorkeling area. Pay attention to well functionning breakes when hiring bikes at the place just outside the Lodge. I made a painfull experiance.