SEYCHELLES MARKET – SIR SELWYN SELWYN CLARKE MARKET
Hightlight
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Car parking
The beating heart of Victoria. Under its old iron roof, fishmongers, fruit sellers and spice stalls have traded for well over a century, and no visit to the capital is complete without a walk through it.
Bustling, colorful marketplace featuring fresh local produce, spices, handicrafts & souvenirs.
Victoria’s oldest institution
If the clock tower is the symbol of Victoria, the covered market is its living heart. Trading on this spot since the middle of the nineteenth century and named after a former British governor, the Sir Selwyn-Clarke Market is where the ordinary life of the capital gathers each morning. Under a low iron roof and around a shaded courtyard, the stalls have sold the same things to the same city for generations.
It is compact and busy rather than grand, and that is the appeal. This is not a tourist creation but a real working market, the place islanders come for their fish and vegetables, and stepping into it is the quickest way to feel the true pulse of Victoria.
Fish, fruit, spice and colour
The ground floor is a blaze of colour and noise. Fishmongers lay out the morning’s catch of tuna, jobfish and job gris, fruit and vegetable sellers stack pyramids of mango, breadfruit and banana, and spice stalls sell the vanilla, cinnamon and chilli that carry the flavour of Creole cooking. Upstairs and around the edges, vendors sell souvenirs, sarongs, tea and packaged spices to take home.
It is at its liveliest early in the day, especially on Saturday mornings, when the whole town seems to pass through. Come with a little curiosity, buy some spices or a fresh coconut, and you will taste and smell more of the Seychelles here in twenty minutes than in an afternoon anywhere else.
Know before you go
| Where | Market Street, central Victoria, Mahe |
| Type | Historic covered market, trading since the 1800s |
| Buy | Fresh fish and fruit, spices, vanilla, tea, sarongs, souvenirs |
| Cost | Free to wander, bring cash for the stalls |
| Best time | Early morning, and Saturday for the busiest, liveliest scene |
| Time to allow | Twenty minutes to an hour |
What visitors say
★ 4 · 2,450 Google reviews★★★★This is the central market for fruits, vegetables, and fish in Victoria. It is bustling in the morning with the people doing their daily shopping. The second floor is the souvenir shops. Visit it in the morning. By 4pm, …
Reza Sattarzadeh Nowbari · via Google
★★★★★Nice small market with local fruits and vegetables and spices
Odi Assli · via Google
★★★★The Selwyn Market is a large market located at the centre of Victoria, the capital of Seychelles. The market, built in 1840, is the main market in the whole of Seychelles. This market almost serves as a landmark and is t…
Asrade Abate · via Google
★★★★★This is one of those old style markets so typical to sea nations and so unusual to standard inland european. For me, first time seeing such live and of course it cannot be compared to any documentary movie. Fish, herbs, …
Radek Horak · via Google
The market is the centre of any walk through Victoria, steps from the clock tower, the temple and the cathedral. Stay in the capital to start each morning in the thick of it.
See the capital on footPrivate Victoria city walking tourfrom €69 per groupBook this tourTours via Viator, stays via Booking.com. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Nearby Victoria Clock Tower · Hindu Temple · Botanical Gardens
Go early, ideally on a Saturday morning. The market is busiest and most colourful just after it opens, and buying a little vanilla or cinnamon here is one of the tastiest souvenirs you can carry home.
