Coast and Beaches

With its coast of 200 km and its 30 km of beaches, the Reunion Island is an ideal destination for the amateurs of fine sand. We can see white or black sand beaches with emerald water lagoons. We can distinguish the coasts of La Reunion in two categories.

• First the visit of the island with the west coast : 

Here we find the most beautiful beaches, coral reefs and lagoons. Indeed these coasts are protected by a coral reef,. It’s shallow, quiet and hot, and characterized by a sand white with organic origin. The water temperature never gets below 21°C, allowing water sports all year around. There are many possibilities for canoing or kayaking (Beach of La Saline-les-Bains) .

• Beaches of l’Ermitage, la Saline-les-Bains and Trou d’eau are the best places for sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling und much more.
• Beaches in Saint-Gilles (les Brisants and Roches noirs) are beautiful but there are no lagoon. The beach is not protected, there are sharks and there have been already attacks, in particular on the surfers. So do not swim over there!

On the beach, verify the color of the flag and inquire about the swell and the currents.

Some rules and advices:

• Don’t forget your mask, your palms and your snorkels to be able to observe tropical fishes!
• It is necessary to put itself of the sunscreen quite approximately three hours. In the Reunion, the sun beats down hardly and we can fast catch sunburns. I advise you to wear sunglasses and a hat.
• You can rest on beaches of hot sand, lined with coconut palms or with filaos : exceptional frame for memorable moments of idleness and musing: naturally paradisiac!
• At the end of the day, in a bar of beach or in the terrace of a restaurant, you can admire the sunset on the Indian Ocean
• Picnic on backs-beaches in the shade of filaos : a moment of conviviality and sharing with the Inhabitants of the Réunion.
• With friends, you can play beach volleyball, beach-soccer, or petanque on the beach
• It’s forbidden to collect coreals.
• Bathe only in zones authorized (risk shark, strong swell)

In Saint-Gilles we can go in a boat to observe wild dolphins. Between August and October we can also see humpback whales. They come to La Reunion to take care of their newborn child. With the group : Le Grand Bleu, the tour in boat is : 19 euro by person.

In the westcoast, there are beaches are with black sand too. For example in Saint-Paul : it’s beautiful but we cann’t swim because of sharks. But we can swim in the lagoon in l’Etang Salé for example (it’s in Sud-West of La Reunion).

    beach of l’Etang Salé

Warning : the sand can burn, especially the black sand. I recommend you to wear flip-flop.

So beaches understanding a zone of authorized and secure bathing : Ermitage, La Saline, Saint-Leu, L’Etang-Salé, Saint-Pierre.  Boucan Canot and Roches Noires sometimes : when anti-sharks nets are installed.

In Saint-Leu, there is a beautiful beach, where we cann’t swim because of sharks and swell  : but it’s the beach of paraglidings:

 

 

• We can continue the visit of the Reunion with Sudcoast :

We call these coasts : le “Sud sauvage” = “Wild Sud“, because they are still wild coasts. Coasts are opened on the wide, in colder waters, more quickly deep and especially agitated of more powerful waves (sometimes making the bathing totally impossible). These coast are characterized by a rock or a black sand, of volcanic origin. You can see for example the Cap Mechant. This is a beautiful place, where we can see the ocean struck against cliffs.  We can observe the “Soufleurs”: under the knocks repeated by the swell, a violent jet of sea sprays rises in the air up to several meters. Warning: Do not approach too many of cliffs : people already fell in the sea and drowned themselves.

Beaches of Sudcoast are beautiful but we cann’t swim: there are sharks and so much currents. There are few small hikes along beaches. We can go on the beach of Grande Anse. It’s a beautiful beach  with big waves.

The “wide Sud” is beautiful. We recommand to take one day to see this coast. It is accessible with the east road. The east Road is approximately 70 km. To take advantage numerous stages, and because the mist gets up often early in the afternoon in this region of La Reunion, we advise you to leave very early in the morning!

 

Enjoy your trip !

By Clémence Vigneau