Le Morne Beach

There are beautiful beaches on every coast of Mauritius, but Le Morne Beach operates at a different register. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Le Morne Brabant — a 556-metre basalt monolith that rises almost vertically from the sea — frames the beach in a way that no photographer or painter has ever quite captured and every visitor remembers for decades. The sand is brilliant white, the lagoon is a gradient from pale jade in the shallows to a deep, electric turquoise over the coral, and the mountain's shadow moves slowly across the water through the morning in a way that makes the light change every hour.

Le Morne Peninsula juts south-westward from the island's main landmass, and the beach wraps around its southern edge. This geography creates two distinct beach environments: the lagoon-facing south side, which is protected and calm, and the open-ocean western face, which takes the prevailing south-easterly trade wind full-on and creates the flat-water wave combination that has made Le Morne the most celebrated kitesurfing destination in the Indian Ocean. The Kite Lagoon at the western end of the beach is internationally known; the channel between the reef and the shore — locally called "the one eye" — produces a wave over a shallow reef that is considered a world-class kitesurf wave, attracting professionals and serious intermediate riders from around the globe.

For those who are not kitesurfing, the lagoon side of the beach is one of the most spectacular swimming environments in the southern hemisphere: a few shades too blue to look entirely real, shallow enough to stand in for 300 metres from shore, and warm year-round. The coral reef at the edge of the lagoon is accessible by snorkel and hosts large populations of reef fish, eagle rays, and occasional reef sharks patrolling the drop-off. The nearby Ile aux Bénitiers (Clamshell Island) is reachable by boat in 20 minutes and has its own pristine beach and excellent snorkelling.

The mountain above the beach carries a profound historical weight: Le Morne Brabant was a refuge for escaped slaves in the 18th and early 19th centuries, who hid in its caves and on its ledges rather than submit to capture. The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 for this history, and guided heritage hikes to the summit are available most mornings.