Flic-en-Flac
The west coast: the island's longest public beach, a windless sea and a sunset every evening — and the place from which the Black River Gorges and Chamarel are nearest
- When to go
- September 23° · 4 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€price 4 of 5
- How many days
- 7days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 37 km Mauritius
- Right now
Flic-en-Flac is the coast to choose from May to October: the west is in the lee of the mountains, so the sea is calm when the east has waves, and the sun sets into the ocean every evening. The beach is public, long and lined with casuarinas, the hotels are to the south towards Wolmar, and the Black River Gorges and Chamarel are half an hour away — which no other coast has.
The beach is public from end to end, several kilometres of white sand with casuarinas for shade and a lagoon the reef keeps shallow and calm; at weekends half the island comes with barbecues and music, on weekdays it is almost empty. The village behind the beach has a supermarket, pharmacies, cafés and fish restaurants, enough for a week without a hotel; the four- and five-star hotels are to the south, at Wolmar, on the same beach without the village. Scuba diving is the best on the island here — the reef wall drops to thirty-five metres and the Kei Sei 113 and Tug II wrecks lie on the bottom — with centres on the beach.
The west is also the best for trips, because the south of the island is half an hour away. The Black River Gorges, the national park with the island's only rainforest, have a viewpoint reached by car and trails from an hour to a full day; Chamarel with the Seven Coloured Earth and the waterfall is on the same road, and one morning covers both. Le Morne and the beach below it are forty minutes south, Tamarin with its morning dolphins ten minutes. With a car, from Flic-en-Flac you see the whole south-west without a single long day.
The sunset is an institution: the beach faces west, and every evening between six and seven the whole sand sits turned to the ocean, with a Phoenix beer from the shop across the road. The restaurants in the village work after that; the hotel ones are dearer and the same. From November to April it is hot and humid here too, with afternoon rain — but without wind, so even then it beats the east. If the island is split into two coasts for ten days, the west is the part that does not change.
Guides for Flic-en-Flac
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Day trips from Flic-en-Flac
→Chamarel and the Gorges in the morning, dolphins at Tamarin at seven, Le Morne in the afternoon and Port Louis on a…
What to see in Flic-en-Flac
The public beach
Several kilometres of white sand under casuarinas, with a lagoon the reef keeps calm. Shops across the road for water and beer.
The sunset
Every evening between six and seven, from the sand, with a beer from the shop. Île aux Bénitiers and Le Morne in silhouette to the south. The only coast on the island where the sun sets into the ocean, not behind a mountain.
Diving on the western wall
A reef dropping to thirty-five metres, with the Kei Sei 113 and Tug II wrecks on the sand and turtles on the average dive. The best diving on the island; centres on the beach, a course fits into a week.
- D
Dolphins at Tamarin
The bay ten minutes south where dolphins come in the morning to rest in shelter, and boats that go out at seven. An hour; you choose a boat that does not chase the dolphins, and you ask before paying.
The Black River Gorges
The national park half an hour away, with the Gorges viewpoint and trails through rainforest to waterfalls. In the morning, before the cloud; combined with Chamarel the same morning.
Casela
A nature park ten minutes away, with giraffes, zebras, walking with lions and zip lines across a canyon. Touristy and expensive; for families with children, a full day.
Two things you probably did not know
The name Flic en Flac has nothing to do with French or Creole; it comes from the Dutch Fried Landt Flaak, meaning free flat land. The Dutch held the island in the seventeenth century and left a few names behind.
The west coast of Mauritius lies in the lee of the trade winds, making it the driest and calmest part of the island. That is why sunsets are watched from here while the rain falls on the other side.
Ready for Flic-en-Flac?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Flic-en-Flac — day trips or weekends.
Mauritius
→An island where you do not choose a hotel but a coast — west for sunsets and calm sea, north for nightlife, east for wind, south for kitesurfing
Tanzania
→The Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in one country — and three different bills: the safari by the day, the mountain by the night, the island by an insurance paid at the door
South Africa
→A country of long distances and reversed seasons, driven on the left throughout
Thailand
→Two coasts the monsoon never reaches at the same time, and a north seen through smoke in March
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Chamarel, Port Louis and Le Morne
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Flic-en-Flac if you have been.
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