The best family beaches in Reunion

Reunion is a wonderful family beach island once you understand one rule that no postcard spells out. The calmest, clearest, safest water for children sits inside the protected coral lagoons of the west coast, where a reef holds shallow, warm, sheltered water, while the open ocean carries the island's well known shark risk and is closed to swimming. The honest job of this page is to point families straight to the lagoon beaches where children can swim in safety, and away from the dramatic open coast that looks inviting but is not for bathing.

We have ranked the beaches below for how a real family day actually goes, not for how they photograph. Calm shallow entry, how protected the water stays, the shade on offer, the facilities close by and how easy the beach is to reach all count for more than the colour of the sand. The west coast reef lagoons win here, and that is the point, because a calm safe swim under the pines with a restaurant or a picnic to hand beats a stunning cove where the sea is off limits.

If you take one line from this page, take this. Build your family days around the protected lagoons of L'Hermitage, Trou d'Eau and Cap Homard, use Saint Pierre as the easy town base in the south, treat Grande Anse as a picnic and rock pool cove rather than an open swim, and keep children inside the lagoon or the net at all times. Do that and Reunion gives you some of the gentlest, most rewarding family swimming in the Indian Ocean.

The most dramatic beach is rarely the safest with children, and on Reunion that gap is wider than usual. The open coast beaches and the wild southern coves are gorgeous, but the sea there is genuinely dangerous and closed to swimming under the island's water safety rules, so they are for looking at and picnicking on rather than bathing. The smarter family choice is a protected reef lagoon, where the water is just as warm and far calmer, with a sunbed, a snack or a picnic a few steps away. Match the beach to the safe water and the day runs itself.

Calm safe water in Reunion is a matter of the reef and the rules. The west coast lagoons stay shallow and sheltered behind the coral on most mornings, which is what makes them so good for paddling, while the netted zones at beaches such as Boucan Canot and Roches Noires give a secured swim on the open coast during cover hours only. Conditions are typical and never guaranteed, and there is no promise of a safe swim anywhere, so read the flags, swim inside the lagoon or the net, and treat the open sea as closed at all times.

Ease and safety go together here more than people expect. The lagoon beaches let you bring your own picnic and shade and spend almost nothing, or eat at a beach restaurant at L'Hermitage if you would rather travel light, so a family day can cost as much or as little as you choose. Stock up in the resort shops, come early for the parking and the calmest, clearest water, and Reunion delivers gentle, safe feeling family swimming as long as you keep to the protected water.

Reunion is not a daybed island, and for families that is good news, because the lagoon beaches keep things simple rather than expensive. At L'Hermitage you will find beach restaurants and rondavelles under the pines, and at the quieter lagoons the snack spots and cafes of La Saline and Saint Pierre are close by, which is all most families need for a comfortable day. We never invent a venue, a minimum spend or an opening status, so anything we cannot confirm is marked to be confirmed. Browse the directory, send one enquiry to check your date and party size, and keep the picnic option open for the value play.