MapMauritiusNorth Coast (near Cap Malheureux)PalmarNorth Coast (near Cap Malheureux)

Palmar

Flacq · East coast, south of Belle Mare · Belle Mare / Trou d'Eau Douce

also known as Palmar Beach, Palmar lagoon, Belle Mare - Palmar

Part of North Coast (near Cap Malheureux) →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Apr–Nov

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25

Character: trade

Room to launch

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

26–29 °C in summer

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

45-65 min

International Airport (MRU)

When it fills in

The trades blow through the night as well as the day. They stiffen through mid-morning, hold their best from late morning to mid-afternoon, and ease off after sunset; indicative, from model data for the offshore point rather than a beach anemometer.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Belle Mareno page yet
Ile aux Cerfsno page yet
Blue Bayno page yet
Le Morne

The spot

Palmar sits on the east coast of Mauritius, just south of Belle Mare and north of Trou d'Eau Douce, with organized riding around C Mauritius / East Kite School and public-beach access alongside.

Water and lagoon

The water is a reef lagoon: flat to lightly choppy inside, whitewater breaking on the outer reef, and shallow enough in places that lessons make sense.

Season

The season is the Mauritius winter, centred on May to October, with the best reliability from June to September.

Wind and riding

SE to E trades arrive cross-on along this east-facing coast, though the casuarinas behind the sand leave the air near the beach gusty and shadowed until you get out. Freeride, foil and wing sessions, downwinders toward Poste Lafayette and the C Kite Festival all happen here, so treating it as a beginner pool undersells it.

Hazards and rules

What catches riders out is the small stuff rather than the wind:

coral heads,
rocks,
urchins,
moored fishing boats.

Whether independent kiting is officially zoned here has never been settled on paper, so ask a school or the hotel boathouse before you rig alone.

The wind

locals call it Alize / south-east trade winds

Direction

cross-onSE to E

Direction to shore

cross-on

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

No local size chart is published. On the 15-25 knot trade days of June to September a 75-85 kg rider sits on a 9 m most of the time and wants a 7 m for the hard afternoons; April, October, November and the light mornings are 12 m weather.Indicative, derived from the published wind range rather than from a school's own numbers.

Character

trade

When it fills in: see above ↑

Thermal or synoptic

synoptic (SE trade winds)

Average strength

15-22 knots for the east and south-east coast; 20-25 knots is also reported for C Mauritius, Palmar.

Typical strength

15-25

Reliable through the Mauritius winter trade season. Close to the sand the air is gustier and shadowed by the beach trees; it cleans up once you are clear of them.

The main season is May to October, with useful wind from April to mid-November. June to September is the reliability peak for the Mauritius trades.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan72
Feb81
Mar73
Apr, riders' month71
May, riders' month74
Jun, riders' month89
Jul, riders' month84
Aug, riders' month86
Sep, riders' month91
Oct, riders' month74
Nov, riders' month69
Dec60

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov.

14 ktJan28°
16 ktFeb28°
13 ktMar28°
13 ktApr28°
14 ktMay27°
16 ktJun26°
15 ktJul25°
16 ktAug24°
15 ktSep24°
13 ktOct25°
13 ktNov26°
12 ktDec27°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds.

Every figure, month by monthForce 4+ · Knots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Force 4+	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	72%	13.7 kt	E	26.1 °C	27.9 °C
Feb	81%	15.7 kt	ESE	26 °C	27.8 °C
Mar	73%	13.4 kt	ESE	25.9 °C	28 °C
Apr	71%	13.1 kt	ESE	25.4 °C	27.9 °C
May	74%	14.1 kt	SE	23.9 °C	26.8 °C
Jun	89%	15.6 kt	ESE	22.4 °C	25.6 °C
Jul	84%	15.4 kt	ESE	21.7 °C	24.9 °C
Aug	86%	15.6 kt	ESE	21.7 °C	24.4 °C
Sep	91%	14.8 kt	ESE	22.2 °C	24.4 °C
Oct	74%	13.4 kt	ESE	23.1 °C	25.1 °C
Nov	69%	12.5 kt	ESE	24.4 °C	26.3 °C
Dec	60%	11.8 kt	ESE	25.4 °C	27 °C

How this is modelledmodelled · 2022-2024

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Waist deep over several hundred metres at low water, which is what makes the lessons work, and never much more than about 2 m at high water. Roughly 50 cm to 1.5 m through the normal riding area depending on the tide, shelving gently from ankle depth at the sand.

Tides

Rideable at any state of the tide. Low water gives waist-deep water for several hundred metres and the safest ground for learning; high water gives more room but stays under about 2 m. Wingfoiling really only works at high water.

Temperature

26–29 °C summer · 22–24 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 24–28 °C

Wetsuit

Boardshorts/rash vest are often enough; a shorty or light full suit can be useful in the windy winter months, especially May-September.

Currents

No strong currents at Palmar: there are no passes next to the spot. No official current notice was found.

Conditions

Coral-reef lagoon protected about 800 m from shore: flat water inside, waves breaking on the reef, and some shorebreak on the sand. Calm and shallow over most of the ridable area, with rocks, coral and urchins near the shoreline.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Palmar works for learning: shallow protected lagoon, school support on the beach. It reads as the beginner highlight of an east coast otherwise rated intermediate. Advanced riders get their value from the reef and wave conditions, stronger trade days, freestyle, foil and wing sessions and downwinders rather than from any difficulty in the launch itself.

The scene

What riders come here for

freerideflat waterdownwinderswingfoilkitefoil

Who it suitsbeginnerslessonsfamilies

Resort and local-school atmosphere rather than a party kite town. The public beach fills with Mauritian families at weekends, and the C Kite Festival concentrates a kite crowd for its dates.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

3 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: ok

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

5 spots nearby

All 5 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Boat support and a dedicated rescue boat run out of East Kite School / C Mauritius. No public lifeguard or municipal kite rescue is on record.

Launch

Sand launch along the Palmar lagoon. The public beach sits just south of Belle Mare, past Trou d'Eau Douce village and close to the Ambre and La Palmeraie hotels, with parking in the shade under the casuarinas, toilets and showers nearby and local food vendors by the road.Hotel-front launching runs off C Mauritius / East Kite School, which has a changing room, an outdoor shower and two boats. Trees sit behind or beside parts of the launch, and the public section is narrower than the wider frontage north at Belle Mare.

Hazards riders report 9 reported

Wind

Casuarina/pine trees and wind shadow or gusts near the beach

Crowds and zones

Fishing boats tied up near the beach

Bottom

Coral patches and shallow rocks along or near the shoreline
Coral heads bounding the riding area left and right within the first few hundred metres

Waves and currents

Reef and breaking waves outside/at the reef line
Shorebreak on some sections
Corals sit very shallow at the reef line, and riding waves out there is not advised

Protected areas and rules

Sea urchins in the lagoon, reported in 2022

Other

Unresolved official status for independent kiting, left over from older rule reports

Rules & access

1 min read

No specific kite rules

2026: nothing on paper singles out kitesurfing at Palmar.

Nearby regulations

Two instruments cover the water either side of it. At Trou Corne, Belle Mare, a snorkelling zone marked by red buoys is closed to pleasure craft and the adjoining speed limit zones cap craft at 10 knots, in force since 1 February 2016. Off Trou d'Eau Douce, the stretch between Ilot Mangenie and Ile aux Cerfs is a prohibited activity zone with a 10-knot speed limit alongside it, in force since 1 March 2008. Neither names kiteboards.

Practical access

The buoyed bathing water in front of Belle Mare beach is the practical reason riders drop south to Palmar to launch. Whether an independent rider needs to clear a launch with anyone has never been settled in writing, so ask a school or the hotel boathouse before you rig alone.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Check current permission and zoning with East Kite School, your hotel boathouse or the Beach Authority before an independent launch; the old rule reports and the current commercial kiting do not agree.
Walk the launch and the first tack at low water to mark rocks, coral heads, urchin patches and moored boats.
Stay off the tree line: the wind near the sand is shadowed and gusty.
Bring reef booties if you are learning or expect to stand up in the shallows.
Take boat support or a school guide for downwinders and reef sessions rather than treating the lagoon as a closed pond.
Expect the C Kite Festival around late June to change the crowd, the beach traffic and school availability.
Save the wingfoil for high water. At low tide the lagoon is waist deep and there is not enough under the foil.
The downwind to Poste Lafayette is about 10 km inside the same lagoon, which is the reason to arrange a pick-up rather than improvise one.
Launch south at Palmar rather than in front of Belle Mare, where the buoyed bathing water gets in the way.
Do not jump over the coral heads that line the riding area; they are shallower than they look from upwind.

Getting there

Airport

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU)

Route

Drive or pre-booked transfer from MRU to the east coast via the Belle Mare / Palmar coastal road; Palmar sits between Belle Mare and Trou d'Eau Douce.

Transfer

45-65 min

Cost level

medium-high

Staying

Resort-heavy beachfront area with C Mauritius, SALT of Palmar and Veranda Belle Mare/Palmar nearby, plus other Belle Mare hotels and smaller rentals inland or toward Trou d'Eau Douce.

No-wind days

Swimming and snorkeling in the lagoon, SUP, kayak, windsurf and jet-ski hire, Belle Mare beach walks, Ile aux Cerfs and the Grande Riviere Sud Est waterfall, Flacq market, Bras d'Eau National Park, diving and boat trips.

Photos

FAQ

Is Palmar suitable for beginners?

Yes. It is repeatedly highlighted as beginner-friendly because of its shallow protected lagoon and local school support.

When is the best time to kitesurf at Palmar?

The main season runs May to October, with the most reliable trade winds from June to September.

What is the wind like at Palmar?

Southeast to east trade winds blow cross-onshore at around 15-25 knots, though trees near the beach can cause gusts and wind shadow close to shore.

What are the main hazards at Palmar?

Hazards include coral patches and shallow rocks near shore, sea urchins, fishing boats, and gusty wind under the beachside trees.

The bigger pictureEverything about North Coast (near Cap Malheureux)

Last updated: August 2026