The sunset beach
Anse Kerlan
Beach · The sunset one
Anse Kerlan in short.
A west-facing beach at the north-western end of Praslin, which is where people go at six in the evening. The sand shifts with the season and the water is deep close in, which is the price of the aspect.
Which months
West-facing, so the calm months are May to September. The sand and the shelf change through the year, so the beach is not the same shape in July as in January.
Facing west
Anse Kerlan and Petite Anse Kerlan face due west into open water, which gives them the best sunsets on Praslin and, at certain times of year, a steep drop close to the sand. The beach is genuinely different in shape between the two monsoons.
There is a resort on Petite Anse Kerlan. The main beach is public and is usually quiet.
Turtles
Hawksbill turtles nest along this stretch of the Praslin coast between roughly October and February, and the resort here runs a monitoring programme. Nesting beaches are not a spectacle to be arranged: if you are lucky you see one, and if you do, keep back and keep the lights off.
Anse Georgette is around the headland to the north and Grand Anse is south along the same coast.
What else is along this coast
Grand Anse runs south from here along the same west-facing shore and is the longest beach on Praslin, with the airport strip behind it and a shallow, weedy lagoon in front. It is a beach to walk rather than to swim, and it is the one most people see first because the road from the airport runs along it.
North of Anse Kerlan the coast turns towards Anse Georgette and the granite starts. The whole west side of Praslin is fifteen minutes end to end by car.
How you arrive
About twenty minutes by road from Baie Sainte-Anne jetty, past the airport and up the west coast.
The sheet.
Checked 2 September 2026.
- Island
- Praslin, west coast
- Faces
- due west, which is the whole point of it
- Calmest
- May to September
- Note
- the sand shifts with the season and can be steep
What people ask.
When is Anse Kerlan calm?
West-facing, so the calm months are May to September. The sand and the shelf change through the year, so the beach is not the same shape in July as in January.
How do you get to Anse Kerlan?
About twenty minutes by road from Baie Sainte-Anne jetty, past the airport and up the west coast.
Is there anything on the beach?
Nothing built. Take what you need with you.
What we do arrange.
The sand is not ours. The car that gets you to it, the day out that takes in three more of them and the driver who meets the flight all are.
Car hire, from €45 a day
Ten cars, no deposit, handed over at the airport, the jetty or your hotel.
Days out and excursions
Island tours, boat days, snorkelling and walks, with real ratings and free cancellation to twenty-four hours.
Airport transfers
A driver who watches your flight number and waits with your name on a board.
The terminal photograph above: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Planning a week around the right coast?
Send the dates. Meera will tell you which side of which island is calm in your month, and put the car and the days out around it.