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Blue Flag 2026: Which Beaches and Marinas Are Blue Flag Certified?

July 21, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

CroisiEurope

The Pavillon Bleu label unveils its 2026 standings on May 18 in Saverne, in the Bas-Rhin. A first for this national ceremony, held on a waterway site.

The Saverne port, labeled since 2018, had notably received the Thomas Joly Award in 2020 for a project to revegetate the riverbanks in favor of biodiversity.

Developed in France by Teragir, the Pavillon Bleu has for more than 40 years distinguished beaches and pleasure ports engaged in sustainable tourism initiatives.

The label rests on several criteria related to water management, biodiversity preservation, pollution reduction, and visitor awareness.

This year, 485 French sites obtain the label, comprising 384 beaches, 100 ports de plaisance and one boat. The sites concerned may fly the Blue Flag throughout the 2026 season.

Les régions littorales toujours en tête

France thus maintains its position among the five countries with the largest number of labeled sites in the world.

The program, carried internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education, is now present in 50 countries and brings together more than 5,300 labeled beaches, ports and boats.

The 2026 list confirms the strong presence of the major coastal tourist regions in France. Occitanie tops the list with 120 labeled sites, ahead of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region with 112 sites.

Nouvelle-Aquitaine accounts for 52 distinguished sites.

Several new sites also join the ranking this year, among them the ports of Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune, Nevers, Charleville-Mézières, Buzet, the Old Port of Golfe Juan and the Jacques-Yves Cousteau port in Castelsarrasin.

On the beaches side, Le Tréport, Carqueiranne and Saint-Symphorien-de-Thénières are among the newly labeled municipalities.

A boat also earns the label: the Atalaya catamaran from Explore Océan, based in Hendaye, offering sea outings dedicated to cetacean watching.

Le tourisme fluvial mis en avant

Choosing Saverne to host the national ceremony highlights the growing importance of inland waterways in sustainable tourism strategies.

According to Teragir, river and lake spaces now account for more than a third of the labeled sites.

The Pavillon Bleu emphasizes several advantages of these territories: generally lower environmental pressure than coastal areas, a role in maintaining ecological corridors, potential for soft mobility, and a contribution to the economic revitalization of river-adjacent municipalities.

This evolution also aligns with travelers’ new expectations, who favor shorter getaways, slow tourism, and experiences reconnecting with nature.

Deux initiatives réunionnaises récompensées

The Thomas Joly Prize, which annually rewards biodiversity initiatives, distinguishes in 2026 two Réunion-based projects.

The City of Saint-Leu is rewarded for its biodiversity preservation and awareness strategy within the framework of its Municipal Biodiversity Atlas.

The Port of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains is, for its part, distinguished for its involvement in the campaigns “Nights Without Light” and “Days of the Night,” aimed at reducing light pollution and preserving nocturnal biodiversity.

Published by Amelia Brille TourMaG.com Editor
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Sardinia’s Secret: The Blue Zone Where People Live Longer

July 11, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Far from the big cities where stress and pollution are sometimes more palpable than a speed bump at 80 km/h, there are scattered around the world places where life can feel so good that people grow old, even very old. But what do they have that is so magical as to let their inhabitants blow out hundreds of candles?

What is a “Blue Zone”?

In the early 2000s, Michel Poulain, a Belgian demographer concerned with the role of the elderly in our societies, and Gianni Pes, an Italian physician, studied the longevity of the Sardinian population and mapped the villages where the most centenarians live. One area stood out more than the others: the Barbagia-Ogliastra zone, in the Nuoro province.

The two researchers are said to have outlined it in blue, and the first “Blue Zone” would thus be born. The journalist Dan Buettner would subsequently popularize the concept in National Geographic in 2004, enabling other “Blue Zones” to be identified later:

Okinawa, Japan
Nicoya, Costa Rica
Ikaria, Greece
Loma Linda, California

But while Blue Zones are the subject of extensive research today, their interpretation remains debated. Some scientists argue that the concept has sometimes been greatly simplified, or even idealized, by the wellness industry.

Where is the Sardinian Blue Zone?

Contrary to a widespread belief, there is not a single Blue Zone in Sardinia covering the entire island. The area identified by Michel Poulain and Gianni Pes in the early 2000s lies in east-central Sardinia, in Ogliastra and Barbagia, in the Nuoro province.

Among the villages regularly cited: Villagrande Strisaili, Arzana, Talana, Baunei, Urzulei, Perdasdefogu, Tiana, Ovodda and Orgosolo.

Note that in southern Sardinia, three other villages stand out for their number of nonagenarians and centenarians: Seulo, Teulada, Orroli.

Then in 2025, another site joined the list of already identified Blue Zones: the municipality of Arzachena, in Gallura (northeast Sardinia). However, this claim does not rest on scientific recognition as established as that of the Barbagia-Ogliastra historic zone.

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Mayotte: The Blue, White and Green Archipelago

June 29, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

You hear it before you see it, a crystal-clear murmur rising in crescendo as the red earth path winds between towering bamboo toward the sea. A few more steps, and the path tilts. Down below, Soulou appears, a fairy-tale cove where turquoise waves kiss the sand. Overlooking the beach, a ten-meter cliff, veiled in greenery, lets a bridal veil slip from its summit. Under this delicate cascade, on this scorching November day in 2025, children splash about, laughing.

Soulou, on the northwest coast, is only a prelude. The mangrove labyrinth of Bouéni Bay, the Dziani Dzaha, a crater-lake nestled in a volcanic crater, the vast lagoon… Mayotte is full of wonders too often forgotten, the archipelago – Petite-Terre, Grande-Terre and a handful of islets – generally reduced to migration crises, security issues, or even meteorological crises (cyclone Chido ravaged it in late 2024). An injustice to be urgently repaired.

Set in the Mozambique Channel, the 101st French department is a blue jewel (the lagoon), white (the sand), green (the forest) with a pleasant tropical climate and a rich culture, where Malagasy, African, Arab and French influences interweave. Here, French, shimaoré and kibushi are spoken, and 95% of the population is Muslim, practicing a largely syncretic Islam. In Tsingoni, on the west coast of Grande-Terre, the oldest mosque in France (14th century) has preserved its mihrab – the niche that indicates the direction of Mecca – from the 16th century in carved coral.

Dense vegetation

To grasp the splendor of the archipelago, one must venture inland, and perhaps undertake the ascent of Mount Bénara, the highest point on Grande-Terre (660 meters), rewarded with a 360° view over the “hippocampus,” as the island is called from above due to its shape. In the company of Attoumani Harouna, one of the fathers of the Mahoran GR (160 kilometers) and a tour operator, we discover lands two-thirds covered by dense vegetation. A year earlier, after the passage of Chido, between 30% and 80% of trees, depending on the massif, had been devastated by winds roaring at 220 km/h!

Along the trails, banana trees spread their wide pale-green fans, the small local brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus mayottensis)—the iconic makis here—leapt from mangos to kapok trees. We witness the soaring flight of the fruit bats, the largest bat species, and we cross the little Mahoran zebu, a meter at the shoulder. The archipelago also boasts 44 endemic plant species under protection, including Foetidia comorensis, a plant known here as namoulohna, of which fewer than a hundred remain, and two baobab lineages, the African (Adansonia digitata), with delicate white flowers, and the Malagasy (Adansonia madagascariensis), rarer, with flamboyant red flowers.

On the west coast, time hangs to the local rhythm of the villages

In the village of Combani, thirty-five minutes by road west of Mamoudzou, the main town, the Imany garden, for its part, exhales the scent of ylang-ylang, a memory of the era when Mayotte was “the island of perfumes.” In Sada, on the west coast, time seems suspended to the local pace.

Meanwhile, in Dzaoudzi-Labattoir, on Petite-Terre, the heartbeat of Mahoran life pulses: between colonial buildings and market lanes, the crowds hurry to join the “barge” that links the two main islands. On the deck of the shuttle, village women move wrapped in bright salouva—a piece of fabric tied beneath the chest—faces adorned with msindzano, a beauty and sun-protection mask, made from sandalwood rubbed on a coral stone.

During weddings and traditional celebrations, the msindzano is lace: this sandalwood mask is applied in delicate dotted lines, creating patterns on the cheeks and forehead of the Mahoraises.

These “ticklers” Mahoraises who chose France

In the late 1960s, about a hundred Mahoraises joined a resistance to keep Mayotte French and not follow the independence movement that mobilized the rest of the Comoros at the time. Their weapon: tickling, an original humiliation tactic aimed at shaming their opponents. But behind the symbolic act, the conflict was violent. In 1969, one of them, Zakia Madi, 25, was shot during clashes in Mamoudzou.

The struggle of the ticklers culminated much later, in 2011, with the archipelago’s departmentalization. Today, draped in their salouva, their heirs revive the codes of their elders to carry the current social claims.

A giant marine sanctuary

During family celebrations, songs in shimaoré and in Arabic accompany the debaa, a celebration with distant origins, accompanied by dances performed by women, whose hands ripple like seaweed underwater. And water is everywhere, where the eye rests: the 1,100 km² closed lagoon, one of the largest in the world, is home to 800 species of fish and marine mammals, including manta rays that seem to fly beneath the waves, dolphins, and humpback whales that traverse it from July to October.

And then, every year, nature offers another gift: 3,000 to 5,000 turtles come to nest on the beaches, notably at Moya, a southeast cove of Petite-Terre. The site is monitored by guardians and volunteers, and the observation of nocturnal nesting follows strict rules. Off the coast, a mask and snorkel are enough to swim with the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) grazing on seagrass, or to glimpse its cousin, the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), shyer, gliding between the coral patches that dot the giant lagoon of this France at the edge of the world.

Not to miss in Mayotte

A face-to-face with turtles

For an unforgettable sea ride, Rando Palma and captain Halifa, a certified lagoon guide, will accompany you safely. On the program: a dolphin ballet around the dinghy and turtle encounters while snorkeling, even for beginners.
@randopalma on Instagram

An inland immersion

To explore the archipelago up close to its people and landscapes, Attoumani and Hélène form a duo of passionate guides who share both the territory’s secrets and the daily Mahoran stories.
baobabtour.fr

A night in a “banga”

Mud walls, a roof of coconut palm leaves and a view of the lagoon: in Sada (west coast), the banga—traditional huts of the Chissioua—sit in a tropical garden. A perfect starting point to explore the beaches.
chissioua-mayotte.com

➤ Article published in GEO magazine No. 569, “Recharging in Auvergne,” July 2026.

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