After an 11-hour flight with Air France, we landed on Réunion Island, once known as Île Bourbon. This volcanic island, a French overseas department, sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius — an incredible mix of mountain landscapes and turquoise-water beaches.
✓ Trip in May 202301The three cirques
Réunion is defined by three vast cirques, formed by the collapse of the now-dormant Piton des Neiges and shaped by erosion: Mafate, Salazie and Cilaos.
02The Cirque de Cilaos
The southernmost village, reached by the famous "Road of 400 Bends" — 200 going up, 200 coming down. It's the hikers' meeting point, with a quiet village that's lovely to wander in late afternoon near the Chapelle Blanche or the Mare à Jonc.
We spent 3 days there in May 2023, with several hikes lined up. One piece of advice that applies to every cirque on the island: set off early, the sky clouds over quickly by late morning — and the trails aren't always well signposted once you're on them.
The hikes
Good addresses in Cilaos
Where to stay
03The Cirque de Mafate
The westernmost — and the wildest: no road reaches it. You get there on foot, by bike or by helicopter. Its eight hundred or so inhabitants live in hamlets called îlets, resupplied by helicopter. The main access points:
4×4 possible as far as the entrance, not into the heart
From Cilaos
From Salazie — the busiest access
Also the finest viewpoint over the cirque, reachable by car
From Dos d'Âne
From Sans Soucis
04The Cirque de Salazie
The easternmost, with a very wet climate, reached by a road far easier than the one to Cilaos. The village of Hell-Bourg nestles at the foot of the Piton des Neiges — it's a member of the Plus Beaux Villages de France association, and the only one in France's overseas departments.
05The Piton de la Fournaise
This volcano, around 530,000 years old, is one of the most active on Earth — it erupts almost every year. To reach its lunar landscape, head for the Pas de Bellecombe, where the climb begins: allow 6 hours return.
Plenty of operators run guided hikes, leaving around 7:30am from the Bellecombe car park. I looked at Get Your Guide and Manawa, both well reviewed.
06The south-west of the island
After the mountain landscapes, time to rest on the coast.
Saint-Pierre
The Narassingua Péroumal Tamil Temple, voted France's 3rd favourite monument in 2020, has a dress code for visitors — it's a place of worship first and foremost. On the seafront, we had lunch at l'Alizée: fresh seafood and Creole music, for total immersion.
Saint-Louis & Entre-Deux
Saint-Louis is known for its sugar cane and its Creole houses. The Domaine du Café Grillé holds a 4-hectare botanical garden with 800 plant species, tracing the island's history.
A little higher up, Entre-Deux is a pretty village of colourful Creole houses.
La Saline-les-Bains
A beach destination thanks to its lagoon. We stayed 4 nights at the Le Nautile hotel — well located, with a pool and a private beach with sunloungers on the lagoon, and swimming without a worry.
07Saint-Gilles-les-Bains
A beach town on the west coast, perfect for resting on the Plage des Roches Noires or for water sports at the marina. If you don't dive, the Aquarium is a good alternative for discovering the marine life of the Indian Ocean.
08A helicopter flight
Réunion owes a great deal to its variety — a helicopter lets you gain height and take in all that vegetation, and the Piton de la Fournaise, from the air. On a short trip like ours, it was the way to "see" the whole island in 45 minutes.
We went with Run Helico, from Pierrefonds aerodrome at Saint-Pierre. We'd chosen the "Le Complet" package — with too much cloud over the Piton, the pilot took us to the Takamaka Gorges instead. One of the finest travel memories I have.
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