TRAVEL. REUNION
Reunion — A Beautiful Volcanic Island
France’s Hidden Hawaii — Paradise in the Indian Ocean
In the Indian Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar, lies a paradisiacal volcanic island that many in the Western Hemisphere have never heard of — Reunion! I believe the reason we aren’t familiar with it is its distance from us and the fact that France is trying to keep it a secret! Shhhh! It’s a beautiful island!
It’s Very French!
Reunion has lots of mountains and European-style villages. But there are also beaches, waterfalls, and jungles. It has everything you’d want in a vacation spot.
France has made some huge investments in infrastructure for many years. As one of the 18 regions of France, it’s considered part of the European Union. Here are some images of Reunion and where it fits, geographically.
There’s a highway that goes all around the island, but they were having problems with falling rocks in certain stretches. You can tell because all of the sheer cliff areas have a huge netting system, trying to stop the rocks from damaging the cars.
Their new solution is to build a highway a few hundred yards off the coast, in the middle of the ocean, out of the reach of falling rocks. It’s quite an amazing feat and an example of how much France is willing to invest in this island.
There are lots of hospitals, large stores, and European chains such as Carrefour. It has many of the modern convenience of most European countries.
It’s definitely not like some of the other islands we visited along the way. Rodriguez, for example, reminded me of Haiti in many ways, a bit nicer than Haiti from an infrastructure perspective, but not to the level of Reunion.
The monetary system used is the Euro, and the prices are similar to European prices. I went to a dentist while I was there and I also prepared and took a Security+ exam for my consulting business.
When we first arrived it was a Saturday and all of the grocery stores and restaurants were closed. The only place we could find that was open was this small restaurant, which had already stopped serving for the day, but when they realized our predicament, they made an exception and served us a simple, but delicious french meal, along with some refreshing local beer. We were so grateful.
Something to keep in mind is understanding the schedule of the restaurants and shops there. Since it is a french country, they follow similar rules as France in regards to opening and closing times.
Restaurants and shops will sometimes close at 2 pm and not open again until 8 or 9 pm. There were many times I wasn’t sure if a restaurant was going to be open or not. It was a little like fortune-telling or guessing the weather.
Checking In
The next day we checked into the country (required for new sailors arriving) and started exploring the local town, Saint-Denis. I found out they speak a French-based Creole, which was quite different from the Haitian Creole I spoke, but I spoke enough French to get by as a translator for our group. We rented a car and started visiting the island.
At first, we were taken back by all of the luscious green landscapes we saw on the island. Also, the mountains were very sheer and almost went straight up. Around every other corner, we were seeing waterfalls along the road.
But as we got further up into the mountains and closer to the volcano, the landscape changed dramatically. It went from a lush, tropical feel to an almost stark and desert one.
Volcano Area
We were never that close to the volcano although we could see the smoke rising in the distance. It was definitely a live volcano. All you have to do is google Reunion Eruptions and you’ll see pages dedicated to it.
Based on my quick search there was a decent eruption in 2019 and another in 2020. They call the volcano, Piton de la Fournaise, which means, “Peak of the Furnace.”
Most of the eruptions occur in the southeast corner of the island, which isn’t populated. The flow typically goes directly to the sea from there. Although during the different tours we took, we were told that in past years (decades ago) a volcano wiped out an entire village.
From its volcanos to its tropical weather and its lush vegetation and waterfalls it definitely reminded me of Hawaii. The people of Reunion didn’t have the warm and inviting nature that you feel from Hawaiians, nor the relaxed lifestyle you feel in Hawaii, but the landscape was very similar.
There are active volcano monitoring and alert systems in place, letting the people know when an eruption is about to occur. That area of the country isn’t populated, but there are still lots of hikers and campers that visit each year. They are all warned well before the eruption happens with signs in all the public access areas.
If you look at the top right picture, you can see where the lava flowed through that valley at one point, but it has been many years since that happened and it is now covered by greenery. Apparently, that was one of the areas where a town was destroyed by the lava flow.
French Cuisine
As with most French countries I’ve been to, all of the food we ate was wonderful. There was a patisserie in town where they made patés and French pastries, fresh baguettes and chocolate croissants!
There were lots of baguette sandwiches with French cheeses, meats, and fresh veggies. And like most cities in Europe, a fine assortment of restaurants and beers, including one of my favorites, the Belgium beer, Leffe!
Volcano Restaurant
When you go up to the volcano area, there aren’t many services there. However, out of the blue, we saw a sign for a Volcano Restaurant and decided to pay it a visit.
We expected exorbitant rates since it was the only restaurant in the area for 40 miles, but were pleasantly surprised, not only by the prices but the food was incredible. It might have been the best meal I had in Reunion, and the price was no different than what we would have paid in one of the towns.
The other thing that surprised us was there were many cars on the road, to and from the volcano, but there were very few people at the restaurant. It felt almost twilight-zone-ish to me. If they all knew how wonderful and inexpensive the food was, they would all have been there.
The Road to Cilaos
On one of the days, we had the rental car we decided to go to the small town called Cilaos, which was at the other end of an insane mountain road. This design is on a T-shirt they sell in Cilaos. (See pic below.) It’s not much of an exaggeration.
The road was very windy, very narrow in places, and hairpin turns along the way. In one area, the two-lane road turned into a one-lane road and you had to watch for cars coming the other way. It was quite hair-raising at times, but honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not sure my companions enjoyed it as much as me! The shirt says, a succession of 400 turns!
The town itself was quaint. We went to a tourist building to get acquainted with the town and walked around on a rainy day. We went to another wonderful restaurant and then headed back so we could get through all the hairpins before dark.
The Banyan Tree
There are banyan trees throughout the island, however, in the town of Saint-Denis, on one end of the road, is a large beautiful banyan tree in a traffic roundabout. I’m a lover of trees, and this banyan tree was enormous. Every time I walked by it on the way to the grocery store, I had to take another picture.
Beaches
This island also has a number of beautiful beaches. Apparently, Reunion is having a bit of a shark problem currently, and there are signs everywhere to not get into the water because of them.
The beaches were still really nice if you’re into that sort of thing. One night, in the next town from Saint-Denis, there was a large fireworks display over the water. We sat on the beach and watched it with thousands of other spectators.
Lots of Walking Sights
While spending a total of three months on Reunion, there were lots of opportunities to walk around many of the areas in Saint-Denis. It had an assortment of street art and fields of tall grass and churches.
I walked at all hours and never felt threatened, even though I was told one night that I should have been avoiding one of the areas. But being the rebellious tourist, I didn’t really change my route but paid more attention.
Definitely An Island You Should Have On Your List
If you’ve never heard of Reunion, I hope that this was as pleasant a surprise for you as it was when I discovered it. It was unknown to me before arriving in 2018 for three months.
The food was terrific, the people were friendly, and the sights were fantastic! There were many places we saw crossing the Indian Ocean and of all the places I visited, Reunion was probably the best place for me to be “stuck,” waiting for my shipmates to return from Canada on some personal business. I was a Global HitchHiker at the time and was somewhat at the mercy of the captain of the boat.
Another nice thing about Reunion is the weather. Because it’s in the southern hemisphere, it’s warm there when it’s cold in the northern hemisphere. The hottest months are between December and April and the coldest months are between June and October.
But the average temperature, regardless of the season, is between 65 F/18 C and 85 F/29 C. Yes, year-round you won’t get anything colder than 62 degrees in the winter and warmer than 88 in the summer. And those extremes are in rare years.
There is a rainy season, but it’s kind of complicated. If you’re concerned about the rain, you might want to verify the best times for you to go. I enjoyed it when it rained, most days.
The one challenging thing for those in the Western Hemisphere is the time it takes to get there. The best way to go is typically through Paris, which isn’t the worst vacation you could plan. A week or two in Reunion, a week or two in Paris. That would be a fun trip, once we get all this Covid mess behind us.
You should definitely put Reunion on your list of places to see — the French version of Hawaii, in my opinion — except there’s just one island and the water isn’t quite as nice as Hawaii. But the food and the sights are definitely worth the long plane ride!
Take a look at Elle’s article for another look at Reunion and my experience sailing around the world:
To read more of my articles I’ve included a few links. Also, I’d love to connect with you on social media.
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