Last update: Oct 23, 2026
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Réunion Summary
These place ratings give you a quick overview of how well a destination matches different types of trips.
"Best for" scores:
The specific interest scores show where this place really shines – whether it's ideal for hiking, food & drink experiences, museums or other activities. These highlights help you understand what makes the destination special at a glance.
"Your personal" scores:
This reflects how well a place matches your personal preferences. You can adjust the importances of travel topics or other personal requirements categories in your account settings.
"Suited for" badges:
These give you a quick overview of how well a destination suits specific types of travelers, to help you find the places that match your lifestyle, preferences or travel situation.
Suited for
Réunion – Quick facts
| Power Grid: |
230 V, 50 Hz Plug: Type C , Type E
Type C:
  Read about power adapters |
|---|---|
| Currency: |
Euro (EUR) $1 ≈ €0.90 |
| Cashless info: |
Rating 4/5
Cashless payments are widely accepted in Réunion, particularly in urban areas.
Save with a travel credit card |
| eSIM providers: |
Best value: Saily Flexibility: Airalo Read our in-depth comparison |
| Tipping: | Tipping is not mandatory in Réunion, but it is appreciated. 5-10% is common in restaurants, and small tips are welcome for taxi drivers and hotel staff. |
|---|---|
| Public drinking: | Public drinking is allowed in designated areas but is generally prohibited in most public spaces. |
| Public smoking: | Smoking is prohibited in indoor public spaces but allowed in designated outdoor areas. |
| Emergency contact: | Emergency Number: 112 (Police, Fire, Ambulance) |
|---|---|
| Taxi apps: | Uber |
| Other: | Réunion is known for its volcanic landscapes, lush rainforests, and diverse culture. It offers a mix of French and Creole influences. |
Best times to travel
The best times to travel section shows how the months compare for a visit, so you can find the time of year that fits what you want to do.
Background colors of the months:
The color shows the typical temperature: yellow (hot), green (mild) and blue (cold). How strong the color is shows the travel season: full color means high season, soft color means shoulder season and soft-striped means off season.
Weather symbols:
Each month has one symbol showing what the weather is typically like, such as hot and sunny, freezing or a rainy or snowy season. Use them to quickly spot months that match the weather you want, or to avoid the ones that don't.
Crowdedness:
The people icon shows how busy the place usually is. The more people, the more crowded it gets.
Additional notes:
The gray info boxes point out special things worth knowing, like recurring weather issues or seasonal events.
for Réunion, Réunion
Cyclone season November to April, peaking January to March, roads and trails may close after heavy rain
Hiking season May to October, humpback whale season July to October
Mountain interior (Cilaos, Salazie, volcano) is cooler and cloudier than the sunnier west coast with its beaches
Don't miss
- 🌋 Hike the active Piton de la Fournaise volcano crater
- 🏖️ Swim in turquoise waters at L’Ermitage Beach lagoon
- 🚁 Explore the Cirque de Mafate by air or on foot
- 💦 Chase waterfalls at Cascade de Langevin
- 🏘️ Stroll through Saint-Denis’ Creole quarter and markets
- 🍛 Taste authentic Creole cuisine in a mountain village
You've been here?
Log in to manage your own bucket list! Why travel to Réunion?
A volcano, three huge mountain basins, a lagoon coast and Creole culture all fit into an island of about 950 sq mi. Trips here are mostly about choosing between hiking, the coast or a mix of both. Hiking is the biggest reason to go. The Pitons, cirques and remparts are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Trails lead through the cirques of Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate. Mafate has no roads at all. Piton des Neiges, at 10,000 ft, is the island's highest point and can be climbed from Cilaos with a night in a shelter and a sunrise summit. The Piton de la Fournaise, at 8,500 ft, is an active volcano with a visitor center, the Cité du Volcan, on the Plaine des Cafres. Lagoon beaches along the west coast have calm water for swimming and snorkeling. Saint-Leu has the Kelonia sea turtle center. Swimming outside the lagoons and marked areas carries a shark risk, so follow local signs. Humpback whales pass the island between about July and October. Creole culture is easy to meet through food, the Saint-Paul market and maloya, a music and dance tradition on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. A ten-day trip covers the volcano, one or two cirques and the coast without rushing. Distances look short on the map, but the mountain roads take time, so a rental car and a base in two areas suit the island best.
🏯Places worth seeing
🎡Places for activities
🏞️Natural landmarks
🛍️Shopping
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1
Run Market Savanna
🎈Events
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Sakifo Music Festival
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Grand Raid (La Diagonale des Fous)
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Leu Tempo Festival
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Festival Liberté Métisse
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Indian Ocean Film Festival
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Cultural Celebrations of Tamil New Year
-
Whale Festival (Fête des Baleines)
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Réunion Day Celebrations
-
Festival of Lights (Diwali)
-
Traditional Creole Festivals
Knowledge before you go
- Book your rental car in advance and collect it outside the terminal.
- Check the volcano's access status before driving up, since the area closes during eruptions.
- Saint-Paul's market has over 300 vendors on Friday and Saturday mornings, so go early.
- Lentils grown only around Cilaos make an easy edible souvenir and are often served with sausage.
How to travel to Réunion
Most international flights land at Roland Garros Airport (RUN) near Saint-Denis in the north. Direct flights from mainland France leave from Paris and Marseille with Air France, Air Austral, Corsair and French Bee. The flight from Paris takes about 11 hours. A second airport, Pierrefonds (ZSE), is near Saint-Pierre in the south. Flights also go to Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte and the Seychelles, so Réunion is easy to combine with those islands. Car rental desks and a taxi rank are right outside the Roland Garros terminal. Réunion is part of the EU but not of the Schengen Area, so entry rules can differ from mainland France. EU citizens can generally travel with an ID card. Nationals of other countries should check visa and passport rules with a French embassy before booking, since a Schengen visa may not be valid here.
Access summary
- Fly into RUN (Roland Garros) from Paris, Mauritius, Madagascar, regional hubs.
- From nearby islands (Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte, Comoros): short regional flights to RUN.
- Air Austral hub at RUN; independent airline, partnerships with various carriers.
Check your route from anywhere
Where to stay in Réunion
The west coast around Saint-Gilles-les-Bains and L'Hermitage is the main beach area, with hotels, apartments and guesthouses near the lagoon and the dive and boat operators. Saint-Denis, the capital, suits business trips and early flights. Saint-Pierre in the south has a seafront with restaurants and is a base for the south coast. In the mountains, small hotels and guesthouses in Cilaos and Salazie make good bases for hiking. Mafate has no roads and its overnight lodges (gîtes) are reached on foot, usually with half board, so book them ahead. Splitting a stay between the west coast and a mountain base saves long drives. Rooms fill up around French school holidays, especially from July to August and December to January.
Hotel recommendations
*by rating and popularity. Commissions have no influence on the rankings.
How to get around Réunion
Réunion covers about 950 sq mi but mountains make travel times longer than the distances suggest. The main towns are on the coast, with Saint-Denis in the north and Saint-Pierre in the south. The cirques are reached by winding mountain roads. Mafate has no road access.
Rental cars:
Rental companies operate just outside the airport terminal and many towns have car hire. A car gives the most freedom for the cirques and the volcano, with 4x4s available for rough trailhead roads. Petrol costs about the same as in mainland France. It's best to reserve a car before you arrive.
Buses:
The Car Jaune intercity network has 16 lines with air conditioning and Wi-Fi. Line T links Roland Garros and Pierrefonds airports along the west coast in about 2 hours. A single ticket on it costs €5 ($5.62). Local networks cover towns such as Saint-Denis and Saint-Pierre.
Taxis:
A taxi rank at Roland Garros Airport works around the clock. Shared taxis called taxis à la place leave bus stations for villages once they're full.
Helicopters:
Helicopter flights go over the cirques, the volcano and the Trou de Fer, a very deep canyon that's hard to see from the ground.
Food in Réunion
Réunion's cooking is Creole, with Indian, Chinese, African and French influences. Curries (cari), rice and red beans come with many dishes and French bakeries are easy to find. Food trucks sell snacks across the island and supermarkets are well stocked, so self-catering is easy.
Rougail saucisse:
Smoked sausage cooked in a tomato and spice sauce and served with white rice and red beans. It's sold almost everywhere, from restaurants to takeout stands.
Samoussas and bouchons:
Samoussas are fried triangles filled with meat, vegetables, fish or cheese. Bouchons are small steamed pork dumplings, often eaten with soy sauce or mayonnaise. Both work as snacks at any time of day.
Cabri massalé:
Goat sautéed with onions and a massalé spice mix of coriander, cumin, cardamom and cloves. It's a rich dish that goes well with rice.
Bichiques:
Tiny river fry eaten at festive meals. They're seasonal and expensive, so check availability before ordering.
The local beer is Dodo. Rum is often served after a meal.
Budget snapshot
Costs compared to home
We calculate the average costs when traveling to destinations and compare those with the living costs at your home. With this you can get an estimate of how expensive or cheap the destination is for you.
To customize this, you can set up which location and price level are used for the calculations in your account settings.
Daily expenses in Réunion are around 4% lower than the average across United States. That means you'll spend around the same on meals and getting around.
Exchange rate trend
The exchange rate price factor shows how expensive or cheap a currency currently is compared to its historical average. It's a quick way to see if a country is currently more or less affordable due to exchange rate changes.
Your exchange rate (USD to EUR) is 1% worse than in recent years. That means traveling now costs around the same compared to the past.
Travel costs
To help you plan your trip, we provide estimated daily costs per person (when traveling as a pair) for different travel styles. These numbers give you an idea of what you might spend each day at this destination, including accommodation, food, transport and activities.
Additionally, we also provide average hotel costs for different travel styles to give you an estimate for the accommodation only.
Please note that these are only estimates. The real costs depend on booking times, season and other factors.
To help you plan your trip, we provide estimated daily costs per person (when traveling as a pair) for different travel styles. These numbers give you an idea of what you might spend each day at this destination, including accommodation, food, transport and activities.
Additionally, we also provide average hotel costs for different travel styles to give you an estimate for the accommodation only.
Please note that these are only estimates. The real costs depend on booking times, season and other factors.
Daily cost summary
Travel style categories explained:
Backpacker:
Staying in hostels or budget hotels, cooking your own meals or eating cheap and choosing low-cost activities.
Mid-range:
Staying in mid-range hotels, eating at a mix of restaurants and casual spots and enjoying a variety of activities.
Luxury:
Staying in luxury hotels, dining out at high-end restaurants and enjoying premium experiences without worrying about the price.
Travel style categories explained:
Backpacker:
Staying in hostels or budget hotels, cooking your own meals or eating cheap and choosing low-cost activities.
Mid-range:
Staying in mid-range hotels, eating at a mix of restaurants and casual spots and enjoying a variety of activities.
Luxury:
Staying in luxury hotels, dining out at high-end restaurants and enjoying premium experiences without worrying about the price.
| Backpacker | Mid-range | Luxury | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💵 Total costs per day, including accommodation | |||
| 🏨 Accommodation per night, per person | |||
| 🍝 Food per day | |||
| 🚕 Transportation per day |
Food & Drink
| 🍽️ Restaurant Dinner, per person | |
|---|---|
| 🍛 Lunch Set, per person | |
| 🍟 Fast food combo | |
| 🍝 Preparing your own food, per day | |
| ☕ Cappuccino | |
| 🍺 Beer in a restaurant, 0.5 l / 16 oz |
Transportation
| 🚌 Public transport ticket | |
|---|---|
| 🚕 Taxi Ride, 10 km / 6 mi | |
| ⛽ Gas, 1 l / ¼ gal |
Other
| 🎞️ Movie ticket | |
|---|---|
| 👩⚕️ Doctor's consult | |
| 🤧 Cold medication | |
| 💇 Basic haircut |
Safety information overview
General safety
Réunion is generally safe, with occasional petty theft from parked cars at trailheads and beaches. The bigger risks are sharks outside protected swimming areas, fast weather changes on mountain trails and cyclones, which are possible from November to April.
Health & Medical
Healthcare follows French standards, with hospitals and pharmacies in the main towns, but the remote cirques are far from them. Dengue and chikungunya spread by mosquitoes occur and large outbreaks have happened, so use repellent and cover up. Travel insurance is wise for remote hikes.
Accessibility
Réunion is steep and roads to the cirques have many bends, so mountain areas are hard for anyone with limited mobility. Saint-Denis, Saint-Pierre and parts of the west coast are flatter, while Mafate has no road at all and is reached on foot.
Tap water
Tap water quality varies across Réunion. Some areas have had intermittent drops in quality, especially after cyclones or heavy rain. The health authority lets you check results for your address on its eaudurobinet.re site. Bottled water is a safe choice if you're unsure.
Packing recommendations for Réunion
Log in to add this place to a travel list and get a summary of all recommended items for your whole trip.
📷
Camera
⛰️
Trekking poles
🌞
Sunscreen
👕
Light, breathable clothing
🧥
Rain jacket
🪰
Insect repellent
🩱
Swimwear
🤿
Snorkeling gear
🔋
Power bank
🩹
Basic first aid kit
📃
Travel insurance
👛
Cash in multiple currencies
🧥
Fleece mid-layer
📱
Travel eSIM
🔌
Universal power adapter
🩺
Prescription medication
💳
Credit card with no foreign transaction fees
🛂
Passport
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