Reunion Island: The Indian Ocean’s Volcano That Erupts Like Clockwork

Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island erupts roughly three to five times per year and has been doing so continuously since at least the 18th century. These are not explosive eruptions - the lava is effusive, flowing rather than blasting, which makes watching an active eruption (when the prefecture permits access) one of the stranger privileges available to ordinary tourists. You stand at the edge of a caldera and watch red lava move across black rock in the dark, glowing orange against the sky. Most Indian Ocean islands offer beaches. Reunion offers this and also beaches.

The island is a French overseas department sitting 800 km east of Madagascar. Most travellers heading to the Indian Ocean default to Mauritius (25 minutes away by plane) or the Seychelles. The comparison is not uninteresting: those islands have better resort infrastructure; Reunion has better everything else.

The Volcano

When the volcano is erupting, access to the Enclos Fouque caldera is closed by the prefecture. The Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Observatory provides real-time data online. Helicopter tours of active lava flows run from Helilagon and other operators based at Roland Garros Airport in Saint-Denis; night tours cost around 150-200 euros and the glow of active lava fields from the air is genuinely dramatic.

When the volcano is dormant, the caldera is open for hiking. The Pas de Bellecombe car park at the rim is reached by road from Bourg-Murat. The crossing of the black basaltic floor to the central cone takes about 2.5 hours return: a lunar landscape, entirely barren, with the still-steaming summit rising from the centre. At 2,632 metres altitude, the temperature at the rim runs 10-15 degrees cooler than the coast. Dress in layers.

The Cirques

The island’s interior is defined by three massive calderas formed when the ancient shield volcano partially collapsed: Cirque de Mafate, Cirque de Cilaos, and Cirque de Salazie. Each is a separate world.

Cirque de Mafate is accessible only on foot or by helicopter. About 700 people live in small hamlets (ilets) connected only by trails. The GRR2 trail crosses the cirque in 3-4 days with gites (mountain lodges providing beds and meals) at around 40-55 euros per night half-board. Helicopter access runs from Saint-Paul; most people combine a few nights in the cirque with a flight in or out.

Cirque de Cilaos is reached by a serpentine road with 430 curves descending from the rim. The village at the bottom grows appellation-controlled lentils (lentilles de Cilaos, small dark and slightly nutty) and produces wine - the only French appellation wine produced in the tropics, from grapes grown at 1,200 metres. It is unusual rather than great, but the context is specific.

Cirque de Salazie contains Hell-Bourg, one of the best-preserved examples of Creole architecture in the Indian Ocean: wooden varangue-fronted houses with elaborately carved woodwork, declared a Plus Beaux Villages de France in 2009.

The Coast and Food

The west coast lagoon at Saint-Gilles-les-Bains has calmer water and better beaches. Note that shark-exclusion measures are in place following attacks on surfers in the 2010s; check current access restrictions before surfing outside the lagoon. The east coast is wilder and less visited.

Rougail saucisse - pork sausage in tomato-chili sauce over rice - is the quintessential Reunionese dish. Rougail poulet (chicken version) is more delicate. The combination of French, Indian, Chinese, and African culinary traditions produces a food culture unlike anywhere else in the ocean.

Getting There

Air France and Corsair fly from Paris Charles de Gaulle (11-12 hours). Air Austral connects from Mauritius. Car hire is essential; budget at least a week.