From waves to volcanoes in La Réunion

The last trip we did as a family, a few weeks before the lockdown in South Africa, was a week in La Réunion, for the children’s half-term. A mere four hours by flight from Johannesburg, this was a good alternative for us after many trips to Mauritius, and we were keen to discover the diversity that the volcanic island had to offer.

Day One – A day on the beach

As long-time aficionados of the Lux* hotel group, we had opted to stay at the Lux* Saint Gilles, which is one of just a couple of hotels with 5*… We had been warned that hotel standards in La Réunion are nothing like Mauritius, Mozambique, or even mainland France, and indeed we were not particularly impressed with our hotel. It may be dubbed the best on the island, the buildings are beautiful and the beach is absolutely stunning, but the rooms and some of the public areas such as the pool are past due a major refurbishment. That being said, we enjoyed staying on a beach inside the lagoon, where the children could swim and snorkel with very friendly fish. For me, this first day on the beach was the perfect way to unwind after a gruesome eight weeks at work, although apparently I did spend most of the day checking emails and answering phone calls.

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Day Two – Piton de La Fournaise

On our second day, we switched our flip flops for good hiking shoes and went up through the winding roads in search of La Fournaise. During the wet season (November to April) it does get quite misty around the volcano and we did arrive at the final viewpoint just in time for a major drizzle, so didn’t see much but did get positively drenched, especially as I had forgotten my rain jacket in the hotel room! However we had stopped en route to explore Pas de Sables, a large flatland of volcanic sand where you can walk on top of solidified lava flow ridges. Walking around the volcano feels like being on the moon, with some incredible flowers growing out of nowhere, and the most amazing bushes of wild hydrangeas lining the road on the way up to the viewpoint.

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Day Three – Visiting the South East coast

Our third day was all about gardens and the coast. The botanic gardens here are something else: with the tropical weather every plant looks like a steroid version of what you find elsewhere, so beautiful and captivating. But also these places are totally filled with mosquitoes: even though I had sprayed myself and the children abundantly with insect repellent coming out of the car, we spent one hour admiring the trees and flowers at the Jardin des Parfums et des Epices, and when I came out my legs looked like they had chickenpox. Evidently no amount of appeasing gel would help and I spent most of the rest of our holiday scratching my legs like a dog with fleas.

We also went up to see the Cascade de Grand Galet, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in this part of the island. I love the turquoise pool it makes at the bottom, and a few years ago, when it was just Hubby and I, we would have probably jumped into the water for a little swim… This time we just took pictures. I don’t think it’s as tall as some of the ones in the North coast, but we wanted to avoid the heavy traffic around Saint-Denis and too long travels so we stayed mainly in the South of the island during our trip.

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We had a wonderful creole lunch on the coast, where we filled up on curries and palm salad, before walking it all off on the lava rocks by the sea, admiring the souffleurs: that is where the volcanic rock forms an underwater cave which ends with an opening shaped like a small funnel, through which the water escapes into high jets when there are big waves.

The last we thing we did on day three is visit Le Grand Brûlé, which is basically the eastern slope of La Fournaise,  where you can look down to the ocean on one side and the volcano on the other side of the road. The hills down from the volcano have been covered by countless black and silver-tinted lava flows from the various eruptions, encroaching over the forest and creating a raw and mineral landscape that is quite striking.

Day Four – Saint Paul market and creole history

Saint Paul is one of the very first settlements on the island, and was the capital for a while until the 18th century. We started off by the market in the morning: although not the biggest, this is the nicest in La Réunion with a mix of fruit and vegetable stalls, creole nibbles such as bonbon piment, local arts and crafts… It’s on the seafront but even the slight breeze doesn’t mean I wasn’t sweating buckets by the time we’d finished haggling for a set of gorgeous raffia placemats.

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We took off for the fresher hills of Saint Gilles Le Haut to visit the Villèle Museum. Once the home of the Panon-Desbassyns family, wealthy landowners who contributed to the growth of the local sugar industry through the systematic use of slavery with some of the most gruesome methods I’ve read about… We skipped the compulsory guided tour for the house (no offense, but I don’t need a 2-hour laboured tour to view a planteur’s house, I listened to enough history classes in my youth) and visited the gorgeous gardens instead, as well as the outbuildings where an exhibit of the family’s slave books, rules etc made for a very sobering visit.

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We finished our day at the Mascarin Botanical Garden, a fabulous park laid out around another beautiful residence. The park is focused on endemic plants and is split into various areas: Réunion, Introduced Plants, Creole Orchard, Succulents, Palms, Orchids and Ferns, Bamboos, Coffee Plants. The Bamboo walk is amazing, I manage to get a pretty cool photo of it on my Insta.

Day Five – Up to the Maïdo and into the tamarin woods

The Maïdo is another volcanic peak, just above Saint Paul, with some stunning views over the Cirque de Mafate. You get some beautiful clouds flying up from the valleys, with little villages nested in the mountains below playing hide and seek. We went early in the morning so we could enjoy as much visibility as possible, and even so there were quite a few tourist coaches around. We drove down back to one of the tamarin forests, and tried to drag our little urbanites for a little hike and at first they were quite intrigued by bent and windy branches, the but the paths were both quite steep and slippery from the mist, so our attempt was quite short-lived.

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Day Six – La Route aux 400 virages and Cilaos

Having laced the munchkins’ breakfast juice with travel sickness powder, we took off for our last visit of the trip, all the way to Cilaos, via a road of only 30 kilometers but that is famous for having 400 turns. I believe it has that and more, as well as super steep views down to the valley, and the tightest tunnels I’ve seen: in fact we saw a bus come out of one end and the driver must have a very special license as nothing else fit in that tunnel besides his bus… At the end of the road is a tiny mountain village full of creole charm and beauty, with colourful cases that I spent a couple of hours photographing from various angle, although there is a little shop where you can buy beautiful watercolours of all of them. We also visited the Maison de La Broderie, a place where ladies painstakingly embroider following decades-old traditions and make the most beautiful linen.

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We flew back to Johannesburg the next morning, glad of all our adventures on this island with so much to see and do, regardless of whether you are visiting as a young couple, a group of friends, or a family with small children.

Before I finish, here are my top tips for La Réunion: 1) the place is infested with mosquitoes, more than anywhere you’d imagine, so spray yourself, the kids, your clothes, and do wear long trousers and sleeves whenever you are out to the parks or forests, 2) rent a car, because this island isn’t about staying on the beach, I mean Hermitage beach is nice but it’s nowhere as nice as the most average beach in Mauritius, what you want to see here is the scenery, the volcanoes, the winding roads up the tiny villages on the cirques, and 3) try to keep some time for cultural visits, the island’s history is full of turns, almost like that last road we took up to Cilaos!

Remember, this trip is also highlighted in my stories on my Instagram, including some pretty cool videos of the places we visited.

With love, S.