Réunion Island: Top Full-Day Tours Explored

So, Réunion Island, that volcanic gem bobbing around in the Indian Ocean, actually boasts this like totally unreal variety of landscapes. Very different from your run-of-the-mill tropical getaway, you know? I mean you have very dramatic mountains just abruptly plunging into the clear blue sea. The spot is actually really made for exploration. Yet, planning it out can be tricky, so that’s very where choosing the best tour can be really useful for seeing as much as possible without a ton of stress, right? I mean that way it’s super memorable, I am telling you.

1. Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Tour

Visiting Piton de la Fournaise is something like seeing the raw pulse of Réunion Island. Is that crazy or is that crazy? Anyway, very many tours start super early. First to beat traffic and second to just catch the best light. As a matter of fact, you can go see this other worldly scene, as I remember. Anyway, many tours stop at Pas de Bellecombe, this viewpoint where, too it’s almost like you can look into the volcano’s mouth – if it wasn’t so incredibly massive that is. Very many include details about the volcanic history plus, usually, it’s like geology to just really bring this very wild place to life.
Read our full review: Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Tour Full Review and Details

Some things I remember about these tours include really great guides, so in a way, people who totally know this land and just what it’s about, and these really crazy lava fields that stretch for miles. I mean these look so old, and that might sound silly but you do think to yourself that lava carved them out ages and ages and ages ago, right? You very sometimes find caves as well. This can bring on, perhaps, more adventure, which may or may not appeal.

Highlights: Viewing the volcano, so the lunar landscapes of the Plaine des Sables and, in some instances, just short walks on cooled lava flows. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Piton de la Fournaise)

2. Cirque de Salazie Exploration

The Cirque de Salazie, so is that Réunion’s most easy-going of the three cirques (natural amphitheaters that collapsed), just boasts a very super lush landscape, thanks in no small part to the heavy rainfall. Very most tours often meander via the charming village of Hell-Bourg, now that’s a place with Creole architecture and, you know, colorful gardens. It’s honestly quite fetching, you might even say it seems unreal.
Read our full review: Cirque de Salazie Exploration Full Review and Details

Tours are known for guiding folks very straight to spots such as the Voile de la Mariée waterfalls, like the Bridal Veil, with views so ridiculously unreal I would suggest having your camera prepped at all times, if you have a camera. The drives may seem sort of steep-y at spots, so in some respects, people should remember that cars and buses must pass one another on them! Now, that being noted, I did think that just drinking in those sights as you head up to that place that really takes your breath away from it. As I was saying, this tour might really appeal to folk who love gardens and waterfalls, which is to say, a large amount of us!

What’s really something: Hell-Bourg village, so waterfalls like Voile de la Mariée, that lush rainforest vegetation and a meal, like a very good Creole lunch at a local spot. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Cirque de Salazie)

3. Cirque de Cilaos Adventure

If the other spot seems tame to you, so that’s what people might suggest you should prepare yourself for Cirque de Cilaos, seeing as it’s known for like, it’s very tricky road of “400 bends”. The payoff actually? I mean, views that stretch seemingly so long over jagged peaks and landscapes. Most tours really take full advantage of that location plus they also stop in the village of Cilaos, which you’ll quickly note as, still, the town very renowned for its embroidery and lentils, yeah the food!
Read our full review: Cirque de Cilaos Adventure Full Review and Details

What you do see on many tours are, arguably, photo spots at key vantage points, as I was saying, like Roche Merveilleuse, or La Chapelle. Too it’s almost a day filled with dramatic mountain scenes and this very intriguing feel of, by the way, a spot that’s very cut off and very cool. You might have a certain someone in your crew very prone to car sickness, yet trust me you’ll hear them note it’s more than worth it, usually, for views from those high elevations, still.

Definitely Notable: That dramatic drive, so that Cilaos village, the vistas and an embroidery lesson maybe? It’s kind of an out-there suggestion that just might appeal to a certain stripe of traveller. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Cirque de Cilaos)

4. South Island Wild Coast Tour

Now, what if one very spends all the time trying to peek out on high? Let’s instead hit the Wild South, so because that’s the place for you that sports very dramatic coastal scenery, actually. What do tours provide? Really good access to spots such as Cap Méchant, by the way known for its very jagged cliffs, seeing as it’s very hammered by the waves. Is that appealing or no? Anyway, tours sometimes even add in pit stops in this local vanilla or spice farm for some peek into the flavors of Réunion. Alright?
Read our full review: South Island Wild Coast Tour Full Review and Details

These parts of the island feature some very crazy forests. What I want people to remember is that the forest meets the ocean. What happens here might cause anyone who’s never seen it before some crazy culture shock, in a manner of speaking. So you want green right up to the surf and then, yet, you add that, to me, a great black-cliff shore and maybe you get a handle on it, kinda? Some guides show folks really super ancient lava flows too.

Things of great importance: Views such as Cap Méchant, so that lush, well, honestly kind of wet forest and the chance that you sample local vanilla. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Wild Coast Tour)

5. Mafate Hiking Trip

Okay, this other cirque’s unlike the others since that the road just does not touch it. Cirque de Mafate’s only actually, and genuinely, able to access using one’s two feet (so, y’know, you walk!) or just by, literally, the chopper. That bit there is for all the true crazies in the group I’m just kidding – that might be pretty awesome. A bunch of tours bring hikers on trails. So too it’s almost something where some tour companies let you see panoramic vistas and some, usually, arrange multi-day experiences. Whatever you’re in the mood for, and whatever makes you happy. Anyway.
Read our full review: Mafate Hiking Trip Full Review and Details

People do need to recall it, just still, that these hikes just might have fairly tricky ups and downs on all those paths. That being the case, they’re maybe something a bit great for people who have been known to be, what they call, capable or at least pretty competent and reasonably sturdy. As a matter of fact, those views of distant villages perched on slopes provide a rare thing to see that the vast majority of tourists may never see, by the way, and so for those brave folk it, perhaps, seems more worth the risk of any scrape you might take!

Notable Aspects: Like it states, the physical effort that that might call out to folk, the sights over places nobody will reach other than the few, or being outside the circle of like, what one might even suggest might resemble true tourists. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Mafate Hiking Trip)

Read our full review: Réunion Island Tours Full Review and Details