Reunion Island Pitons and Cirques

The Volcanic Interior Of Reunion Island In The Indian Ocean: Pitons, Cirques And Remparts Of Reunion Island, UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2010, With The Active Piton De La Fournaise · Cilaos, Reunion

Reunion is a French island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, and most of its interior is a wild volcanic landscape of peaks, huge collapsed basins and sheer green walls. UNESCO listed the pitons, cirques and remparts in 2010, and much of the area lies inside the island's national park. Three cirques ring the extinct Piton des Neiges, the highest summit in the Indian Ocean: Cilaos, reached by a road of hundreds of bends and known for thermal springs and lentils; Salazie, the greenest, full of waterfalls; and Mafate, which has no roads at all, so its hamlets are reached only on foot or by helicopter. To the south east, the Piton de la Fournaise is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupting often; its crater can be hiked when calm, and access is closed during eruptions. Weather changes fast, with cloud filling the cirques by late morning. The flight from Paris takes around eleven hours, and the lagoon at Saint-Gilles is the usual place to rest between hikes.

Parc national de La Réunion - cirques of Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate, and the Piton de la Fournaise, Cilaos, Reunion, France

The pitons and cirques are open country, not a gated site, so there are no opening hours for the landscape itself, but several things control when you can go. Access to the Piton de la Fournaise is managed by the prefecture: the road to the Pas de Bellecombe and the path into the Enclos crater are closed during and just before eruptions, sometimes for weeks, and the gate on the crater path can be shut early on bad-weather days, so check the current alert level before driving up. Mountain refuges such as the one below the Piton des Neiges summit and the gîtes in Mafate must be booked ahead, and the popular ones fill weeks or months ahead in the dry season and around holidays. Trails can be closed after cyclones, heavy rain or rockfalls, which happen mainly in the hot wet season from roughly December to March; the park and the island's hiking authority publish closures. Helicopter flights run early in the morning, before cloud builds, and are cancelled in poor weather. The Cilaos road is open daily but can be cut by landslides after heavy rain.

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