A Little Island, A Lot of Adventure: Steffi Discovers Réunion

Posted on 19th August 2025

With rings under my eyes and pressure behind my eyeballs from a sleepless night flight, I land for a second time, on the beautiful island of Réunion. I fell in love with this magical island on my last trip six years ago. That trip was purely for leisure; visiting friends and exploring the island on a self-drive, but this time I jumped at the opportunity to come in my professional capacity “on invite”, to join the second year of Veezit Tourism Trade Show.

	Réunion official flag

Réunion Island is a French overseas region in the Indian Ocean and a real hidden gem. Due to its incredible biodiversity the Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Shaped by dramatic landscapes and volcanoes, rich marine life and stunning beaches, Réunion offers a vast array of adventure and outdoor activities. It’s a cultural melting pot with an interesting history and a blend of French, African, Indian and Malagasy influence.

Although Réunion is only about 2512 km² (25% bigger than its neighbour Mauritius), it has over 1000km of hiking trails for all tastes and levels.

The short drive from the airport to the hotel takes longer than expected, as even in paradise there is rush hour and traffic jams. As we draw up to the hotel a courteous and well-spoken guide is on hand to help with our bags. The day ahead will be tough, with the show kicking off at 9am, which only allows for a quick shower and coffee at the hotel.

As we arrive at the showground, we get warmly welcomed by the organisers of the tradeshow and the post show educational trip; Jerome and his assistant Marie. The showground is small compared to other regional and international trade shows I have been to and is a showcase of virtually everything this island has to offer.

There are tradesmen offering home grown sugarcane and spice products in endless variations, luxury hotels and family run guesthouses, activities of all sorts, fine dining restaurants, hiking companies and various tourism boards which govern different areas of the island.

I see a podium and chairs set up, where we later join lectures about international, sustainable tourism and environmental management. It quickly becomes clear that the island is aiming to expand its international tourism market.

We get ushered over to watch and participate in a cooking class by local celebrity Chef Claude Fremy, and learn some exciting, quick local dishes, which I struggle to pronounce with my broken French. Claude demonstrates how to make a parrot out of pineapple, but mine resembles a Dodo, once native to Mauritius and now extinct. Looking at Chef Fremy’s face my pineapple Dodo head sadly awaits the same fate…

After two days we leave the show, get split into two groups and set off in different directions to explore the island. My tour guide Renald is a friendly, unassuming French man, who speaks excellent English and Japanese… (a skill I learn later as we start sharing stories on our trip) acquired whilst living as a Buddhist monk for 10 years in Japan.  

We visit vibrant and lively markets selling local vegetables and fruits, of which some only grow on this island and I have never seen before.

A highlight of our four-day tour around the island is a kayak trip with Niagara Canoe Kayak Club at Sainte-Suzanne, where we get to have a swim at the waterfall. I am a little taken aback by the litter along the shorelines and a massive garbage bag which bobbles past our rather unengaging guide, which gets totally ignored. It doesn’t take away from the experience, but puts a bit of a damper on it…

Another highlight and an absolute Must-Do is visiting Piton de la Fournaise (Peak of the Furnace), one of the most remarkable and active volcanoes in the world and a major landmark of Réunion Island. I hiked the volcano in 2019 during my last trip for many hours and only a day later the volcano erupted! This event gets met with much excitement and in a humorous way the residents of Réunion say the volcano has farted, as before and during the eruption it starts to release gas, steam or begins rumbling. Piton de la Fournaise is considered a “friendly and effusive” volcano -(lava flows) and does not explode. The lava flows down well-monitored paths into the ocean.

There are some incredible lava tubes or tunnels beneath the flanks of Piton de la Fournaise on Réunion, which can be explored with a guide on an exciting activity.

Visiting Cirques of Cilaos, Mafate & Salazie should also not be missed. These three massive erosional amphitheaters are surrounded by incredible peaks.

Points to note:

• Mafate has no roads and is only accessible by foot or helicopter.
• Cilaos is famous for breathtaking hiking, hot springs and canyoning.
• Salazie is lush and green with beautiful waterfalls, like Voile de la Mariee.

Réunion also offers calm and white sandy beaches like L´ Érrmitage and Saline-les Bains on the west coast, with great opportunities for superb diving and snorkeling amongst rich marine life and still very active coral reefs.

If time and budget allows, I would certainly suggest a combination between Réunion and Mauritius. Réunion for a more active start to the trip followed by Mauritius at for some well-deserved beach time with swimming in bathtub-like warm lagoons.

There are endless highlights I could ramble on about when it comes to Réunion, but there is no way to conclude this review, without mentioning the fabulous cuisine. I have never been a “foodie”, but have certainly become more appreciative of good and healthy food as I get older. However, dining on Réunion is on a whole different level and not just about “food” and eating. Every meal we had on this trip was world-class and a real culinary experience and taste explosion. The presentation, flavouring and creation was simply outstanding. However, it all comes at a high price and with Réunion being a Euro zone, one has to be prepared to pay accordingly.