Dear Kara,

We were swimming in the Mediterranean in front of our house, the sun was shining… and we were talking about packing for our holiday…. We both said that it felt a bit weird talking about our holiday and going away when we live in a holiday place.

But….

Oh my…. we fell in love with La Réunion right away. Have a look at a map. It is part of France, but lies in the Indian Ocean, between Madagascar and Mauritius.

It was already quite a trip to get there… First, we flew to Paris, spent four hours at the airport and then continued overnight for 11 hours to Saint Denis, La Réunion. We loved it, it felt like it was all part of the journey.

What a beautiful island… We love the mix of French and Creole, tropical plants, beautiful beaches and reefs, high mountains, volcanoes…. The island really has it all. What a gem…

Saint Paul & the famous Friday Market

Our first few days we spend in Saint Paul for the big Friday Market. There are lots of different veggies and fruits on offer, sugarcane for rum and vanilla beans. The rum is turned into “rhum arrangé”, fruit infused rum, which is delicious after a meal. The small Victoria pineapples are so sweet and delicious. We have one almost every morning for breakfast. Samoussas are the creole version of the Indian samosas and they are delicious as well, the perfect little snack for in-between.

Of course, there are also souvenirs and handicrafts being sold. It is nice that they are mostly locally made and not imported ware. We like strolling among the stalls and taking in all the different sights and smells. Locals and tourists mix in the big outdoor space along the ocean. During lunch time it gets difficult to find a spot along the boardwalk, because everyone is having their lunch here. We also buy some samoussas and chicken and rice and sit down with live music being played in the distance.

We occasionally have a sunset beer, a “dodo”, named after the famous bird that used to live on the island but got extinct in the 17th century by seafarers. On the first evening we stumble into a nice bar with live music and spend quite a bit of time there. It is such a nice, slow start to the holiday. We chat, we have a beer, we plan our holiday a little and generally just enjoy the atmosphere. With just a two hour time difference we are also not very jetlagged. We like the weekends on the island when people meet for music and drinks.

La Saline les Bains & all the snorkelling you can imagine

The beach in Saint Paul is black and signs warn against swimming due to currents and sharks. Good that our next stop is a little further along the coast, where the beach is protected by a reef and it is safe to swim in the lagoon.

I should also mention that humpback whales migrate to La Réunion to have their young ones. Every day we see whales from the coast. It is amazing. Sometimes we see only their backs, and sometimes they jump.

In La Saline les Bains we have a cute Airbnb not far from the beach. We brought our snorkel and mask from home and just jump right in the sea. There are so many fishes between the corals. It is so beautiful and we cannot get enough of it. It is amazing to simply step into the lagoon and be surrounded by this tropical underwater paradise.

One day we go to Saint Gilles for a whale watching tour and see quite a lot of humpback whales. It is so beautiful to observe them from the boat. A mother and her cub are far away in the distance, but it is so beautiful to see the little one jump again and again. And I like the companies’ policies. They cut the engines when they are still quite far away from the whales and drift and just look. Sometimes the whales come closer, sometimes they do not. My last Kenya safari experience was different and I did not like it as much in parts. The drivers were following the lions too much for my taste, getting in their way, just so that we could get good photos.

Cilaos & some impressive hiking

After some beach time we are heading into the mountains. The ‘road of the 400 corners’ is taking us to Cilaos and getting there on the bus is already an adventure. The clouds are hanging low and the air is full of humidity, even though it is not raining. The contrast between the tropical beach and this green caldera could not be bigger. The inland of the island is dominated by the highest mountain, Piton des Neiges, which is 3000 metres high. There are lots of old, dormant volcanoes and an active one.

We cannot believe our eyes as we open the curtains the next morning. The clouds have vanished, the sun is shining and the view from our little terrace towards the green walls of the caldera is breathtaking. We love hiking in this verdant, subtropical landscape. It is breathtaking, the beautiful nature, as well as the strenuous paths. We hike up steep mountains, cross rivers, marvel at waterfalls and the high peaks surrounding us. We have such a wonderful time.

The food here is traditionally rice, lentils or beans and some form of carri (the creole version of curry) with fish, chicken or pork. We like the cuisine a lot. It’s fragrant without being too spicy. The mix between the Creole and the French is felt in many aspects of island life and the kitchen is no exception.

Piton de la Fournaise & an incredible volcano hike

After one night by the sea we are heading up the mountain again. This time our destination is the “most active volcano in the world”, the Piton de la Fournaise. We join a tour from a mountain tour guide and it is a lot of fun and very interesting since this way we can get off the marked paths. We see so many different types of lava, every shade of brown and black stretches out in front of us as we cross the caldera towards the main peak. The most recent eruption was in July, but there is one every year.

We go all the way up to the big crater and marvel at the beauty and the view. The area is so barren around us, the sun burns relentlessly from a near cloudless sky and the wind blows strongly. We do not stay long, but turn around and hike down the flank a little. In a wind protected spot we have our lunch, before we continue down the steep, but very grippy slope.

It was a fantastic hike and something very special. Usually I am not a group trip person. But the road to the parking at the outer crater rim is only accessible by car. We debated if we should rent a car and hike on our own or if we should join a group. In the end we went for the group option and were very happy with that. With a guide you can leave the marked paths and really explore. Didier told us a lot of facts and was a super guide.

Knowledge of French helps a lot on this island. Just like mainland France, most people only speak French or very limited English.

We travel by bus and enjoy the slow getting around. We could have gotten a rental car, but especially in the mountains it is nice to be driven and focus on the nature around you. La Réunion has a good bus system and getting around is not a big problem. We enjoy this holiday so much and cannot believe how lucky we are to have found this gem in the Indian Ocean.

We have been here almost two weeks and have seen and done quite a lot.

Saint Joseph & the Langevin Waterfall

Our last stop is the Langevin waterfall. We take the bus to Saint Joseph and since we can only check into our apartment in the evening, we spend the day at the Bassin de Manapany. Last time I swam in a salt water pool like this was in Australia. We enjoy the mix of sun and shade and jump in whenever we feel too hot. There is a small restaurant up the street and we go for smoked chicken, lentils and rice and some samoussas for lunch. This slow afternoon is a perfect example of our holiday here. Everything moves a little slower on the island, and yet a day is always filled with so many beautiful impressions.

The next day, we take a small bus partly up the valley and then we continue on foot. We walk up a small street past the Trou Noir waterfall. We enjoy walking along the lush green valley. The birds are chirping, bananas and mangos grow around us. Shortly before we reach the Langevin waterfall it gets a little more crowded. There are a few people here climbing among the boulders and at the viewpoint. We only stop here briefly to admire the water falling down into the basin. The colours are so beautiful: the lush green wall, the emerald water, the grey rocks…

Later we stop for a swim at the Trou Noir waterfall. The water is quite cold, but so refreshing. There are a few other bathers and some dogs in the cool pond.

A bus ride & a stop by the ocean

On the last day we finish the loop back to Saint Denis. We drive along sugar cane fields and pass small villages along the way. At the ‘plage de Tremblet’ we are getting off the bus and walk down to the coast. We find a shaded spot under some pine trees on the black lava rocks overlooking the ocean. This is a perfect spot for a little break and our lunch. A little further is the “youngest beach”, which was born out of a lava eruption in 2007. The green colour stems from olivine minerals and shines in the sunlight against the black rocks.

As we continue our bus ride later, we pass two older lava streams from when lava flowed into the ocean. It looks spectacular, even now after all these years. In the afternoon we finally reach Saint Denis and it feels familiar to get off the bus at the main bus station by the ocean.

We had a wonderful holiday and really enjoyed the diversity of the island. There was so much to do and see and experience. Before this trip we only had a vague idea of what to expect and we can safely say that our expectations were wonderfully surpassed.

Susanne xoxo