Reunion in 2 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)

Two Days on Reunion Island Without Overspending

Two days on Reunion Island means picking one region, not touring the whole island. This plan pairs the free lagoon at Saint-Gilles-les-Bains with a single volcano day at Piton de la Fournaise, on a car-rental budget of about EUR 20-25 a day. Need more time? See the 4-day , 6-day , and 7-day versions of this itinerary, which add the cirques and the wild south.

Book these before you go

Day 1: Saint-Denis Arrival and the Free Lagoon at Saint-Gilles

Land at Roland Garros airport (RUN), named for the aviator born on Reunion in 1888, and pick up your rental car immediately. Car Jaune buses run island-wide (a single ticket is about EUR 2, a day pass about EUR 6), but they cannot reach the volcano and back in a day, so a car earns its cost fast. Reunion is a French overseas department in the euro currency and the EU, though outside the Schengen area, and you drive on the right just like the mainland.

Drive the roughly 35-40 minutes from Saint-Denis to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains. The reef-protected lagoon here, inside the Reunion Marine Nature Reserve, is the one stretch of coast where swimming and snorkeling are genuinely safe and free. That matters because most of the open west coast has been under a swimming and surfing ban since 2013, after a serious run of shark attacks; stay inside the marked lagoon and you avoid the issue entirely. Spend the afternoon here, then walk the short Saint-Denis waterfront at Le Barachois before dinner if you based yourself in the capital instead.

Day 2: Piton de la Fournaise on a Budget

Drive roughly 1.5-2 hours from the coast up through Bourg-Murat to the Pas de Bellecombe car park, the trailhead for the volcano. Piton de la Fournaise is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth and erupted across three separate phases between February and April 2026; caldera access opens and closes with the alert level, sometimes within days, so check reunion-parcnational.fr or the observatory bulletin at fournaise.info the week before you go rather than assume the trail is open.

If the caldera is open, the round-trip hike to the crater rim runs about 4 hours one-way; budget the whole day. If it is closed, the Cite du Volcan museum near Bourg-Murat (EUR 9 adult, EUR 6 child, open Tuesday to Sunday, last entry 16:15) is a solid fallback, and the drive-up views over the Plaine des Sables cost nothing. Either way, this is not the same mountain as Piton des Neiges, the separate 3,070m extinct summit on the other side of the island; don’t conflate the two on a short trip.

Day Focus Drive/hike time Cost note
1 Saint-Denis arrival, Saint-Gilles lagoon ~35-40 min drive Free lagoon swim
2 Piton de la Fournaise volcano ~1.5-2h drive, ~4h hike if open EUR 9 museum if closed

Is Reunion Island part of Mauritius?

No. Reunion is a French overseas department and region, part of France and the Eurozone, while Mauritius is a separate independent nation roughly 175km away. Both are Mascarene Islands with a shared French colonial past, but Mauritius became British in 1810 and later independent, while Reunion stayed French. Don’t describe Reunion sights as being in Mauritius; they are two distinct countries.

Do you need a car for two days on Reunion Island?

Yes, if the volcano is on your list. Car Jaune buses cover the coastal towns adequately on a fixed schedule, but the trip to Pas de Bellecombe and back needs a car to fit into a single day. Budget EUR 20-25 a day in low season plus fuel; that cost is what actually makes a 2-day plan workable at all.

For a longer plan that adds the cirques on the same budget, see the 4-day itinerary or the full Reunion Island sights rundown . Book the rental car before you land; counters do sell out in July and August.