Reunion in 4 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Four Days on Reunion Island: Coast, Volcano and One Cirque
Four days is enough to add a cirque to the coast-and-volcano loop from the 2-day itinerary , without pretending you can also fit Mafate or the whole south. This plan keeps Days 1-2 the same lagoon-and-volcano opening, then spends Days 3-4 in Cirque de Cilaos, a genuine spa town reached by a hairpin mountain road. Rental car and one gite night are the two real costs here; everything else is close to free.
Book these before you go
- A room in Saint-Gilles-les-Bains for the coast nights: check rooms on Booking.com
- A gite or guesthouse in Cilaos for the mountain night, which sells out fast in July and August: check gites on Booking.com
- A rental car booked ahead, since this whole route depends on one: compare cars on Discover Cars
- A half-day canyoning trip near Cilaos if you want an active add-on: browse canyoning tours on GetYourGuide
Day 1: Saint-Denis Arrival and the Free Lagoon at Saint-Gilles
Land at Roland Garros, pick up your rental car, and drive roughly 35-40 minutes to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains. The reef-protected lagoon here is free and genuinely safe for swimming, unlike most of the open west coast, which has been under a shark-related swimming ban since 2013. Reunion runs on the euro, drives on the right, and is French territory in the EU (though outside Schengen), so there is no border paperwork to plan around.
Day 2: Piton de la Fournaise on a Budget
Drive about 1.5-2 hours up to the Pas de Bellecombe car park for the volcano. Piton de la Fournaise erupted in three phases between February and April 2026 and caldera access still opens and closes with the alert level, so check reunion-parcnational.fr or fournaise.info beforehand. If the trail is open, budget a full day for the roughly 4-hour hike each way to the rim; if closed, the Cite du Volcan museum (EUR 9 adult, EUR 6 child) covers the same ground for less effort. This is a different mountain from Piton des Neiges, the extinct 3,070m summit elsewhere on the island. Both the volcano and Cilaos sit above 2,000m, where weather turns fast, so check Meteo France’s local forecast before either drive up.
Day 3: Into Cirque de Cilaos
Drive roughly 1h15-2h from the coast into Cirque de Cilaos on the mountain road, famous for its numbered hairpin bends. Cilaos is a real spa town: the thermal baths, a wine-tasting stop (Reunion’s only wine region, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Chenin), and the local pale lentils are all reasons to stay a night rather than just drive through. A gite room here runs a fraction of a coastal hotel rate, which is where the money saved on Day 1-2 gets spent.
Day 4: Cilaos Wine, Lentils and the Drive Back
Spend the morning in Cilaos: the market, a lentil-based lunch, and a short walk rather than a full hike, since you’re driving back out. Retrace the hairpin road to the coast in the afternoon and return the rental car near Roland Garros for your departure. If you have an extra hour, the Maido viewpoint (about 1 hour up from Saint-Paul) is a free look down into Cirque de Mafate, which has no road at all and is reachable only on foot or by helicopter.
| 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 |
| 3 | Drive to Cirque de Cilaos | ~1h15-2h drive | Gite night ~EUR 20-40 |
| 4 | Cilaos wine/lentils, drive back | ~1h15-2h drive | Free market wander |
How much does a car rental actually cost on Reunion Island?
Roughly EUR 20-25 a day in low season, such as June, rising sharply in July-August, December-January, and mid-October when the Grand Raid ultramarathon draws crowds islandwide. That swing matters more than any single attraction cost here, since a car is required to reach both the volcano and Cilaos on a 4-day trip; book it well ahead of a peak-season date.
Is the west-coast swimming ban still in effect?
Yes, largely. Most of the open west-coast ocean has been banned for swimming and surfing since 2013 following a serious shark-attack cluster, and the ban remains in force in the protected zones’ surrounding waters even though attacks have slowed since 2019. Swim only inside the marked lagoon at Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, L’Ermitage, or Saint-Leu, never on the open-ocean side of the reef.
For the version that adds a second cirque and the wild south, see the 6-day itinerary or the 7-day itinerary . Bring cash for the Cilaos gite; many mountain lodgings don’t take cards.