Reunion in 7 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Seven Days on Reunion Island: The Full Loop on a Budget
Seven days is the shortest realistic full loop of Reunion: coast, volcano, two cirques, and the wild, wet south, all built on the same spine as the 6-day itinerary with one more day tacked on. Days 1-6 stay the same coast-volcano-Cilaos-Salazie route; Day 7 adds the Saint-Philippe lava fields on the drive back to the airport. A single rental car for the whole week, at roughly EUR 20-25 a day in low season, is still the main line item.
Book these before you go
- Coastal nights in Saint-Gilles-les-Bains: check rooms on Booking.com
- A gite in Cilaos for the mountain leg: check gites on Booking.com
- One rental car for all seven days, booked well ahead of peak season: compare cars on Discover Cars
- The Mafate/volcano helicopter splurge, if you’re building it into a rest day: browse helicopter tours on Viator
Day 1: Saint-Denis Arrival and the Free Lagoon at Saint-Gilles
Land at Roland Garros, collect your rental car, and drive roughly 35-40 minutes to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains. The reef-protected lagoon here is free and genuinely safe to swim; most of the open west coast has been under a shark-related swimming ban since 2013, so stay inside the marked zone. Reunion runs on the euro, drives on the right, and is French territory in the EU, though outside Schengen.
Day 2: Piton de la Fournaise on a Budget
Drive about 1.5-2 hours to Pas de Bellecombe 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 before you commit the day. Open trail means roughly 4 hours each way to the rim; closed means the Cite du Volcan museum (EUR 9 adult, EUR 6 child) instead. This is a separate mountain from Piton des Neiges, the extinct 3,070m summit. Check Meteo France’s local forecast before this drive and before Cilaos; both climb above 2,000m where conditions turn fast.
Day 3: Into Cirque de Cilaos
Drive roughly 1h15-2h into Cirque de Cilaos on the hairpin road. Spend the afternoon at the thermal baths, a wine tasting, or the local lentil harvest, then stay a gite night for a fraction of a coastal hotel rate.
Day 4: Cilaos to the Maido Viewpoint
Drive back toward the coast via the Maido viewpoint (about 1 hour from Saint-Paul, best before 8am), a free look down into the roadless Cirque de Mafate. Continue to the coast for the night.
Day 5: Cirque de Salazie and Hell-Bourg
Drive to Salazie and the village of Hell-Bourg, one of France’s most beautiful villages, then walk out to the Voile de la Mariee waterfall. Stay nearby or back on the coast.
Day 6: Rest Day or the Helicopter Splurge
Use this day as a flat rest day on the lagoon, or spend the trip’s one real splurge: a 45-55 minute helicopter circuit over Mafate, the volcano, and the Trou de Fer waterfall for roughly EUR 300-380 per person with Corail Helicopteres or Helilagon. It’s the only practical way to see Trou de Fer or Mafate’s interior without a multi-day hike.
Day 7: The Wild South and Departure
Drive south and east through Saint-Philippe and Sainte-Rose, where historic lava flows from Piton de la Fournaise have reached the ocean at the Grand Brule fields; it’s wetter, greener, and far less touristed than the west coast, worth the contrast on your last day. Loop back to Roland Garros via the coast road, return the rental car, and fly out.
| 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 to Maido viewpoint, coast | ~1h drive up, ~1h15-2h out | Free viewpoint |
| 5 | Cirque de Salazie, Hell-Bourg | ~1h drive from coast (verify) | Free waterfall walk |
| 6 | Rest day or helicopter splurge | 45-55 min flight if booked | EUR 0 or EUR 300-380 |
| 7 | Wild south, Grand Brule, departure | ~2-3h drive back to airport (verify) | Free lava-field views |
Is nine days better than seven for seeing all of Reunion Island?
Yes, if you also want the Piton des Neiges overnight or a multi-day Mafate hike. Fitting cirques, the volcano, and real beach time into under a week is the classic overreach for this island; seven days covers a full loop at a comfortable pace, but budget nine to ten days if Mafate or the Piton des Neiges summit push are non-negotiable additions.
What actually costs money on a 7-day Reunion Island trip?
Three things: the rental car, at roughly EUR 20-25 a day in low season and higher around July-August, December-January, and mid-October; one or two gite nights in the cirques, each a fraction of a coastal hotel; and the optional helicopter flight, at EUR 300-380, the only genuine splurge in this plan. Food, lagoon swimming, and most viewpoints cost little to nothing by comparison.
For a shorter version of this same route, see the 4-day itinerary or the 2-day itinerary ; for a ranked list of sights outside this route, see the Reunion Island sights rundown . Book the Cilaos gite and the helicopter, if you’re doing it, before the rental car; both sell out first.