At its northernmost tip, Saint-Denis basks in the tropical Indian Ocean sun like a quarter of Paris misplaced in the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel 'The Lost World'. The capital of this colonial outpost offers a sultry mixture of café culture, good Chinese restaurants and a boastful collection of French art and architecture all tempered with a distinct Creole flavour.
While the mood in Saint-Denis is set by the nation's passion for upbeat Sega rhythms, the island ticks along at a much more sedate pace.
The three lush volcanic amphitheatres, colloquially known as Cirques, that huddle back to back at its centre are criss-crossed with some of the best hiking trails on the planet. Saw-tooth peaks, plunging gorges, a diversity of flora that would put any botanical garden to shame, thermal springs and slender waterfalls and gorges and rivers for canyoning and whitewater rafting are all accessible from a network of gîtes des montagne, or mountain lodges.
Every few years Piton de la Fournaise belches molten lava into the sea to remind the Réunionnais that they share their home with an active volcano. It takes an eerie and barren day's hike to peer into the two main dormant craters; sunnier and lazier times are to be had on the black and gold beaches of the west coast and touring the sugar cane plains of the east.
Print >