Tourist Activities

Water sports
The Reunionese’s ocean and its lagoons with the renowned spot of Saint Leu are ideal for all the water board sports, like surfing.
The canyoning is also an activity strongly appreciated by many visitors. The splendours of the rivers offer rafting and water activities for anyone.

Excursions
The many trails which make the reputation of Reunion Island will enable you to discover the island under its most astonishing aspects. You could walk the whole day without coming across the same path. The “Grand Raid”, an excursion throughout the island, taking place every year in October, attracts excursionists from several countries thanks to the beauty and richness of its paths. The island is also an ideal place for mountain biking.

Paragliding
Reunion Island is also the place by excellence for paragliding. Its mountains and thermals allow you to ‘flirt’ with the clouds above the lagoons’ shores or even inside the cirques.
After having organised many manifestations, it has become with time a destination not to be missed. Participants from several countries come every year -during the annual pre-world cup – to take off from the different spots that this island offers.

Shops and markets
The picturesque open market of Saint-Paul, located on the sea front of the city, will saturate you every Friday with colours and flavours and provide you with intense moments of pleasure.
The market of the “Cauldron” and its activities reflects the same environment at Saint Denis, every Sunday morning. You will find in addition, many shops offering local handy crafts.

Basket making remains one of the great local specialities. These baskets made of split bamboo and vacoas braids will seduce you.
The embroidery, for its part, offer splendid creations, the art of fine embroidery of Cilaos are found in the Malagasy market of Saint Denis.
Flowers, especially packed so that they can travel by plane or the ‘arranged’ rum made with macerated fruits and plants will delight any travellers.

Cuisine
The cuisine perfectly represents the blend of the several and varied cultures existing in Reunion Island. It is quite rightly considered as one of tastiest of the Indian Ocean.
No dish has remained to its original savour, all enriched and embellished with the trend of the generations. Like the "cari", this local recipe used for the cooking of meat, fish or shellfish consisting of garlic, onions, tomatoes, curcuma, clove and ginger, reminds the time when Bourbon was the island of spices.
Indian traditional dishes, present in the form of “massalés”, with more enhanced perfumes, are also to be discovered.
The Indo-Muslim dishes offer a variety of exotic flavours from cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.