The island of La Réunion is located 700 kilometres east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Together with Mauritius and Rodrigues, the island of around 2,500 square kilometres (population 850,000) forms the Mascarene archipelago. However, La Réunion belongs to France as an overseas department. Payment is made in euros and French is the official language. However, many Réunionese speak Creole in everyday life. The island is of volcanic origin and the Piton de la Fournaise is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The highest peak is the 3,071 metre high Piton des Neiges. In terms of landscape, the island offers an incredibly beautiful mix of palm beaches, lagoons and a breathtakingly diverse mountain landscape with tropical forests and the three wild, very different basins of Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate.
La Réunion is smaller than Mallorca, but the mountains are more than twice as high. And the roads, most of which are in first-class condition, often lead from the sea to an altitude of over 2,000 metres. Ultimately, it's the combination of a lot of metres in altitude and nasty ramps that really get to you. On the advice of the locals, we decided to cancel the tough tour up the Maïdo on the edge of the Mafate crater and offer the quieter Tour 1 instead. However, you shouldn't miss out on the view from the Maïdo - we drove up by car (get up early, otherwise the basin is covered in clouds!). Speaking of cars: unfortunately there are plenty of them on the side roads too. The locals are relaxed people, but some of them drive like hell in a car.
