Top 10 Volcanoes on La Réunion
La Réunion is a single French island in the southwestern Indian Ocean built by two volcanoes — the extinct Piton des Neiges and the very active Piton de la Fournaise. The Fournaise erupts on average every nine months, almost always with safe, photogenic flows. The list below treats the island's many vents and craters as one volcanic landscape.
1. Piton de la Fournaise
The active shield volcano on the island's southeast. Fluid basaltic lava, brief curtain-of-fire fissures and easy access make it one of the world's most reliably visitable active volcanoes. Eruption alerts open viewpoints at Pas de Bellecombe.
2. Dolomieu crater
The collapsed summit caldera of the Fournaise. A 2007 eruption drained the magma chamber and the floor sank by 300 metres in hours. The new pit is now the heart of the volcano.
3. Bory crater
Adjacent to Dolomieu, the older summit pit. It can be walked around when the volcano is quiet, with views into the Fournaise system across both craters.
4. Enclos Fouqué
The vast amphitheatre south of the summit, open to the sea. Most recent lava flows fill this enclos and reach the coast at the Grand Brûlé. The Route des Laves crosses many of them.
5. Piton des Neiges
The extinct shield volcano that built the western and central parts of the island. Its long erosion produced the three great cirques — Mafate, Salazie and Cilaos — that define the island's interior.
6. Cirque de Mafate
A roadless caldera-like basin reachable only on foot or by helicopter. Tiny isolated villages live inside it. Mafate is the geological scar of a major collapse of Piton des Neiges.
7. Cirque de Salazie
The northernmost cirque, lush and wet. The waterfall of the Voile de la Mariée falls into it. Old Creole houses and chayote vines line the slopes.
8. Cirque de Cilaos
The southernmost cirque, with the spa village of Cilaos and the classic Réunion lentil-growing terraces. Access is via the serpentine RN5 with hundreds of switchbacks.
9. Le Maïdo
A high lookout on the western rim of the Mafate cirque. At dawn the view down into Mafate's villages is one of the most-shared images of the island. The road is open by car.
10. Submarine vents
La Réunion's hot spot extends offshore; new submarine vents have been mapped southeast of the island. The system is part of the same plume that built the Mascarene plateau.
How to plan a Réunion volcano trip
The OVPF observatory issues daily Fournaise bulletins. The drive from Saint-Pierre to Pas de Bellecombe is the classic approach. When the volcano erupts, public viewpoints are managed by the préfecture; nighttime helicopter overflights have become a significant local industry.
See them on the map
Open the map and find La Réunion in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Mauritius and Rodrigues to the east are along the same hot-spot track.