Saint-Denis and the East form the most contrasting region of Réunion: on one side, the administrative capital and the largest French city overseas (150,000 inhabitants), with its exceptional Creole heritage; on the other, the humid tropical coast the most rainy on the island, land of vanilla plantations, primary tamarin forests and the Indo-Tamil community. It is the region where one takes the administrative and cultural pulse of the island, without the tourist pressure of the west coast or the mineral roughness of the cirques.
Saint-Denis is one of the best-kept secrets of French tourism: an almost intact Creole city, where you stroll between colonial houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, façades with varangues (worked wooden galleries), lambrequins (decorative friezes), and shingle roofs. The historic centre (rue de Paris, rue Pasteur, rue Jean Chatel) is a true open-air museum. The Jardin de l'État (1773), one of the oldest botanical gardens in France, houses the Natural History Museum.
The east coast and the hinterland offer a complementary nature and cultural experience: visit of vanilla plantations in Bras-Panon, historic distillery Rivière du Mât in Saint-Benoît, Colosse temple in Saint-André, hike to the Trou de Fer from the Bélouve forest. The region is also the entry point of the island (Roland-Garros airport in Sainte-Marie) and the fastest access point to the Salazie cirque (1h from Saint-Denis).
Read also
- Saint-Denis, the Creole capital — Colonial houses, Jardin de l'État, Musée Léon Dierx and Chaudron market: the largest French city overseas.
- The Cirques of Réunion — Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie: accessible from Saint-Denis in 1h30-2h for Salazie.
- The West Coast — Saint-Gilles, L'Hermitage and the turquoise lagoon: 40 min to 1h from Saint-Denis.
- Réunion — Complete guide of the intense island: formalities, budget, climate, regions to discover.