Hugo
Salazie is the best first cirque: the road is wide and the landscape drops away immediately.
Itineraries
The three cirques: Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie
La Réunion7 minby Camille Revest
Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie are three open volcanic basins ringed by vertical walls. They belong to the Réunion national park and are listed as UNESCO world heritage.
The three cirques open inland, arranged like a trefoil around the summit. Each has its walls, its villages and its access road, or its lack of one.
They are not visited the same way. Cilaos and Salazie are reachable by car; Mafate never had a road and is walked. Confusing the three costs a day.
Mafate, the cirque without a road
Mafate is the most isolated of the three. The road project that would have linked it to the rest of the island was dropped before the national park was even created, and cars have never served the area.
You enter on foot, from the cirque de Cilaos or from the Maïdo, or by helicopter. The ground is steep, the days are long, and lodging in the villages books up ahead.
Cilaos, the road of bends
Cilaos is reached by the Route des Quatre Cents Virages, which climbs from the west coast to the floor of the cirque. The drive is long for the distance covered: the average speed stays low from end to end.
The village gathers a few restaurants and a market. The Maïdo trail starts from the col du Taïbit, above the village, and climbs towards the upper cirque.
- Winding road: allow more time than the distance suggests
- A full tank before the climb
- The Maïdo trail: a full day, with real ascent
- Lodging booked ahead during school holidays
Salazie, the most accessible
Salazie is the easiest and quickest to reach by car from the east coast. The road is wide, the cliffs drop away at once, and the villages at the far end are easy to drive through.
The col des Boeufs leads out west, towards Cilaos. It is the most direct link between two cirques, and the best way to chain them in one day.
| Access | Time there | Effort | Suited to | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salazie | Wide road from the east | Half a day | Low, walking | A first cirque, families |
| Cilaos | Route des Quatre Cents Virages | A full day | Moderate, long drive | Driving and walking |
| Mafate | On foot or by helicopter | Several days | Sustained, steep | Committed walking |
The three cirques, compared on access and time.
Salazie
- Access
- Wide road from the east
- Time there
- Half a day
- Effort
- Low, walking
- Suited to
- A first cirque, families
Cilaos
- Access
- Route des Quatre Cents Virages
- Time there
- A full day
- Effort
- Moderate, long drive
- Suited to
- Driving and walking
Mafate
- Access
- On foot or by helicopter
- Time there
- Several days
- Effort
- Sustained, steep
- Suited to
- Committed walking
One cirque a day: the distances look short on a map, and are not.
- Start with Salazie from the east coast, to read the formation without the longest drive.
- Come back over the col des Boeufs to Cilaos, inside the same day.
- Book Mafate ahead, by helicopter or by lodging, depending on the length you choose.
- Do not chain two cirques the day after a long day of walking.
What visitors say
2 comments
Marion
For Mafate, book the helicopter ahead: seats go quickly in high season.
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