Itinerarios
Mafate: hiking and sleeping in the roadless cirque
La Réunion7 minpor Sejournia
Mafate is the only one of the three cirques with no road access. About ten hamlets spread across it, linked by trails, and you sleep in huts run on site.
Mafate fills a basin closed by vertical walls, north-west of the Piton des Neiges massif. No road descends into it and no car drives there. The hamlets are linked by a trail network, and everything consumed there arrives on someone's back or by helicopter.
The three ways in
The col des Bœufs, from Salazie, is the shortest and busiest way in. The col du Taïbit, from Cilaos, crosses a steeper side. The Maïdo, above Saint-Paul, opens the longest route, descending towards Roche Plate.
Sleeping there
The huts are run by residents and booked ahead, especially in August. Comfort is simple: dormitories or rooms, evening meals on request, no cash machine. It is the only way to spend a night in the cirque, and the only way to cross it without walking in the dark.
| Start | Towards | |
|---|---|---|
| Col des Bœufs | Salazie | La Nouvelle |
| Col du Taïbit | Cilaos | Marla |
| Maïdo | Saint-Paul | Roche Plate |
Three ways into Mafate, and what they cross.
Col des Bœufs
- Start
- Salazie
- Towards
- La Nouvelle
Col du Taïbit
- Start
- Cilaos
- Towards
- Marla
Maïdo
- Start
- Saint-Paul
- Towards
- Roche Plate
In Mafate you do not choose your arrival time. You choose your start.
- Book the hut before leaving, never on arrival.
- Choose the way in by the time you have, not by the map.
- Lighten the pack as far as possible: every kilo is paid twice.
- Build in weather margin: trails close in heavy rain.
Lo que dicen los visitantes
2 comentarios
Émilie
Two days, one night at La Nouvelle. My eight-kilo pack was already too heavy on the climb.
Bruno
Book the hut before you leave: in August everything was full on our dates.
Para leer después
42 alojamientos en La Reunión
La ficha indica la superficie, la capacidad y el precio antes de cualquier solicitud de reserva.