Piton de la Fournaise
The volcano of La Réunion, which erupted for fifty days in early 2026, reached by a road across a lunar plain and a walk over the floor of its caldera to the rim of Dolomieu.
- Arrival
- Roland Garros · RUN
- To the volcano
- 44 km from RUN in a straight line
- Private jets
- RUN, prior permission 24 hours ahead
- Best time
- May to October
The city
To the edge of Dolomieu.
The Route du Volcan leaves the Maison du Volcan at Bourg-Murat and climbs past the Nez de Boeuf, where the Rivière des Remparts opens below, then crosses the Plaine des Sables, as bare as the moon. It ends at Pas de Bellecombe, 2,352 metres up. The pass carries two names: a governor of the eighteenth century, and Jacob, the enslaved man who found it.
From there a marked path crosses the Enclos Fouqué to the Dolomieu crater, about 300 metres deep: 11.6 kilometres and some five hours there and back. The Enclos is shut whenever the volcano erupts, as it did from 13 February to 12 April 2026. Go between May and October and leave at dawn, before the cloud arrives; at this height the July and August nights can bring frost.
- Pas de Bellecombe The car park and viewpoint on the rim, looking over the north-east of the caldera and the small crater of Formica Léo.
- Plaine des Sables A bare, lunar plain dotted with its own small pitons, crossed by the road on the way up.
- Dolomieu crater The summit chasm, about 300 metres deep, seen from a platform at its edge at the end of the walk.
Arriving
Across the island and up.
Roland Garros, on the north coast by Saint-Denis, is the island’s airport of entry, 44 kilometres from the volcano in a straight line. The Route des Plaines crosses the island to Bourg-Murat, where the Route du Volcan begins.
- Mauritius 40 min
- Seychelles 2 h 45
- Malé 4 h 45
- Cape Town 5 h 20
- Amsterdam 12 h 35 long-range jet
When to go
May to October.
Bellecombe gets nearly 4,900 mm of rain a year and around 900 mm in each of February and March. From May to October afternoons sit between 13 and 17 °C, and by September and October the rain falls to 106 to 137 mm a month. Take warm layers whatever the season.
- 19° J 781
- 19° F 891
- 18° M 900
- 18° A 472
- 16° M 398
- 14° J 234
- 13° J 263
- 14° A 198
- 15° S 137
- 17° O 106
- 18° N 145
- 19° D 359
Where to stay
Above Sainte-Anne, or by the southern sea.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
-
Palm Hotel & Spa Above Grand Anse beach in three hectares of grounds, with its own helipad and Claude Pothin’s Makassar for dinner.
- Diana Déa Lodge A lodge at about 650 metres in a 150-hectare estate, with a spa and a balcony or terrace for every room facing the Indian Ocean.
-
Villa Delisle Hôtel & Spa Forty-one rooms and a garden spa with a hammam, close to the marina of Saint-Pierre.
Where to dine
Dinner on the south coast.
No MICHELIN Guide covers La Réunion. La Case Pitey is on La Liste; Makassar is the gourmet restaurant of the Palm Hotel according to Île de La Réunion Tourisme; La Table du Diana serves a gastronomic dinner at the Diana Déa Lodge.
- La Case Pitey La Liste Creole and French, omakase menus La Rivière Saint-Louis, about 28 km west
- Makassar Île de La Réunion Tourisme Réunionese, gourmet Palm Hotel & Spa, Petite-Île
- La Table du Diana Signature restaurant, Diana Déa Lodge French and Creole, gastronomic dinner Diana Déa Lodge, Sainte-Anne, about 20 km north
Elsewhere in Réunion
More reasons to come.
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