Unusual Destinations Blog

Air Austral & Reunion Tourist Board

West coast of the island

I flew fromCape TowntoJohannesburgthe day before and stayed at the Signature Life Hotel OR Tambo, as I needed to meet my group at 8.15am. Our tour leaders were Heidi Hannig from Air Austral and Helene Bezuidenhout from Atout France/ Reunion Tourism.

Heidi assisted us & we checked in as a group. She gave us complimentary access into the Business class lounge which was a lovely surprise. We tucked into muffins, croissants, cuppachino’s & hot chocolate. We boarded Air Austral’s new Boeing 737 -800 and were seated in Premier Economy of which there are only 18 seats. This was our second treat of the morning. The seats are large & comfortable & the food onboard unbelievably delicious ! The views passing overMadagascar& intoReunionwere spectacular. The flight is only 4 hours and we were touching down at Roland Garros airport in the capital St Denis, before we could even open a book or have 40winks !Reunionwas 2 hours ahead of SA time, so although we arrived at 4pm, our clocks were telling us it was 2pm! Passport control was a little sticky with our entries & they asked a lot of questions & wanted to see our invitation & copies of return tickets etc. Thank goodness Helene was around & she explained in French to the officials who & what we were doing on the island and then were assisted & passports stamped! Our coach with driver, Willy and guide, Sully were outside waiting on our arrival & we were soon whisked onto the highway towards St Gilles (only took half an hour) This was our first glimpse of the beautiful green landscapes & wow, what a sight! The temperature

We arrived at our first hotel, Blue Bay : 3 * in St Gilles, where we were greeted with cocktails, shown to our rooms & had an hour or 2 to refresh, chill & explore before meeting for dinner at 7pm. This hotel is sweet but a bit small (particularly the bathroom!) & the rooms all overlook the pool, bar & dining area. Dinner was lovely & the hotel is a short walk across a street to the beach – wouldn’t recommend though – especially after seeing other options !

Iloha Hotel3* :

 

This hotel is 300m from St Leu beach. Lovely hotel with big grounds & bungalows spread out around the beautiful tropical garden spanning 2 hectares. It is done out in mahogany & cane, constructed in wood & the rooms of shingles with a creole style. The hotel offers 4 types of accommodation, either in bungalows or in single/double rooms comprising of a total of 208 beds! Some of the bungalows are self catering & have little kitchenettes with 2 ring stove, fridge, sink, utensils. Very family orientated where kids under 12 stay free in some of the larger bungalows. They have 2 tennis courts, pool table, large pool. The good news is they are building a brand new pool, to be ready in Dec, at the top part of the property together with 16 deluxe rooms (which will be 74sq m) & can be interleading if necessary. They will also build a new family restaurant which will offer pizza’s & hamburgers etc. Have a small Spa too.The prices of the main restaurant range from Euro 17 – 25. The owner of this hotel also owns the Palm Hotel & Spa !

Le Nautile 3 *

This hotel is on the beach. It has 43 rooms in total with 2 buildings separated by the outside restaurant/bar area & pool. The colours are green & yellow…bit kitch for me but also funky & quirky & they served the most delicious lunch with very friendly staff. Apparantely their restaurant is well known & definitely worth a visit. This was the only meal we had where the GM (Martina) joined us. The Reunion Tourism office also met us here for lunch !

St Alexis 4*

Also on the beach. No rooms have a seaview. Most of them have verandahs with a wrap around pool right on top of the verandah, so you can hop right in ! Hotel is spread out with many room types. Some only for 2 adults & some do offer sofa beds for kids. They have 2 levels of their restaurant & the top one is great for weddings or celebrations. Their Spa is outstanding and only 2 years old & this is located in a separate building on the property. An hour massage is 80 Euros ! They also have a great, well equipped gym ! No brochure, the manager sent us a link which I will forward on ! Lovely hotel & stunning beach with loungers!

Le Dimitile 3*

Beautiful little hotel of 43 rooms, in the mountains around Cilaos where we spent the night. The rooms have little verandahs with loungers. The rooms are big with flat screen TV & big bathrooms too with bath & shower & amenities. Large pool in an expansive garden & the restauarant is a separate building to the reception area on a wooden deck where we all enjoyed a fabulous 3 course dinner. The following morning after breakfast we strolled through town & met up with a guide who took us through the creole style village, l’Entre-Deux explaining the style of houses as well as showing us typical French gardens & identifying beautiful flowers & fruit. The avocado pears were bigger than our grapefruits !

We were then treated to a creole lunch in a local guest house called “le Gout du Terroir” – We watched the chef cook up a storm on the open fire place and were treated to about 6 courses !

Le Tsilaosa 3*

 

Located in the town ofCilaos. Warm, cosy, friendly with only 15 rooms. Very traditional & authentic with a lovely little coffee shop downstairs which the locals frequent. They make pancakes on an open stove while you watch. They have Jacuzzi baths in all the rooms & as well as heaters as it does get chilly as you are deep in the “mountains” 1300 m up. They also have a cellar downstairs & can offer wine tasting as there is a winery located close by. 35min away are the Thermal baths, so clients could venture there to chill out !

Hotel Les Chenets 3*

The “blue hotel” with 47 rooms in Cilaos. Lovely lounge & fire place with a heated pool & views of the highest peak Piton des Neiges 3069m. Some rooms are very big with sofa beds or extra single beds for kids. A large restaurant but sadly was empty with only 2 clients!

LeVieux Cep 2*

Loved this hotel & should most definitely be graded as min 3*. Again cosy & warm feel with a cottage style feel. Almost feels like a littleSwitzerlandchalet ! The owners are on site to welcome the guests & were extremely hospitable. A huge restaurant with a delicious dinner. They served us their traditional chicken-pork pie which is the owners secret recipe from his Grand Father. Can use bikes to go exploring. Went Canyoning from here – will advise more in the rest of my report. Well worth sending clients here !

Florarys Hotel 3*

This hotel is across the road from the beach BUT does have the black sand. It is very hot on your feet! Family orientated rondevals which the S.A market would relate to – also budget. In most rooms there is a double bed, with a little wall or separate room with another bed & a 4^th that pulls out. A bunk bed sideways ! A lot of activities for the kids like tennis, table tennis, games room and 2min down the road is an Aqua park with water slides etc that guests can use ! Friday nights they have a jazz evening & Sat a Creole night with music.

Palm Hotel & Spa 4*

 

Situated close to St –Pierre, a stunning hotel offering luxury comfort & design. The hotel is spread over 3, 2 hectares & is slightly elevated, so you have awesome views of Grand’AnseBay. In total the hotel has 65 rooms, suites & lodges all beautifully decorated, elegant & stylish. The lodges have private spa’s on their verandah ! They have 2 restuarants, and a bar & lounge area with perfect views. Their AKEA Spa is a haven of tranquility with 5 treatment rooms where you can discover a whole range of beauty treatments. The Spa also has a waterfall, plunge pool, a boutique and a garden space for relaxation. They have a large conference room which can accommodate 160 delegates, plus a fitness centre, billiards, crouquet, ping-pong & close by, an 18 hole golf course. They offer a shuttle service from the hotel down to the beach. This is a top class hotel.

Boucan Canot 4*

Lovely large hotel situated on the beach at St-Paul only 50km from the airport. They have 36 Standard sea view rooms and 2 standard patio rooms plus 2 superior sea view rooms and 8 suites (2 Junior, 2 Senior both with sea view) Total 58 all decorated in blues & greens or oranges & browns. Simple but adequate. The Le Cap restaurant is spacious & served us one of our best dinners on our last night. The Chef, David Beauvais is extremely talented and artistic in his presentation! We also ate our last & best breakfast here with the first offering of eggs. A scrumptious buffet with a big variety. This hotel also has 3 big conference rooms, so will work very well for groups & incentives. I know we use this hotel often and any clients we send here won’t be disappointed . On our original itinerary, we were to be treated with a paraglide, landing on St Leu beach. Unfortunately the wind didn’t play in our favour & the guides were not willing to take the chance. We were all ampted & excited but it wasn’t meant to be. However, on our way to LeNautile for lunch we stopped off at KELONIA – The Sea turtle research centre, in Saint Leu beachfront. A fabulous insight into the turtles & their history. A worth while stop to see how rescue, then nuture & take care of ill turtles before releasing them back into the sea.

We also visited LaSaga du Rhum inSaint Pierre. It is housed in the oldest distillery on the island, set up by the Isautier family in 1845 and the distillery is still in production today. A fasinating tour taking you into the Mill, the distillery, through the history of the island, culture, production techniques and then of course the tasting. From mint to mango or toffee to coffee, the rum varieties were mind boggling – very strong though !!!

AND then…my highlight… canyonning !!!! After not being able to paraglide & not having the time to cycle from Maido, the Tourism Board, decided that Canyonning would be a worthwhile experience…wow – and that it was !!!

We went the morning after our stay at LeViexCep. 9 out of the 10 of us were geared & excited to try this new activity. After our brief from our French guide, translated into English by Sully, 3 of the girls pulled out & the 4^th started the trek up the mountain & through the forest and decided it wasn’t for her & turned back, so only 5 of us continued !We had to wear thick wet suits in the heat & humidity. Picture the scene !!!The climb up took us about 25min and was no easy feat ! I actually felt ill but with a push from my team mates trudged on. We then had to cross shear rock faces with little space for our feet & only “hooked” on by our ropes. We abseiled down the mountain, often landing in rock pools. We then realized why we needed wet suits as the water was freezing. We also went down a few waterfalls on our bums, hanging on for dear life. We all bonded, helped & supported each other and were all exhilarated after the activity & were on a complete high for the rest of the day. I must admit, I could hardly walk the next day ! haha  A must for the adventurous type as you don’t get the opportunity to experience this in SA ! I need to download pictures off the website, to send, as obviously we couldn’t take our cameras. A) No free hands B) no water proof camera’s !!!

So,  to conclude my 5 day trip toReunionisland… Wow, wow, wow….I could not believe the islands beauty & splendour. A jewel of theIndian Ocean, which surprises, enchants, captivates & wins over anyone who visits. The amazing ever-changing scenery, from wild to tropical, yet alpine with forests from beach to volcano,Reunionis diverse in it’s landscape as well as it’s multi-cultural society . For the adventurous & active the options are endless : hiking, walking, biking, canyonning, horse riding, 4×4, surfing, kayaking,rafting,diving, fishing, paragliding, microlight, helicopter – no client will return saying there wasn’t enough to do or experience.

The self drive option is most certainly the way to go & the roads/highways are well sign posted, although you’re driving on the opposite side of the road ! A 33 km Expressway called Tamarins was opened in 2009 linkingSaint Paulto Etang-Sale in the south. It has 4 lanes & this has helped the island tremendously.

I can now understand whyReunionmust not be sold as a beach destination. One or 2 nights in Saint Gilles to chill & relax & then to get in your car or on your bike & explore.

Useful links

• Reunion Go as you please package 
• Palm Hotel and Spa package
• Saint Leu package – Iloha Hotel
• Boucan Canot package
• Le Saint Alexis package
• Le Nautil package