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Photo by B.navez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Réunion
Réunion · Africa
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Réunion
Tap a month for its page
- JanJRéunion in January: avoid
- FebFRéunion in February: avoid
- MarMRéunion in March: avoid
- AprARéunion in April: avoid
- MayMRéunion in May: sweet spot
- JunJRéunion in June: sweet spot
- JulJRéunion in July: ok, busy
- AugARéunion in August: ok, busy
- SepSRéunion in September: sweet spot
- OctORéunion in October: sweet spot
- NovNRéunion in November: sweet spot
- DecDRéunion in December: avoid
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
No dry season: more than 6 rainy days in every month.
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
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Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Réunion
- Piton de la Fournaise Volcano in Reunion
- Cilaos Commune in La Réunion, France
- Mafate Circus in Reunion
- Salazie Commune in La Réunion, France
- Réunion National Park National park of France
- Plaine de Cafres Human settlement in France
- Takamaka Location of the only water power plant of the island
Tours and tickets in Réunion
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Réunion), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28° | 23d | 88% | 10.5h | avoid | monsoon: 23 rainy days, 499mm |
| Feb | 29° | 20d | 88% | 10.6h | avoid | monsoon: 20 rainy days, 484mm |
| Mar | 28° | 23d | 89% | 10.0h | avoid | monsoon: 23 rainy days, 537mm |
| Apr | 27° | 19d | 88% | 9.5h | avoid | monsoon: 19 rainy days, 427mm |
| May | 26° | 12d | 85% | 9.9h | sweet spot | 26C max, 12 rainy days |
| Jun | 24° | 15d | 84% | 9.7h | sweet spot | 24C max, 15 rainy days |
| Jul | 23° | 13d | 84% | 9.8h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Aug | 23° | 15d | 85% | 10.1h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Sep | 24° | 15d | 86% | 10.3h | sweet spot | 24C max, 15 rainy days |
| Oct | 25° | 14d | 87% | 10.7h | sweet spot | 25C max, 14 rainy days |
| Nov | 26° | 15d | 87% | 10.8h | sweet spot | 26C max, 15 rainy days |
| Dec | 28° | 20d | 87% | 11.2h | avoid | monsoon: 20 rainy days, 370mm |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Saint-Gilles, on the west coast, 35 km from the airport (RUN): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
No month in Réunion is clearly warmer than in 1981–1990: the differences are inside the ordinary spread between one year and the next.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 28.8° | 28.8° | 28.8° | 28.0° | 26.4° | 24.9° | 24.1° | 24.2° | 24.8° | 26.0° | 27.0° | 28.2° |
| 2017–26 | 28.5° | 28.5° | 28.3° | 27.4° | 25.7° | 24.2° | 23.3° | 23.2° | 23.6° | 24.9° | 26.2° | 27.6° |
| Change | -0.4° | -0.3° | -0.5° | -0.6° | -0.7° | -0.7° | -0.8° | -1.0° | -1.2° | -1.1° | -0.8° | -0.6° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Réunion is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Johannesburg
- from Nairobi
- from Cape Town
- from Kochi
- from Bengaluru
- from Chennai
- from Mumbai
- from Hyderabad
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Réunion, flying or not.
Before you go
| Currency | Euro |
|---|---|
| Languages | French |
| Plugs | Type E, 220 V |
| Driving | On the right |
| Calling code | +262 |
| Travel advice | No advice against travel — UK Foreign Office, updated 2025-12-10 Exercise normal security precautions — Global Affairs Canada, updated 2026-09-24 |
| Health | UK Foreign Office health advice |
Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank, refreshed 2026-10-07. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.Travel advice for American readers is the US State Department's (public domain), and for Canadian readers Global Affairs Canada's (Open Government Licence - Canada), each in its own words and written for its own citizens; entry rules depend on your passport.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Most shops take Visa and Mastercard, though many set a minimum spend (often €15) for cards. Cash still pays for about half of everyday shop purchases, so carry some euros as well as a card.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Getting around Réunion
Car Jaune coaches charge a flat €2 a trip on every line. Line T runs from Roland Garros airport by the west-coast beaches, stopping at Boucan Canot and Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, to Saint-Pierre; Kar'Ouest runs the local buses in Saint-Paul.
- Apps — Rides: EasyMove, MyChauffeur. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps.
It is often said that Réunion has more than its fair share of cars, and it's true. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Réunion, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — 112 (any emergency) · police 17 · ambulance 15 · fire 18.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (12)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/reunion/getting-help
- regionreunion.com/IMG/pdf/cj-dossier_de_presse_131125-1.pdf
- reunion.aeroport.fr/en/passagers/transports/transports-en-commun
- en.reunion.fr/organize/holiday-tips/questions-answers/transport-on-the-island
- banque-france.fr/fr/publications-et-statistiques/publications/les-habitudes-de-paiement-la-reunion-se-rapprochent-de-celles-dans-lhexagone
- apps.apple.com/fr/app/easymove-vtc-taxi-%C3%A0-la-r%C3%A9union/id6496204636
- apps.apple.com/fr/app/mychauffeur-la-nouvelle-app/id1142150807
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Réunion in pictures
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David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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JeremyJeanguenin, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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regulator974, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Réunion is like
Reunion Island (French: Ile de La Réunion) is a French overseas department located in the midst of the Indian Ocean, east of the island of Madagascar and 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the south-west of Mauritius, in East Africa. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- The active volcano is located in the south of the island. Even the approach over the Plaine de Sable (sand plain) offers many visual highlights. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Reunion is very much an island to be discovered through exploring its mountainous scenery and outdoor activities. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- As an integral part of the French Republic, Réunion is part of the European Union, so citizens of all EU member states, Iceland, Norway… More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- From time to time the island experiences volcanic activity. However, this is nothing to worry about; the lava flows are fluid and slow moving, and they always go by the less-inhabited Southern part of the island. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying healthy
- Unlike most tropical islands, Réunion hasn't had issues with malaria or infectious tropical disease for several decades. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Réunion, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Réunion
Nearby
- Mauritius Mauritius · 271 km
- Seychelles Seychelles · 1,828 km
- Zanzibar Tanzania · 2,392 km
- Johannesburg South Africa · 2,820 km
Kind of place
Réunion is in Réunion, Africa. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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