Guide to Reunion
Must See Reunion
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Saint-Denis, Réunion's capital, is a pleasant and lively town unjustly overlooked by travellers; most use it only as a jumping-off point. Yet the city's architectural wealth, its Government Park and its many good restaurants provide an excellent introduction to Réunion's distinctive qualities.
With its brasseries, bistros and cafe culture, St-Denis is a perfect reproduction of metropolitan France, down to the endless banlieues (suburbs) which surround the historic town centre. However, this good living comes at a hefty premium, and visitors may be surprised at how quickly money goes!
Even visitors with a healthy supply of cash may feel a bit alien unless they have local friends to introduce them around the café set. St-Denis is known to some as the Paris of the Indian Ocean but unlike Paris, you won't find loads of down-at-heel student travellers struggling to survive on a slim budget. In their place are legions of hopeful workers from Madagascar, Mauritius, the African mainland and the EU - some legal and some not - searching for lucrative employment.