Saint-GillesSaint-Gilles-les-Bains

Réunion was uninhabited when Europeans arrived. Arab and Portuguese sailors knew the island, and the French claimed it in the 1640s, but settlement began in 1663, when a small group landed on the west coast at what became Saint-Paul. For most of the next two centuries the island was called Bourbon, and it belonged to the French East India Company, which used it as a supply stop on the route to India and grew coffee on the slopes.

The economy that shaped the island came next. Coffee gave way to sugar cane in the 19th century, and both crops depended on enslaved labour brought from Madagascar and East Africa. Slavery was abolished on 20 December 1848, a date still kept as a public holiday under the Creole name Fèt Kaf. After abolition, plantation owners recruited indentured workers, mostly from India, but also from China, the Comoros and elsewhere. Their descendants make up the Tamil, Indian Muslim, Chinese and Comorian communities that are part of the island today.

One detail from the plantation era is worth knowing if you buy vanilla. In 1841 a twelve-year-old enslaved boy named Edmond Albius worked out how to pollinate the vanilla orchid by hand, which made large-scale production on Réunion possible. Bourbon vanilla is still hand-pollinated, which is one reason it is expensive.

In 1946 the island became a French overseas department, and the roads, hospitals, schools and ports followed. Saint-Gilles itself was a fishing hamlet and a few cane fields until the 1960s and 1970s, when the coast was developed for beach tourism. That is why you will find a marina, a promenade and hotels here but no old centre: for the old buildings and the founding story you go to Saint-Paul, 20 minutes north-east by car.

The last piece of history that shapes a visit is recent. A run of shark attacks on the west coast from 2011 changed how people use the sea, and swimming and surfing are still restricted outside the lagoon and supervised zones. You will see the signs on every beach.

In 2010 UNESCO listed the island's peaks, cirques and ridges as a World Heritage site, and about 40 per cent of the island is inside the national park. A trip to Saint-Gilles is, in this sense, a trip to the edge of a very large protected mountain.

The west coast of Réunion is a long, gently curved strip between the mountains and the sea, and Saint-Gilles is its resort centre. Reading it from north to south helps you pick where to sleep and how to plan the day.

In the north, Boucan Canot is a bay under the cliffs with a busy beach and a row of terraces. It is the best place to watch the sunset and a poor place to swim, because the sea is rough and shark risk restricts bathing. Just south, Roches Noires is the town beach, a strip of sand with dark volcanic rocks next to the marina. Together they make the northern end of the resort.

The marina and the seafront promenade sit in the middle. This is where the boat desks, dive centres, cafés and restaurants are, and where most first-time visitors sleep because everything is on foot. It is flat, paved and shadeless at midday, and it fills at dusk.

South of the marina the coast road runs along the lagoon at L'Hermitage-les-Bains, the quieter half of the resort. The reef sits a few hundred metres offshore and holds the water in a shallow, warm basin, which is why this is where families swim and snorkel. Beyond it lie La Saline-les-Bains and Trou d'Eau, more lagoon beaches, and then the town of Saint-Leu and the sea-turtle centre.

Behind the coast, the land rises quickly. Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts is the hill village above the resort, with a botanical garden and cooler air, and the roads climb from there to the Maïdo viewpoint over the Mafate cirque. The coast expressway, the Route des Tamarins, runs behind the resort and connects Saint-Paul with the south of the island; it is free and fast, which is why the whole west coast works as a day-trip base.

Practically, four clusters cover a first stay: the port and seafront, the L'Hermitage lagoon, Boucan Canot, and the market at Saint-Paul. Everything inside a cluster is a walk. Between clusters you take a car or taxi, because the coast road has little shade and the distances are 2 to 20 kilometres. This is the main planning fact of the trip: it is a car-and-walk destination, not a walk-only one.

The sea is the reason most people come to Saint-Gilles, and it is also the thing that needs the most care. The west coast has a fringing coral reef, about 40 kilometres of it, and behind the reef sits a shallow lagoon. The lagoon is warm, calm and full of small fish, and it is protected as part of the Réunion marine nature reserve. Outside the reef, the open sea has strong currents and, in recent years, shark risk that led the authorities to restrict swimming and surfing.

In practice that means one simple rule: swim inside the lagoon, or in a supervised zone that is open on the day, and obey the flags and signs. The main lagoon beach is L'Hermitage, where a lifeguard post marks a supervised zone. Some other beaches have marked areas at times, but the rules change, so read the sign on arrival and do not assume the same rule as last year applies.

Inside the lagoon there are other hazards to plan for. The water is shallow, so the sun is strong and the burn is quick; a rash guard and reef-safe sunscreen are more useful than a hat. The reef is made of coral, and touching or standing on it damages it and can cut you, so reef shoes are worth the €10 and the coral is a no-touch zone. Sea urchins and stonefish live in the shallows, so shuffle your feet rather than step. After heavy rain, runoff clouds the water and can carry bacteria; wait a day.

Beyond the lagoon there are ways to see the open water safely. Boat trips from the marina run to see humpback whales, which come to the island from Antarctica to breed and give birth from about July to October, and the operators are required to keep their distance from the animals. Dive centres take small groups outside the lagoon with a guide and a briefing, and a discovery dive is a fair way to see turtles and reef fish. Snorkel trips by boat are a good middle option.

Sea safety comes with a mindset. Do not enter the water at dusk or after rain. Do not swim at river mouths. Do not paddle past the reef line on a board without a guide. Do not ignore a ban sign because others are in the water. If a beach is not on the list of open zones, look at it and go somewhere else.

It is a good trade in the end. The lagoon is a calm, warm place to swim, and the reef and the whales are within a short boat ride. You just have to accept that this is not a coast for open-water swimming or surfing.

Réunion's kitchen is the product of the same mix as its population: Indian, Chinese, African, Malagasy and French. The result is Creole cooking, and its centre is the cari, which looks like a curry but tastes different from an Indian curry. A cari is a slow-cooked stew of chicken, sausage, octopus, fish or pork in a base of turmeric, ginger, garlic, onion and tomato, served with rice and a bowl of lentils or beans, called grains. On the side you get a small pot of rougail, a fresh tomato-and-chilli relish, and achards, a pickle of vegetables. The heat is at the table, in your control.

There are a handful of dishes worth learning by name. Rougail saucisse is smoked sausage cooked in a sauce of tomato, onion and ginger. Cari zourit is octopus. Bol renversé is a bowl of rice, cari and a fried egg turned upside down onto a plate, and it is the standard cheap lunch. Samoussas are small fried triangles filled with chicken, cheese or vegetables, and bouchons are steamed dumplings with soy and chilli. Bonbons piment are chilli-and-lentil fritters, hot and crunchy. On the marina you also find fish, mostly tuna, marlin and swordfish, grilled and served with rice or vegetables.

Meal times follow the French pattern. Lunch is the main meal, from about 12:00 to 14:00, and many small kitchens close between lunch and dinner. Dinner starts about 19:00, and the last order is often 21:00 or 21:30. A dish of the day, written on a board, is the best value, and a short menu is a better sign than a long one. Service is included in the price by law, so tipping is optional, and rounding up a euro or two for a good meal is normal.

The drinks are local and simple. Dodo is the island lager, cold and light. Rhum arrangé is rum infused with fruit, vanilla or spices, often offered with the bill and always stronger than it tastes. Cane juice and fresh fruit juices are sold at markets and stands, and you can ask for less sugar. Tap water is generally safe to drink, and a carafe d'eau is free in a restaurant.

For the cheapest and most local eating, go to the market and the snack counters. The Saint-Paul market on a Friday or Saturday morning is the best place on the coast for samoussas, bouchons and fruit, and a snack counter near the port serves a bol renversé for under €12. For a slower meal, a small Creole restaurant a few streets behind the marina serves the dish of the day at lunch. For a dinner with a view, a marina terrace serves the catch of the day at sunset and needs a booking in high season.

Vegetarians can eat here, but with effort. Salads, fruit, vegetable samoussas and bonbons piment are safe, and a vegetable cari with lentils is sometimes possible, though meat stock and lard are common. Say je suis végétarien and ask about the stock.

Réunion has two seasons, not four, and the west coast sits on the dry side of both. From May to November the weather is cool, dry and clear on the coast, with daytime highs around 26 to 28 degrees and cool evenings. From December to April it is hot, humid and wetter, with highs near 31 degrees, a sea temperature near 28, afternoon downpours and the cyclone season. Most visitors prefer the dry months, and July, August and the Christmas holidays are the busiest.

The cyclone season is the fact to plan around if you travel between January and March. Météo-France runs an alert system, and the stages, in order, are a pre-alert, then an orange alert, then a red alert, and finally a violet alert after the storm when it is safe to go out but the damage is being cleared. Under an orange alert, beaches, trails and some roads close. Under a red alert everyone stays indoors and all travel stops. A hotel, a rental car contract and a flight can each be affected, so book flexible fares and insurance, and read the forecast before every plan.

The mountains make their own weather, and it is worth knowing how. On the west coast the morning is often clear, but the trade winds push moist air up the slopes and clouds form by 09:00 or 10:00, closing the peaks and the cirque lookouts. That is why the Maïdo viewpoint and the mountain trails are done at dawn, and why the afternoon is for the coast. The east and the south of the island get more rain, so on a wet day the west coast is usually the dry choice.

The sun is strong all year. Réunion is at 21 degrees south, and the UV index is high even on cool winter days. Reef-safe sunscreen and a rash guard matter, and the best swim is before 10:00. The heat in summer can reach the low 30s with high humidity, so plan a long, shaded lunch and go out again after 16:00.

Days are shorter than they look on a map. Sunrise is about 06:00 all year, and sunset ranges from about 17:30 in June to about 19:00 in December, with little twilight. Plan sunset drinks for the hour before and do not plan to drive the mountain roads in the dark.

The best months for a first trip are May to October, when the water is clear, the sea is calm in the lagoon and whales arrive from July. September and October are a good compromise: warm, dry and less crowded than July and August.

Réunion's population, about 870,000 people, is one of the most mixed in the French world, and the mix is visible in the churches, temples, mosques and food. Most people identify as Creole, meaning born on the island of mixed ancestry, and other groups are named by origin: the Tamil descendants of Indian indentured workers, the Muslim communities of Gujarati origin, the Chinese, the descendants of African and Malagasy people, and people from mainland France, sometimes called zoreil. The Creole language, Kréol Réunioné, is spoken at home and in markets, and French is the language of business, signs and hotels.

The everyday manners are French. Say bonjour when you enter a shop, bakery or small restaurant and au revoir when you leave. It reads as rude to walk in without greeting. Use vous with strangers and older people. A handshake or a nod is fine, and friends may kiss cheeks. Swimwear belongs at the beach, so put on a shirt and shoes to walk into a shop, a bakery or a restaurant.

Religious life is visible and respected. Tamil temples, with their colourful gopurams, are found across the island, and visitors are welcome if they dress modestly and remove their shoes. The fire-walking festivals, held around December and January at Tamil temples, are acts of worship, so do not treat them as a show, and ask before taking photographs. Catholic churches are active, and mosques, Chinese temples and pagodas sit close to them. The island's holiday calendar mixes French and local dates, including the Fèt Kaf on 20 December, Diwali in October or November, and Chinese New Year in January or February.

On the sea, the manners are rules. The lagoon is a marine reserve, so do not stand on coral, feed the fish or take shells. Boats keep a distance from whales, so do not ask a skipper to go closer. In markets, ask before photographing sellers, and it helps to buy something. On the road, drive on the right, give way on mountain bends and do not leave anything visible in a parked car.

A few words help everywhere. Bonjour, merci and s'il vous plaît are enough for a day; l'addition, s'il vous plaît, gets the bill; and pas trop piquant asks for less chilli. If you learn one Creole phrase, koman i lé? is a friendly hello, and mersi is thanks. English is spoken in hotels and at the marina but not reliably at bakeries, small snacks or in the countryside.

Saint-Gilles is a base, and the best of Réunion is up the mountain. The island is a volcano that rose from the sea, and its centre is a set of collapsed craters called cirques: Mafate, Salazie and Cilaos, cut by ridges called remparts and topped by the Piton des Neiges at 3,069 metres. On the south-east side sits the Piton de la Fournaise, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Together they were listed by UNESCO in 2010, and about 40 per cent of the island is a national park.

You can reach these places from Saint-Gilles, but distances mislead. The island is only about 63 kilometres across, yet the roads are narrow, steep and winding. The Route des Tamarins, a fast expressway, links Saint-Paul to the south, but the cirque roads are slow: the road to Cilaos has about 400 bends, and Salazie has narrow gorges and waterfalls. Give each cirque a full day or, better, a night.

The most doable trip from Saint-Gilles is the Maïdo viewpoint, on the rim of Mafate. It is about an hour and a half by car from the resort, and you leave in the dark to arrive at first light, because cloud fills the valley by mid-morning. Mafate itself has no roads: villages inside the cirque can be reached only on foot or by helicopter, which is one reason a helicopter flight is popular and expensive.

The volcano takes a longer day. Drive across the island to the Pas de Bellecombe, about two and a half hours each way, and walk to the crater rim or down into the caldera if it is open. Access closes during eruptions and bad weather, so check the status the day before and go early.

Closer to Saint-Gilles, the coast has its own day trips. Saint-Leu, 25 minutes south, has a sea-turtle centre and paragliders above the town. The Jardin d'Éden, in the hills above the resort, is a botanical garden. Saint-Pierre, about an hour south, has a waterfront market on Saturday mornings.

A hire car makes all of this possible and a hire car is the main cost decision. Book it before you fly, take the excess insurance, fuel up before an inland day, and do not leave anything visible when you park. If you cannot drive or do not want to, a guide or a tour from Saint-Gilles is the way to see the cirques, and a helicopter is the way to see all of them in an hour.