The verdict
The best Reunion helicopter tour: all 14 ranked
Fourteen listings, four towns, and one question that comes before every other: how much of the island do you want in one flight? A thirty-five-minute circuit and the full crossing are not cheaper and dearer versions of the same trip. They cover different halves of an island whose middle has no roads at all. Here is the best Reunion helicopter tour overall, and the best one for each way of travelling.
Quick answer
The best Reunion helicopter tour is the forty-five-minute volcano and cirques flight from Saint-Pierre at $375. It is the shortest route that reaches both of the things people come to this island for, and it lifts off from the airfield closest to Piton de la Fournaise, so less of it is spent in transit. If you want the strongest evidence instead, the fifty-five-minute crossing at $422 carries 190 reviews. If you are staying on the west coast, take the Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles at $422, rated 4.9.
The fourteen listings, at a glance
- Listings compared
- 14eight helicopters, four microlights, two day tours
- Best overall
- $375volcano and cirques, 45 minutes, from Saint-Pierre
- Best evidenced
- 190 reviewsthe 55-minute full crossing, at 4.7
- Highest rated
- 4.9the Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles, 27 reviews
- Cheapest helicopter
- $29935 minutes, and 138 reviews at 4.8
- Shortest
- 35 minutesthe lowest helicopter price on the island
- Longest
- 55 minutesfour listings share it, all full-island circuits
- Departure towns
- FourSaint-Pierre, Saint-Gilles, Saint-Paul, Saint-Leu
- Reviews in total
- 532across every listing that carries a score
- What decides it
- How much islandyou want in one flight
The verdict
The best Reunion helicopter tour, and why
Forty-five minutes from Saint-Pierre: the shortest route that does not make you choose.
Take the forty-five-minute volcano and cirques flight at $375. Here is the reasoning, and it is geographic rather than commercial.
This island has two headline sights and they sit on opposite sides of it. Piton de la Fournaise, 2,632 metres and one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, is in the south-east. The three cirques — Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie — are the collapsed remains of Piton des Neiges in the middle and north. A thirty-five-minute flight has to choose. A forty-five-minute flight does not, and that is the whole argument for this Reunion helicopter tour over the cheaper one.
It also leaves from Pierrefonds at Saint-Pierre, which is the closest airfield to the volcano. On a small island that matters more than it sounds: the same forty-five minutes starting on the west coast spends its first eight getting across. Sixty-six ratings at 4.6 stand behind it.
The one reason to book something else is where you are sleeping. If you are on the west coast between Saint-Gilles and Saint-Leu, the drive to Saint-Pierre is over an hour before a flight that may start at seven in the morning. Take the Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles at $422 instead, which is fifty-five minutes, rated 4.9, and covers the same ground from the other direction.
The best flight for each kind of traveller
Six ways of picking, and the answer for each
The best Reunion helicopter tour is not the same flight for everybody. These six cover almost everyone who books one.
- If you are flying once and want all of it: $422
The fifty-five-minute crossing from Saint-Pierre. Volcano, all three cirques, Trou de Fer and the lagoon, coast to coast and back. 190 reviews at 4.7, the most evidence here, and the lowest cost per minute of any helicopter on the island.
- If you want both halves without the full hour: $375
The forty-five-minute volcano and cirques flight. Our overall pick, and the shortest route that reaches the crater and Mafate in the same flight.
- If you are watching the budget: $299
Thirty-five minutes from Saint-Pierre, the lowest helicopter price here, with 138 reviews at 4.8 — more than any other short listing. You see the interior properly; you do not get the volcano as well.
- If the cirques are the reason you came: $312
Thirty-six minutes and nothing but Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie. No volcano, no coastal detour, just the three craters and their walls.
- If you are staying on the west coast: $422
The Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles, rated 4.9 across 27 reviews — the highest score of any listing on this page — and no hour of driving before dawn.
- If you want to be in the open air: $196
An hour in a two-seat microlight over the lagoon, the islets and the lower cirque edges. A different aircraft on a different route, and the cheapest way into the air here.
Every trip, current fare
All fourteen listings, ranked by what they reach
Sorted the way the shop window is sorted rather than by price: the flight that covers both halves of the island first, then the rest of the helicopters, then the microlights, then the two full-day ground tours.
| Flight | Duration | Price | Departs from | Cost per minute | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Pierre: Helicopter Flight over the Volcano and CirquesThe volcano and the cirques in one flight | 45 min | $375 | Saint-Pierre | $8.33 | 4.6 · 66 |
| Saint-Pierre: Helicopter Tour over the Intense IslandThe cheapest helicopter on the island | 35 min | $299 | Saint-Pierre | $8.54 | 4.8 · 138 |
| Saint-Pierre: Helicopter Flight over the 3 CirquesMafate, Cilaos and Salazie in one loop | 36 min | $312 | Saint-Pierre | $8.67 | 4.7 · 12 |
| Saint-Gilles: Island Tour by HelicopterThe island circuit from the west coast | 45 min | $370 | Saint-Gilles | $8.22 | New |
| Saint-Pierre: Island Tour by HelicopterThe island circuit from the south coast | 45 min | $370 | Saint-Pierre | $8.22 | New |
| Saint-Pierre: Full Helicopter Flight over Reunion IslandThe best-evidenced flight here: 190 reviews | 55 min | $422 | Saint-Pierre | $7.67 | 4.7 · 190 |
| Saint-Gilles: Excellence Helicopter TourThe Excellence route, rated 4.9 | 55 min | $422 | Saint-Gilles | $7.67 | 4.9 · 27 |
| Saint-Pierre: Excellence Helicopter TourThe Excellence route from Saint-Pierre | 55 min | $422 | Saint-Pierre | $7.67 | 4.1 · 7 |
| Saint-Paul: Microlight Flight over Cirques, Islets and LagoonsA microlight over the lagoon and cirque edges | 60 min | $196 | Saint-Paul | $3.27 | 4.7 · 32 |
| Saint-Paul: Microlight Flight over Mafate and Piton MaidoA microlight along the rim of Mafate | 60 min | $202 | Saint-Paul | $3.37 | New |
| Saint-Leu: Flight over Reunion Island in a MicrolightThe long microlight route from Saint-Leu | 60 min | $266 | Saint-Leu | $4.43 | New |
| Saint-Paul: The Ultimate Microlight Flight over Reunion IslandThe longest microlight route offered | 60 min | $277 | Saint-Paul | $4.62 | New |
| Reunion Island: Full-Day Island TourThe whole island by road, guided | 8-9 h | $693 | Sainte-Rose | — | New |
| Reunion Island: Volcano, Beaches and Paradise Landscapes Day TourVolcano and black-lava coast, by road | 7 h | $576 | Sainte-Rose | — | 4.9 · 10 |
What the ratings actually say
Reading 532 reviews properly
Two listings carry real evidence, one carries the highest score, and four carry almost none.
Eight of the fourteen listings here carry a score. Two of them carry real weight: the fifty-five-minute crossing has 190 ratings at 4.7, and the thirty-five-minute flight has 138 at 4.8. Those are the two numbers on this page that would survive a statistician.
The highest score belongs to the Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles at 4.9, and it rests on 27 reviews. That is a good sign rather than proof. Our top pick sits at 4.6 across 66 reviews — a little lower and considerably better evidenced than the 4.9.
Four listings carry almost nothing: the two island-circuit flights and two microlights are new. We have left them on the page, priced and labelled, because a new listing from an established operator is not a worse Reunion helicopter tour. It is simply a flight nobody has written about yet, and you should know that before you compare a 5.0 with a 4.7.
Whichever flight you take, take the first slot of the day. The interior of this island makes its own cloud and it starts before eleven on most mornings — the difference between seeing into Mafate and seeing the top of a cloud.
When to fly→Before you book
Five mistakes people make choosing a Reunion helicopter tour
Five ways people pick the wrong flight, and the fix for each.
Booking the cheapest listing and expecting the volcano. The commonest error. A Reunion helicopter tour at the lowest price covers the interior and the cirque walls, and it does not cross Piton de la Fournaise. If the crater is the picture in your head, the forty-five-minute route is the shortest one that delivers it.
Booking a microlight because the number is smaller. A microlight is not a discounted Reunion helicopter tour. It is an open two-seat aircraft on a lower coastal route, and it cannot climb over the volcano or turn inside a cirque.
Choosing by rating alone. The highest score on this page rests on 27 reviews. The best-evidenced Reunion helicopter tour here rests on 190. Both numbers matter, and only one of them is a sample.
Booking the wrong coast. Saint-Pierre and Saint-Gilles are over an hour apart and these flights check in early. A Reunion helicopter tour that means a pre-dawn drive across the island is a worse morning than the same circuit from the field nearest your hotel.
Leaving it to the last day. Almost every disappointed review of a Reunion helicopter tour is a cloud story, and cloud is a timing problem. Book early in the trip and take the first slot.
Common questions
Choosing a Reunion helicopter tour, answered
What is the best Reunion helicopter tour?
The forty-five-minute volcano and cirques flight from Saint-Pierre at $375. It is the shortest route that reaches both Piton de la Fournaise and the cirques, and it leaves from the airfield closest to the crater.
Which flight has the most reviews?
The fifty-five-minute full crossing at $422, with 190 reviews at 4.7 — more than any other listing on this page.
Which flight has the highest rating?
The Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles at $422, rated 4.9 across 27 reviews. The score is the highest here; the evidence behind it is thinner than the two best-reviewed flights.
Is thirty-five minutes long enough?
For the interior and the cirque walls, yes, and it is the cheapest helicopter here at $299. It does not reach the volcano as well. If you want both, the forty-five-minute flight is the shortest one that manages it.
Does it matter which town I fly from?
More than you would expect on an island seventy kilometres across. Saint-Pierre is closest to the volcano; Saint-Gilles puts the lagoon under you first and climbs into the cirques over the top. The drive between them is over an hour.
Should I book a helicopter or a microlight?
A helicopter if you want the volcano and the inside of the cirques. A microlight if you want an open cabin over the lagoon and the west coast, at $196 for an hour.
Go deeper
More on flying over Reunion Island
What it costs
From $196 to $422, and what a minute in the air is worth.
No roadMafate from the air
Fourteen kilometres by seven, and not one road into it.
The chasmTrou de Fer from the air
Waterfalls in a hole in the forest, reached no other way.
The volcanoThe volcano flight
Two thousand six hundred metres of active crater.
The cirquesAll three cirques
Mafate, Cilaos and Salazie in thirty-six minutes.
The townsWhere flights leave from
Four towns, and what each one puts under you first.
