The towns
On an island seventy kilometres across you would think it hardly mattered which airfield you lift off from. It matters more than almost anything else you will decide. A Reunion helicopter flight leaves from one of four towns on two coasts, the drive between them is over an hour, and the first ten minutes of your flight are decided entirely by which one you picked.
Quick answer
Reunion helicopter flights depart from Saint-Pierre in the south and Saint-Gilles on the west coast; microlights fly from Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu, also on the west. Saint-Pierre is the closest airfield to Piton de la Fournaise, so flights from there reach the volcano quickly. Saint-Gilles puts the lagoon under you in the first minute and climbs into the cirques over the top. Book the one you can drive to before dawn.
The south: Saint-Pierre
Closest to the volcano, the most listings, and the drier side of the island.
Pierrefonds sits just west of Saint-Pierre on the flat coastal strip, and it is the busiest base for scenic flying on the island. Six of the eight helicopter listings on this site leave from here, including every one of the routes we recommend.
The advantage is geometric. Piton de la Fournaise is in the south-east, and from Pierrefonds a Reunion helicopter flight is over the Plaine des Sables in a few minutes. The same flight starting on the west coast has to cross the island first, and on a forty-five-minute circuit that transit is a meaningful share of what you paid for.
The south is also the drier side in the trade-wind pattern, which does not guarantee anything but does tilt the odds on a marginal morning. The flights here run from $299 for thirty-five minutes to $422 for the full crossing.
The west: Saint-Gilles, Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu
Lagoon first, the highest-rated helicopter circuit, and all four microlight listings.
The west coast is where most visitors stay, because it has the lagoon, the reef and the beaches. Two helicopter listings lift off at Saint-Gilles, including the Excellence circuit at $422 which is the highest-rated flight on this site at 4.9.
A Reunion helicopter flight from here starts over water. You get the reef, the turquoise shelf and the surf line in the first minute, then the ground rises fast towards Maido and the rim of Mafate. It is a different opening from the southern flights and, for a lot of people, a better one.
Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu are microlight bases. Four listings fly from them, from $196, in open two-seat aircraft on a lower coastal route. They are not cheaper helicopters — they are a different way of being in the air, and the coast is what they do best.
Every trip, current fare
The Departs from column is the one to read first. Everything else on this page follows from it, because the drive between the south and the west coast is over an hour and these flights start early.
| 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 |
Practical, by town
All of them are about the morning of the flight rather than the flight itself.
Saint-Gilles to Saint-Pierre is over an hour on a good morning, and these flights check in before eight. Book the coast you sleep on unless the route is worth the alarm.
There is parking and a terminal building. Arrive forty-five minutes before the slot.
The coastal road between Saint-Denis and Saint-Gilles is the busiest on the island in the morning. Leave earlier than the map suggests.
The main airport is at Saint-Denis on the north coast. No scenic listing here leaves from it; it is where your flight from Paris or Mauritius lands.
You cannot turn up at a microlight field expecting a helicopter, and the two are twenty minutes apart.
A clear coast does not mean a clear interior. Operators decide on the conditions over the cirques, not over the car park.
If you are staying on the west coast and the volcano is the reason you are flying, the hour of driving to Saint-Pierre buys you a bigger share of the flight over the crater. If the cirques are the reason, the Excellence circuit from Saint-Gilles covers them from the other side and you keep the lie-in.
The volcano flight→Book direct
Six listings, including every route we recommend. Pierrefonds is the closest airfield to Piton de la Fournaise, so a Reunion helicopter flight from here reaches the crater fastest.
★ 4.6 · 66 reviews
★ 4.8 · 138 reviews
★ 4.7 · 12 reviews
★ 4.7 · 190 reviews
★ 4.1 · 7 reviews
Book direct
Two helicopter circuits from Saint-Gilles and four microlight listings from Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu.
★ 4.9 · 27 reviews
★ 4.7 · 32 reviews
Getting there
Where you sleep decides whether the morning of the flight is easy or brutal.
A Reunion helicopter flight checks in early, and the island is easier to drive at six in the morning than at eight. That is the practical shape of the day, and it decides more than people expect.
From the south coast. If you are staying between Saint-Pierre and Saint-Joseph, Pierrefonds is fifteen minutes away and a Reunion helicopter flight from there is an easy morning. This is the side to be on if the volcano matters.
From the west coast. Saint-Gilles, La Saline and Saint-Leu are close to the microlight fields and to the Saint-Gilles helicopter base. A Reunion helicopter flight from here starts over the lagoon, and you keep the extra hour in bed.
From the north. Saint-Denis has the international airport and no scenic departures. Allow an hour and a quarter to the west coast fields, more to Saint-Pierre, and remember the coastal road is the busiest on the island.
From the interior. Cilaos and Salazie are beautiful places to stay and a bad base for a Reunion helicopter flight: the mountain roads take an hour to descend before you even reach the coast road.
Common questions
Saint-Pierre in the south and Saint-Gilles on the west coast for helicopters, and Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu for microlights. There are no scenic departures from the main airport at Saint-Denis.
Saint-Pierre if your Reunion helicopter flight is about the volcano, because it is the closest field to the Enclos Fouque. Saint-Gilles if you are staying on the west coast and want the cirques, because it saves you an hour of driving before a dawn check-in.
Saint-Gilles to Saint-Pierre is over an hour by road, and longer in morning traffic on the coastal route.
No. Roland Garros at Saint-Denis is the international airport; every Reunion helicopter flight here leaves from Pierrefonds at Saint-Pierre or from the west-coast fields.
No. All departures are coastal. The cirques are crossed on the circuit, and landings inside Mafate are a supply service rather than a sightseeing product.
About forty-five minutes before the slot of your Reunion helicopter flight, wherever you fly from. Everybody is weighed and briefed before boarding.
Go deeper
From $196 to $422, and what a minute in the air is worth.
The verdictOne recommendation for each town, and why.
No roadFourteen kilometres by seven, and not one road into it.
The chasmWaterfalls in a hole in the forest, reached no other way.
The volcanoTwo thousand six hundred metres of active crater.
The cirquesMafate, Cilaos and Salazie in thirty-six minutes.
Saint-Pierre: Helicopter Flight over the Volcano and Cirques
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h