Compared
Helicopter or microlight: two ways into the air over this island, and they are not the same product at two prices. A microlight is an open two-seat aircraft flying a lower, coastal route from $196. A helicopter climbs over a 2,632-metre volcano and turns inside a cirque, from $299. Here is what each one can actually do.
Quick answer
A helicopter can climb over Piton de la Fournaise and manoeuvre inside the cirques; a microlight cannot, and is not trying to. The microlight listings here fly an open two-seat aircraft low along the west coast, the lagoon and the lower edges of Mafate, from $196 for an hour. If the volcano and the inside of the cirques are why you are flying, book a helicopter from $299.
What each aircraft can do
The helicopter buys altitude and turning. The microlight buys an open cabin over the coast.
The helicopter case is about altitude and manoeuvre. Piton de la Fournaise stands at 2,632 metres and has to be looked at from above to make sense. The cirques are bowls with walls a kilometre high; seeing inside them means flying in and turning, not passing by. A light turbine helicopter does both routinely, and that is exactly what the price reflects.
The microlight case is about the coast and the air on your face. An open two-seat aircraft at low level over the lagoon at Saint-Paul, the reef, the islets and the lower ramparts is a genuinely lovely hour, and no helicopter cabin gives you that. It is flying, not viewing.
The comparison people get wrong is treating the microlight as a discounted helicopter because the number is smaller. Helicopter or microlight is a different experience over different ground. The honest version of the question is not which is cheaper but which of the two things you actually want.
Every trip, current fare
The four microlight listings sit together in the table, priced lower and flying a different route. Read the Departs from column alongside the price: the microlights are all on the west coast.
| 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 |
Which to book
Helicopter or microlight is a question about what you came to see, not about the budget.
From $375 for forty-five minutes. Nothing else on this page reaches the Enclos Fouque properly.
From $312. The cirque walls need an aircraft that can fly in and turn.
From $196 for an hour. Low, open and slow along the west coast is what this aircraft is for.
An hour at $196 against thirty-five minutes at $299. Different ground, and you should know that before comparing the numbers.
An enclosed cabin, a headset and a pilot talking you through it. The open aircraft is the braver choice, not the gentler one.
The fifty-five-minute crossing at $422 covers the volcano, all three cirques, Trou de Fer and the lagoon.
Book direct
The microlight half of the helicopter or microlight question: open two-seat aircraft from Saint-Paul and Saint-Leu, flying the coast and the lower cirque edges. A different product from the helicopter circuits, priced accordingly.
★ 4.7 · 32 reviews
Both are on this page and both are priced honestly. What we will not do is present the microlight as the same flight at a lower price, because over the volcano and inside the cirques it is not the same flight.
Which flight is best→Common questions
Helicopter or microlight comes down to this: the helicopter is an enclosed turbine aircraft that climbs over the 2,632-metre volcano and turns inside the cirques, while the microlight is an open two-seat aircraft flying lower and slower along the coast and the lower ramparts.
Yes, from $196 against $299, and it is a different route rather than a discount on the same one.
The volcano summit stands at 2,632 metres and the crater needs to be looked into from above. That is what the helicopter circuits are for; the microlight listings here fly the coast and the lower cirque edges.
For the cirques, helicopter or microlight is not a close call: seeing inside a bowl with kilometre-high walls means flying in and turning, which is what a helicopter does and a fixed-wing microlight does not.
For the lagoon, helicopter or microlight resolves the other way. Low, slow and open over the reef at Saint-Paul is a better version of that particular hour than any helicopter cabin.
About an hour, against thirty-five to fifty-five minutes for the helicopter circuits — one more reason helicopter or microlight is a question about route rather than about value.
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