Minutes
Three lengths, and on an island only seventy kilometres across they are not small differences. Thirty-five minutes reaches half of what Reunion is famous for. Forty-five reaches both halves. Fifty-five crosses the whole thing and comes back down the other coast. Here is exactly what each one buys, and what it leaves out.
Quick answer
A Reunion helicopter flight lasts thirty-five, thirty-six, forty-five or fifty-five minutes in the air. Thirty-five, at $299, covers the interior. Thirty-six, at $312, covers the three cirques. Forty-five, at $375, adds Piton de la Fournaise to the cirques. Fifty-five, at $422, crosses the island and adds Trou de Fer and the lagoon. Allow about ninety minutes at the airfield whichever you book.
Why the minutes go further here
The island is small and steep, so minutes buy features rather than distance.
On most scenic-flight destinations, minutes buy distance. Here they buy something else. Reunion is small — you could drive round it in a long day — but it rises from sea level to 3,070 metres at Piton des Neiges, and everything worth seeing is stacked inside that vertical rather than spread across a plain.
The practical result is that a thirty-five-minute Reunion helicopter flight is not a short taster. It genuinely covers the interior: the cirque walls, the ravines, the high ground. Somewhere flatter, thirty-five minutes would get you out and back with a view in the middle.
It also means the extra ten minutes between thirty-five and forty-five are unusually well spent. That is the difference between the cirques and the cirques plus an active volcano, because the two sit about ten minutes apart by air and about ninety minutes apart by road.
Every trip, current fare
The Duration and Cost per minute columns are the ones this page is about. Note that the longest helicopter flight is also the cheapest per minute — on an island this compact, the extra minutes are spent over new ground rather than in transit.
| 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 each length actually covers
Read this as a list of what is included, not as cheaper-to-dearer.
Up from Saint-Pierre over the cane fields, into the high ground, along the cirque walls and back. At $299 with 138 reviews at 4.8, it is the best-evidenced short flight here. It does not reach the volcano.
Cilaos, Mafate and Salazie in one loop, at $312. Nothing is spent getting to the volcano, so the share of the flight spent over the amphitheatres is the highest of any route.
Our pick, at $375. The shortest route that reaches both of the things people come to this island for, leaving from the airfield closest to the crater.
At $422. Volcano, all three cirques, Trou de Fer, the east coast and the lagoon on the way home. The most reviewed listing here, and the lowest cost per minute.
From $196. A longer time in the air in an open two-seat aircraft on a lower, coastal route. Different product, not a longer helicopter flight.
Whatever you book, allow about ninety minutes at the airfield. The advertised number is flying time only.
Which length to book
Fifty-five for everything, forty-five for the highlights, thirty-five for the budget.
Flying once and want all of it: fifty-five minutes. It is the only length that covers the volcano, all three cirques and Trou de Fer, and at about $7.67 a minute it is the best rate of any helicopter on the island.
Flying once and want the highlights: forty-five minutes. Our overall pick. Both halves of the island, from the field closest to the crater, without committing to the full hour.
Watching the budget: thirty-five minutes. A real Reunion helicopter flight over the interior with the most reviews of any short listing here. You lose the volcano; you do not lose the cirque walls.
Only interested in the cirques: thirty-six minutes. The most concentrated route on the page for what it covers.
The advertised minutes are flying time. Add about forty-five minutes before for check-in, weighing and the briefing, and ten afterwards for photographs.
What the ride is like→Book direct
One Reunion helicopter flight for each length, in the order this page discusses them.
★ 4.8 · 138 reviews
★ 4.7 · 12 reviews
★ 4.6 · 66 reviews
★ 4.7 · 190 reviews
The visit around it
Forty-five minutes before, the flight, ten minutes after. Two hours, door to door.
The number in the listing is the time the rotors are turning. The rest of a Reunion helicopter flight is the ninety-minute visit that wraps around it, and it is the same on every length.
Forty-five minutes before. Arrive, show the ID you booked with, be weighed. The weigh-in exists to balance the aircraft, and on a Reunion helicopter flight it also decides who gets the front.
Fifteen minutes before. The briefing and the headsets. Loose items stay behind. On the coastal legs of a Reunion helicopter flight life jackets are fitted at this point.
The flight. Thirty-five to fifty-five minutes, and consistently described as feeling shorter than the number. This is the argument for the longer circuits: nobody finishes a Reunion helicopter flight wishing it had been briefer.
Ten minutes after. Photographs beside the aircraft, then out. Plan the rest of the morning from about two hours after your check-in time and you will not be rushing.
Common questions
A Reunion helicopter flight runs thirty-five, thirty-six, forty-five or fifty-five minutes in the air, depending on the listing. Microlight flights run about an hour on a different route.
For the interior and the cirque walls, yes — this island is compact enough that a short flight still covers real ground. It does not reach Piton de la Fournaise.
It is the cheapest helicopter here per minute, at about $7.67, and the only one that covers the volcano, all three cirques and Trou de Fer. If you are flying once, it leaves nothing out.
About ninety minutes from check-in to walking back out on any Reunion helicopter flight, whichever length you book. Everybody is weighed and briefed first.
Because the island is only about seventy kilometres across and everything is stacked vertically, so a Reunion helicopter flight buys features rather than distance.
No — the opposite. The fifty-five-minute crossing has the lowest cost per minute of any helicopter on this page, because less of it is spent getting anywhere.
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