Things to do in Saint-Benoît and the east coast

The east coast is Réunion's wet, green face, the opposite of Saint-Denis's streets and the Sud sauvage's dry lava fields. Saint-André grows the island's Bourbon vanilla; Saint-Benoît sits on the Rivière des Marsouins, where rafting trips run roughly half a day and cost from about €50 to €90 per person, conditions permitting.

Further south, Sainte-Rose's Anse des Cascades and the Notre-Dame-des-Laves church, spared when the 1977 lava flow split around its walls, make a quieter stop.

Expect rain most months, more than the west coast gets all year, and budget slow going on coastal roads even over modest distances: allow a full day from Saint-Denis or the south to cover Saint-André, Saint-Benoît and Sainte-Rose without rushing.