Things to do at Piton de la Fournaise

Piton de la Fournaise is Réunion's active volcano, 2,632 metres high in the island's south-east and one of the most active volcanoes on the planet.

The Route du Volcan climbs from Bourg-Murat across the bare, lunar Plaine des Sables to the Pas de Bellecombe car park (2,311 metres), where you look down into the enclos and the small cone of Formica Leo.

From there, walking to the Dolomieu crater rim and back takes about 5 hours, and only when the préfecture has the enclos Fouque open — access is shut without notice during an eruption or alert, so nobody can promise lava. Leave before sunrise: fog usually rolls in by late morning, and it hovers near 0°C at dawn in the austral winter.