🛍️ Réunion: souvenirs
Reunion shops Creole-French - bourbon vanilla at source, geranium oil from the heights and rum arrange in every flavour the island grows. Here is what travellers bring home from Réunion, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 55 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
Bourbon vanilla
The island gave the name to Bourbon vanilla - buy pods from the cooperative in Bras-Panon or plantation shops; supple and heavy-scented.
Rhum arrange
Rum steeped with island fruit and spices - every family and distillery has recipes; Saint-Pierre and market stalls sell jars ready or kits to steep at home.
Geranium and vetiver oil
The heights around Le Tampon distil geranium bourbon - perfume-grade oils in pharmacy and market bottles.
Turmeric and spices
Safran peyi (island turmeric), combava and massale blends from the Saint-Paul market.
Local coffee (Bourbon pointu)
The rare laurina variety revived on island farms - expensive, storied and genuinely scarce.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- EU customs to mainland France - but non-EU onward routes count the rum jars against allowances.
- Plant products beyond sealed spices - check the onward country's rules.
✗ Better left behind
- Coral and shells - the marine reserve is protected.
- Cheap 'vanilla' at odd prices - real Bourbon pods cost real money everywhere, including here.
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.