The Wild South

South of the volcano, Reunion stops being gentle: the Sud Sauvage runs black basalt cliffs against an ocean with Antarctic manners, and the coast road crosses the Grand Brule - the Fournaise's lava freeway - where flows from remembered eruptions lie dated like exhibits, pioneering ferns already cracking the 2007 vintage. The set pieces string along the drive: Cap Mechant's spray-blasted headland, the Puits Arabe coves, vanilla plantations in the forest behind Saint-Philippe, and at Sainte-Rose the Notre-Dame-des-Laves church, which the 1977 flow entered, split around, and famously left standing - a parable in basalt at the roadside.

What you'll find

• The Grand Brule crossings - dated lava flows under the road.
• Cap Mechant - the black headland taking southern swell.
• Notre-Dame-des-Laves - the church the 1977 flow spared.
• The vanilla forest - plantations and tastings behind Saint-Philippe.

When to go

May to November for drier skies on the wet coast - showers visit year round and feed the green; big austral-winter swell makes the cliffs' theatre biggest. Allow a full unhurried day for the coast.

Good to know

The ocean here kills the casual: no swimming anywhere along the cliffs, full stop - the drama is spectator sport. Rain squalls are part of the contract. Fresh-lava walking is ankle-hostile; stay on marked paths both for safety and for the slow-healing surface.

Nearby

The volcano road above, Manapany's protected pool and Saint-Joseph.

Key facts