A volcanic caldera in the Réunion highlands — lentils, thermal baths, and France's most vertiginous access road
The Cirque de Cilaos is one of three ancient volcanic calderas carved into the centre of Réunion island, accessible by a single famously vertiginous road of over 400 curves from the south coast — a road so narrow and precipitous that it routinely closes in bad weather and is considered one of the most dramatic approaches to any inhabited valley in the world. Inside the cirque, the town of Cilaos (altitude 1,200m) is surrounded by basalt walls rising to 3,000m on three sides — a natural amphitheatre that creates a mild microclimate in the clouds. Cilaos has two unusual products: a thermal spa…
The Cirque de Cilaos was one of the last areas of Réunion to be settled by the French, partly because of the access difficulty and partly because it served as a refuge for runaway enslaved people (Marrons) who hid in the caldera's steep terrain during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The first recorded European entry into the cirque was in 1830, remarkably late for an island that had been a French colony for nearly 200 years. The access road — still one of the most complex in French territory — was built between 1932 and 1956; before that, entry required a full day's climb on foot. The ther…