St-Denis is an attractive, lively and expensive capital city. Even visitors with a healthy supply of cash may feel a bit alien unless they have local friends to introduce them around the café set. St-Denis is known to some as the Paris of the Indian Ocean but unlike Paris, you won't find loads of down-at-heel student travellers struggling to survive on a slim budget. In their place are legions of hopeful workers from Madagascar, Mauritius, the African mainland and the EU - some legal and some not - searching for lucrative employment.The chic area of town is Le Barachois, St-Denis' promenade venue, which lies at the eastern end of the waterfront. Here are the upmarket bars and sidewalk cafés as well as the Hôtel Le Saint-Denis, one of the ritziest places to stay. There is also a variety of impressive Créole mansions in St-Denis. The best advice is to wander and see what you discover. Of interest are the Monument aux Morts, the tall victory monument; the Hôtel de Ville (town hall), considered by many to be the city's most beautiful building; the Cathédrale de St-Denis; and the Préfecture, which was begun in 1735 and served as the Compagnie des Indes headquarters. The Grand Marché is the main handicraft market, featuring a mishmash of items for sale such as Malagasy wooden handicrafts, spices, baskets and furniture.The hill districts behind St-Denis offer great views over the town and are starting points for treks to La Roche Écrite, a high peak often obscured by clouds. Although it isn't technically in the Cirque de Mafate, it does offer a spectacular view of the lower cirque. Dawn is the best time to see it.

The beach scene may not be what Réunion is all about, but at times you have to wonder. On weekends and during holiday periods, St-Gilles-les-Bains becomes ridiculously overcrowded. It's pretty much like Brighton, Bondi or Santa Monica on a hot, sunny Sunday with packed restaurants, cramped beaches and all-day traffic snarls which seem particularly constipated if you're coming from the St-Denis side. The excitement centres on the 20km (12mi) stretch of lagoon and white coral sand beach stretching from Boucan Canot to La Souris Chaude (literally, the Hot Mouse). On either side of this area, the sand is of the black volcanic variety.In the 1800s, the small fishing village of St-Gilles-les-Bains belonged to the estate of the Desbassyns family. After the road from St-Paul arrived in 1863, however, it was discovered by holiday makers and has been growing more popular ever since. The Musée de Villèle was the home of the wealthy and very powerful Mme Panon-Desbassyns and today offers guided tours. The madame was a coffee and sugar baroness who, among other things, held 300 slaves. Legend has it that she was a cruel mistress and that her tormented screams can still be heard whenever the volcano is erupting.About 1km inland is a parking area and a path down to an old irrigation and water supply system. The area encompasses a stunning series of waterfalls and pools. Bassin du Cormoran is the most accessible, reached along a lower path that cuts away from the irrigation canal. When the water level is right, the falls are excellent for swimming and provide an alternative to the beach on hot days.

Attractive and worth a few hours of exploration, St-Paul is often bypassed by those scurrying towards the surf and white sand further south. As the original capital of Réunion, it bears a tropical and colonial air, with historical buildings along the seaside promenade, lined with cannons and shaded by straggly coconut trees. The only site that could be considered a real attraction is the bright and well-kept Cimetière Martin near the southern end of town, a great place to wander and recall the island's tumultuous, renegade and mercantile past. It contains the plots and remains of Réunion's writers, rogues and respectable gentry. The cemetery's greatest plot is the final resting place of the pirate Olivier Levasseur, 'La Buse' (the Buzzard), the grave marked by the pirates' trademark skull and crossbones. After stealing a fortune in treasure, La Buse based himself in Madagascar. He was the last Indian Ocean pirate to be apprehended. He was captured, taken to St-Paul and hanged in 1730. There are still people searching for his treasure in Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion.