The 8 most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion

Exceptional in terms of fauna and flora, La Réunion Island is full of flowers and enchanting plants. Guide of the 8 most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion

With its endemic, native and exotic biodiversity, La Réunion Island is undoubtedly a paradise for plant and flower lovers. It owes its incredible floral and vegetable palette to its microclimates but also to the cultivation of Creole gardens, very expensive in the heart of the inhabitants.

Rainy flowers with spice plants that are essential in Creole dishes, passing through tropical fruit trees and tea fields, stroll through the most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion.

1. The area of grilled coffee in Saint-Pierre

On a free or ethno-botanical visit to learn more about Reunion and its plants, the area of grilled coffee raises the veil on the intimate relationship between islanders and their nature. Discovering the plants of La Réunion is a fundamental step in a journey on the island.

Colored and exotic, they deploy here on four hectares and you're full of them. However, the particularity of the garden – hence its name – is its final tasting of local coffee, roasted and ground on site and every day.

2. The garden of perfumes and spices of Saint-Philippe

Among the beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion, this private garden was the first to open its doors to the public in 1989. It houses more than 1500 species fauna and flora. Scented flowers, spices, ferns, orchids, centenary trees, fantasmagoric plants or palm trees: this garden is a complete condensed of reunion nature.

The guides who know this huge garden as the bottom of their pocket, implacable on the species that flood the garden, offer playful and very interesting rides. Very large operation requires about an hour and a half of visits. At the end you will find a small shop with local products including the famous vanilla.

3. The labyrinth in Grand Coude tea field

On the heights of Saint Joseph, the labyrinth in the tea field is an ode to this plant savoured worldwide. You take a sensory walk and discover the tea from the tree to the cup. The labyrinth runs through the secrets of tea culture, history, harvest and flavours.

This rich ride is also very playful for children. The visit closes on a tea tasting and various products of the exploitation. This delicious parenthesis is done with or without a guide. The essential thing is to get away from the mythical tea labyrinth... The labyrinth in the tea field also highlights the incredible culture of geranium: a know-how that transmits from father to son and whose colors constantly invade the balconies of the island.

4. The Garden of Eden in Saint-Gilles

The garden of Eden spreads over 2.5 hectares and whisper no less 700 species . From bamboo to aquatic plants, to flowers with explosive colors and enchanting names, the collection is named Eden. Your visit to one of the most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion also takes you on a trip to Japan , discovering a Zen garden.

Then you cross marshes and parterres of aromatic plants. Later on, bees beat the pollen and do their careful work under your captivated eyes. But all your senses are actually being sought. Rising odors climb into your nostrils and different textures gently pass under your fingers. The walk is punctuated with interesting workshops and thematic animations. Open the eye in order to debust an endormi: a chameleon that lures in the plants and trees of the garden of Eden.

5. Mascarin in Saint-Leu

The Mascarin Botanical Reserve protects a large number of reunion species. The names are sometimes surprising: bamboo ravines, wild plants or succulents call visitors. You will also find a wonderful collection of palm trees, orchids, ferns, coffee makers who, despite their evocative name, house many complex secrets.

The garden also houses the Botanical Conservatory: an activist association for the preservation of the natural heritage of the meeting. In addition to the discovery of flora are architectural and wildlife discoveries. The beautiful garden is surrounded by multiple enchanting gateways, typically creoles, and surrounded by fish-rich basins.

6. Jardin des Milles and a flavor in Saint-Andre

Among the beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion, that of the Milles and a flavor is one of the most recent. This is the plant work of Aniel, a farmer passionate about nature, fauna and flora. Aniel invites you to an enchanted walk in the heart of its domain 4 hectares .

As often, the visit ends with a tasting of small creole dishes that your taste buds may well shudder. The tours, necessarily guided, are carried out in the intimate setting of up to thirty people and only ten people on Sundays.

7. The Garden of the State

There is a great chance that you pass through the capital of La Réunion, Saint-Denis, during your trip. The city houses one of the most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion, a privileged place for families, lovers and Sunday reunions.

The state garden, very popular, houses a quantity of refreshing ponds, water jets that make very aesthetic ballets and hundreds of endemic plants. Add to the vegetal decor of bright colors, a volier, children’s games, a natural history museum and a restaurant. This extends a relaxing day in the capital.

8. Le Jardin d’Orchidées à Saint-Joseph

Orchid garden, deployed on a half-hectare , collect them orchids Tropical from all over the world. They are two brothers passionate about these fragile flowers, Michel and Bertrand, who created this exceptional site. This chlorophyll-shaped garden with trees and multicolored orchids is a unique setting on the island.

Apart from being one of the most beautiful gardens to visit in La Réunion, the Orchid is the opportunity to pierce the mysteries of the queen of flowers. Indeed, the gardens of Creole houses like the forests of the island are home to all kinds of orchids of very different shapes and colours.

Green-handed enthusiasts will tell you that it is enough for a few climatic conditions but a lot of delicacy to make the plant live. Did you know that orchids are known for their anti-aging cosmetic benefits, their moisturizing skin and antioxidant properties for hair fiber?