Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Réunion is from May, September, October. — consistent weather climate
🌦Cool & rainy
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Contains affiliate links.
Contains affiliate links.
| Score | 44 | 44 | 44 | 51 | 76 | 64 | 68 | 70 | 77 | 77 | 53 | 46 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Rainy | Rainy | Rainy | Cool & rainy | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Cool & rainy | Cool & rainy | Cool & rainy |
| Temperature | 16–21°C | 16–21°C | 16–21°C | 15–20°C | 12–18°C | 10–16°C | 9–15°C | 10–16°C | 10–17°C | 12–18°C | 13–19°C | 15–20°C |
| Feels like | 17–24°C | 17–24°C | 17–23°C | 16–22°C | 12–18°C | 10–16°C | 8–15°C | 9–16°C | 9–17°C | 12–20°C | 13–21°C | 15–23°C |
| Precipitation | 526mm 29 days | 453mm 26 days | 381mm 26 days | 235mm 24 days | 87mm 17 days | 91mm 15 days | 50mm 13 days | 59mm 13 days | 59mm 12 days | 106mm 14 days | 180mm 19 days | 225mm 23 days |
| Sunshine | 8.0h ☀︎ 61% | 8.2h ☀︎ 64% | 8.0h ☀︎ 66% | 7.9h ☀︎ 68% | 9.4h ☀︎ 84% | 9.3h ☀︎ 85% | 10.3h ☀︎ 94% | 10.6h ☀︎ 93% | 11.2h ☀︎ 93% | 11.3h ☀︎ 90% | 10.0h ☀︎ 76% | 10.0h ☀︎ 75% |
| Wind | E · 10 km/h | E · 9 km/h | E · 9 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 9 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 9 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 8 km/h | E · 8 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 89% | 90% | 90% | 90% | 88% | 88% | 85% | 83% | 82% | 83% | 85% | 88% |
| Day length | 13.2h | 12.8h | 12.2h | 11.6h | 11.1h | 10.9h | 11.0h | 11.4h | 12.0h | 12.6h | 13.1h | 13.4h |
Known locally as the Diagonale des Fous, this brutal ultra-trail race in October sends runners across the length of the…
This multi-day music festival in June brings international and Indian Ocean artists together for outdoor concerts spanni…
This Hindu Tamil festival held in January and February features devotees carrying ornate wooden structures called kavadi…
Most travelers arrive in Réunion precisely when the island is at its wettest and most punishing, chasing southern hemisphere warmth straight into torrential summer storms while ignoring the crisp, sunlit winter that makes this volcanic territory paradise.
Réunion is not a tame tropical getaway. Thrust out of the Indian Ocean hundreds of miles east of Madagascar, this French department is an amphitheater of razor-sharp peaks, active volcanic rifts, and rainforests carved into sheer calderas. Travelers do not journey here to sit passively on a lounge chair; they come to scramble across the lunar crust of Piton de la Fournaise, trek between roadless hamlets in the Cirque de Mafate, and climb into the cloud forests. Yet the island's tourism calendar is upside down. Driven by mainland holiday schedules and the northern hemisphere winter, visitors flood the coastlines between November and March, right when tropical depressions dump hundreds of millimeters of rain on mountain trails. If you want to see the island as its dramatic topography demands—under sharp blue skies with mountain paths firm underfoot—you have to travel against that tide.
May flips a decisive switch. The heavy summer humidity evaporates, replaced by clear air, cool ocean breezes, and the year's lowest crowds. On the coast, midday warmth stays gentle and easy, while the central ramparts around the Cirque de Cilaos and Cirque de Salazie shake off the suffocating cloud cover that obscures them during the summer months. If your goal is to hike, this is the only period that genuinely delivers day after day of stable conditions.
Winter in the southern hemisphere brings the sunniest skies of the year, particularly from July through October, when days easily offer over ten to eleven hours of brilliant light. Coastal towns like Saint-Pierre come alive with a relaxed rhythm, while in June, the open-air stages of the Sakifo Musik Festival fill the seaside with reggae, world music, and crowds from across the Indian Ocean in comfortably cool evening air.
By September and October, the island hits its absolute prime. Rainfall drops to negligible amounts, mountain ridges remain sharp against the horizon from dawn until dusk, and the island avoids the suffocating heat of the impending summer. It is during this immaculate October window that the legendary Grand Raid, known as the Diagonale des Fous, cuts across the length of the island; elite mountain runners charge through volcanic fields and plunging cirques, cheered on by ecstatic crowds who pack the finish line in Saint-Denis. For hiking, canyoning, and traversing the high interior without running into afternoon mudslides, early autumn in the tropics has no equal.
November marks the biggest paradox on Réunion’s calendar. It is statistically the single busiest month on the island, as European flights arrive packed to capacity, yet the atmosphere is noticeably beginning to deteriorate. The dry, crystalline visibility of October dissolves into muggy air, rising heat, and increasingly unpredictable afternoon downpours that begin to slick the mountain passes.
While the coastal beaches are still pleasant enough for an afternoon dip, the mountain valleys begin to brew storms by midday. If you visit now, you will pay peak prices and jostle for trailhead parking, all while watching the clouds roll into the cirques hours earlier each morning than they did a few weeks prior.
December through March is the austral summer, and it brings an uncompromising deluge. Tropical lows and the occasional cyclone sweep across the Mascarene waters, bringing relentless downpours that can drop hundreds of millimeters of rain in a single storm cycle. Mountain paths in Mafate turn to churned mud, river crossings swell into dangerous torrents, and the grand volcanic vistas vanish behind curtains of gray fog.
Yet paradoxically, passenger jets land full in January and February. Beachgoers gamble on morning sunshine along the western sands, but afternoon storms are ferocious and frequent. The humidity is dense and relentless at sea level, turning a simple walk through the colonial streets of Saint-Denis into a sweaty trek.
There is, however, an extraordinary cultural pulse during this wet swelter. In January and February, the Tamil festival of Cavadee fills coastal temples with stunning devotion. Penitents bearing elaborate carved kavadis walk through intense heat and perform fire-walking ceremonies to honor the deity Murugan. The rituals are profound and moving to witness, but they are an endurance test in the midday steam. Unless you are visiting specifically for cultural heritage and do not care if trails are washed out, this is the season to avoid.
April is the slow exhale after the monsoon. The heaviest tropical depressions begin to retreat back into the broader Indian Ocean, and rainfall halves compared to the torrents of February. The island emerges battered but intensely green, with thousands of temporary waterfalls cascading down the basalt cliffs of Salazie.
It remains a transitional month, however. While the sea is still warm and sunny stretches become more dependable, mountain paths can still suffer from seasonal erosion, and humid bursts still break through. Think of it as the setup month: the crowds of early spring have thinned, the worst deluges are done, and the grand dry stage is being set.