1228 Travel Guide

The Maison de l'Inde in Saint-Louis is the first ashram established outside India by followers of the Indian spiritual master Amma. It serves as both a place of pilgrimage and worship and a centre for quiet retreat and meditation, reflecting the spiritual bond between Reunion and Indian culture.

A still-operating sugarcane factory in Saint-Louis, visitors can follow a journey through the process combining sight, smell and taste to discover every stage of sugar production, from receiving and crushing the cane, evaporating and crystallising, to the finished sugar crystals. For safety reasons, only visitors aged 12 and over are admitted.

Located between Saint-Louis and the Rivière, this mill began life as a sugar factory built by Charles Panon Desbassyns in 1820, powered by a water wheel (roue à aubes) fed by the red canal. After sugar production ceased at the end of the 19th century, it was converted largely unchanged into a corn mill and is a listed historic building.

The Domaine de Maison-Rouge in Saint-Louis houses the Indian Ocean Museum of Decorative Arts (MADOI). Formerly an estate owner's residence, its collections of furniture, textiles, porcelain and crafts showcase the meeting of European and Indian Ocean aesthetic trends and have earned it the designation of a 'Musée de France'.

An observatory in the village of Les Makes, home to the 'Jaï Sing' space featuring traditional Indian astronomical instruments and several domed telescope observing stations. It is one of Réunion's most renowned stargazing spots, and both daytime visits and night-time observing sessions must be reserved in advance.

The Museum of Decorative Arts of the Indian Ocean (MADOI) is in Saint-Louis in southern Reunion, housed within a historic coffee-estate complex. Its collection covers furniture, textiles, porcelain and various decorative artworks spanning the 16th to the early 20th century, revealing the Indian Ocean region as a hub of East-West exchange, its trade networks and its aesthetic of daily life. The estate-style buildings, the master's house and courtyard, and the traces of coffee growing are worth a look in their own right. The museum also hosts occasional special exhibitions.