Saint-Denis Audioguided Walking Tour 2h30 and 19 reviews

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• (Pass by)

  On the Rue du Maréchal Leclerc, a small part of India in bright colors rises in the middle of the grey buildings. This is the Hindu temple of Kovil Kalikambal.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You are now in front of the Chapel of St. Thomas of the Indians. Yes I grant you, there is not much left. Nevertheless, it is the silent witness of an era of massive evangelization, that of the Indians who came during the period of Reunion engagement.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You have Chinese Taoist temples here on both sides of the street. The Chinese community of the island is nicknamed in Creole the Sine with an “s” or the “ROC”, the Reunionese of Chinese origin.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  Reunion Island is therefore a learned mix of religions living in harmony. Together with Mayotte, it is the only French department where the call to prayer is allowed beyond the walls of mosques.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You are on Juliette Dodu Street, and since you certainly do not know who she is and we have two minutes ahead of us, we might as well fix it. Juliette Dodu, born in Saint-Denis, is the first French woman to win the Legion of Honour in a military capacity!

  Admission ticket free
• Saint-Denis (Pass by)

  I’m just drawing your attention quickly to the work of street art you see on your left, because you will certainly often see these little yellow characters during your visit to the island. They're gurus.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You now take the hiking trail of the Littoral Nord that connects the communes of Sainte-Suzanne and Saint-Denis along the seafront. You only follow him here for a moment, to reach the Barachois enjoying beautiful views of the ocean.

  Admission ticket free
• Saint-Denis (Pass by)

  It is impossible to trace the history of Reunion Island without delving into one of its darkest periods, its exploitation of slavery. And to understand how slavery arrived in Bourbon, we must take history back to where it was left off.

  Admission ticket free
• Le Barachois (Pass by)

  Here you are in the north of the island, in the northernmost part of Saint-Denis: Le Barachois. The word "Barachois" means "Small Summary Harbour". In the 17th century, you had here a point of embarkation and disembarkation of goods and passengers.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  As we pass the Roland Garros statue, I take this opportunity to introduce you to this man, a native of Saint-Denis, who played rugby instead of tennis! Roland was born in Saint-Denis in 1888.

  Admission ticket free
• Saint-Denis (Pass by)

  I take advantage of the presence of Mahé de la Bourdonnais, who was the governor general of the India Company, to give you a brief historical account of the beginnings of colonization on Réunion, before the India Company established its coffee plantations and introduced slavery there.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  Here you are in front of the Cathedral of Saint-Denis, very simple and white, standing among the trees. It was built at the base between 1829 and 1832, to be the church of the Holy Saviour. Then, at the creation of the bishopric of Bourbon, the building became cathedral.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  This beautiful column, surmounted by a winged victory holding at arm’s length a laurel wreath, was erected in memory of the fallen of the First World War. It has been fully registered on the Register of Historic Monuments since 2007.

  Admission ticket free
• Saint-Denis (Pass by)

  At the end of Pasteur Street is the republic car park, whose roof allows you to have an interesting panorama of the surrounding hills. You see in particular the beautiful church of Our Lady of Deliverance.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  What would it be to discover a city without a visit to its Point of Sale! So here you are in front of the entrance to the Grand Point of Sale of Saint Denis, also called the Malagasy Point of Sale. The beautiful cast iron hall that houses it dates from 1866 and is the first cast iron civilian building on the island.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You are here, on the Rue de Paris, which connects the Barachois to the State Garden. It is the main axis of the capital and it is where you will find the largest number of period buildings.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  You now arrive at the State Gardens, formerly the Jardins du Roy. They were created in 1767 by Honoré de Crémont, in charge of the island on behalf of the king, to serve as an acclimatization garden.

  Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  At the bottom of the State Garden you will find the Natural History Museum. The Natural History Museum is the oldest museum on the island, with a well-housed Colonial Trip Tip and then General Trip Tip building.

  Admission ticket free
• Saint-Denis (Pass by)

  You pass Rue du Ruisseau des Noirs, which takes its name for the stream below and where white masters sent black slaves to fetch water. The history of Réunion is inscribed in the names of its streets, squares and circuses.

  Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Tags