Réunion travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Réunion, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Réunion: Réunion.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Routine vaccinations up to date, tetanus included
- Hepatitis A and typhoid for some travellers
- Chikungunya vaccination for some — ask a clinic, as France paused it for over-65s during the 2025 epidemic
Emergency number
112, or 15 for an ambulance (SAMU)
Care for visitors
Good and affordable
Good, and French: the university hospital has sites in Saint-Denis and Saint-Pierre, and a mountain rescue unit with helicopters reaches the cirques, where Mafate has no roads at all. EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated with an EHIC, UK visitors with a GHIC; neither covers a private clinic or a flight home.
There is no malaria. Chikungunya ran as an epidemic through 2024 and 2025, with tens of thousands of cases, and dengue returns most summers — use repellent by day. Swimming and surfing outside the lagoons and the supervised zones are banned because of sharks, and the ban is meant. Piton des Neiges is over 3,000m, and trails close after heavy rain, which is worst in the cyclone season from January to March.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
