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It is an extremely clean area and people are very pleasant and helpful. However, the cost of living is relatively high and shopping may not really be an option unless you want to buy branded items. Wrt transport, taxi service across the island is quite high, so you can use the bus as transport medium which cost €1.30 for 2hrs (can be purchased with the bus driver directly). Alternately, renting a car is also a good option as in some areas of the island, buses come every hour. The network operators (sfr, orange, etc) are extremely expensive for tourists and can only be purchased in the operators' shops.

Saint-Denis is the capital of the island and is OK for a day to acclimatise to the island, there are many restaurants and shops, and the "Jardin de l'Etat", the city's botanical garden, is very nice. But there are no beaches or many touristy things to see. I would definitely not recommend staying there for the rest of the visit, but rather going to the West of the Island with the amazing beaches and easier access to the hiking in the mountains.

Try and be there on the 21st June as each year they have a band music festival, the central city streets are closed off and a large variety of bands set up and play all evening. There were also great food stalls set up on one of the streets, fantastic evening. Easy place to walk around during the day to see all the older houses, very good tourist info centre. The Coffee Shop serves amazing delicious food in a lovely environment, sorry can't remember the street name, it is in the centre of the city. Take a bus ride down the west coast to the beach for the cost of a few euros, good bus service.

I live on Africa mainland so it felt a bit like (European) paradise. When I saw they have McDonald's I almost cried. Take at least an hour to walk the main street with colonial mansions. Watch the sun set at the sea front. Eat something at the food court on the sea side. Buy a souvenir at the large tourist bazaar. Take a cheap bus to the south. Take a bus from and to the airport for 5 euro.

Lovely town with a number of historic buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. Good range of shops and restaurants plus some small museums. You can walk around very easily and there is also a good bus service. If you want to go to see the volcanoes and cirques then I would recommend taking an excursion. Both the ones I did were with small groups and we were able to stop and see the spectacular views without difficulties.

We were really surprised by St Denis. Sure it was not as jaw-droppingly beautiful as the hinterland but it was charming in a shabby kind of way. The restaurant life was great as were the street bars we found behind passage de blanc chat near the Cathedral square. There are plenty of shops in town if that is what you are after but for a one or two night stay there are plenty of things to do to keep you busy - but relaxing watching the world go by is probably the most popular. Try out the great Indian restaurants as well as Chinese. Book the table though in the most popular as they fill up really quickly. Creole and tapas also seem very popular.