France volcano
Piton de la Fournaise
You can see 225 km from here, looking north-east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 225 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 225 kmFarthest ridgelooking north-east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 79%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
- 6Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 2,604 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 6 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from August to November.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Febwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset43%
- Marwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset44%
- Aprwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset51%
- Maywest2 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Junnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Julnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Augwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset53%
- Sepwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset56%
- Octwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset56%
- Novwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset56%
- Decsouth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Piton de la Fournaise.
Volcano in Reunion
Piton de la Fournaise is a volcano in France, 2,604 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 225 km away, looking north-east.
The sea fills 79% of the horizon.
6 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Piton des Neiges (3,070 m), 29 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from August to November.
Get there and stay
- Aire de bivouac Cap Blanccampsite · 7.2 km · 3 within 10 km
- Gîte du Volcanplace to stay · 3.5 km · 4 within 10 km
- Saint-Philippenearest town · 14 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in Saint-PhilippeBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Saint-Pierre Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 31 km in a straight lineCar hire at RUN airport (Sainte-Marie)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 17other viewpoints within 5 kmNez Coupé de Sainte-Rose, Piton Partage, Balcon de Dolomieu and 14 more
- 69named peaks within 5 kmCratère Maillard 1966, Piton Rouge, Piton Hubert and 66 more
- 2marked trails within 3 kmGR R2, Sentier du Cratère Dolomieu
- 4car parks within 3 km
- 3campsites within 10 kmAire de bivouac Cap Blanc, Gîte de la Rivière des Remparts, Aire de bivouac
- 4places to stay within 10 kmGîte du Volcan, Gîte de la Rivière des Remparts, Le Mahavel and 1 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- shelters and huts within 5 km
- visitor centres within 5 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Piton de la Fournaise, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas116 mountains within 25 km
Forestyas5 forests and trees within 15 km
Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
Cavernyas2 caves within 20 km
Cascadyas4 waterfalls within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Piton de la Fournaise
France
- 86Viewyas Score
- 225 kmFarthest ridge
- 6Peaks in view
- 2,604 mAltitude
Rempart de Bellecombe
France · 3 km
- 90Viewyas Score
- 229 kmFarthest ridge
- 19Peaks in view
- 2,386 mAltitude
Piton des Neiges
France · 29 km
- 91Viewyas Score
- 248 kmFarthest ridge
- 19Peaks in view
- 3,040 mAltitude
Cap Anglais
France · 26 km
- 87Viewyas Score
- 228 kmFarthest ridge
- 23Peaks in view
- 2,193 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1049644) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Forestyas, Canyonyas, Cavernyas, Cascadyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
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Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
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