Indigo flies to St Denis, Reunion island, 55k return

I have written earlier about St Denis (Reunion island)- a french colony in the African continent [Details here]

Air Astral used to operate direct flight between St Denis and Chennai, for a pretty reasonable price. But sometime during COVID the flights stopped. Now the direct flights have stopped, Air Austral still sells tickets but now via Bangkok and a return ticket costs more than 1500 Euros or 1.7 lakh rupees, which makes absolutely no sense.

Indigo has stepped in to fill the gap.

 

Indigo is now flying Chennai to Reunion island direct. However Indigo's return ticket costs around 54k INR or more. (You can fly to Mauritius, Seychelles etc for about 35-40k return ticket). Flight operates only 2 days a week, so need to plan around that.

Main issue with planning a trip to St Denis is the visa.

Officially it is visa free for Indians, but the process is expensive. It is visa free ONLY if you buy a full package from a tour operator in St Denis. Tour operator will then notify immigration authorities to issue a visa waiver. Package costs a lot- if we want to book a budget hotel and explore on our own, we've to apply for visa, process for which is not very clear. I guess we've to apply to French embassy asking for an endorsement to visit Reunion. Because of this complexity I've held my plan to Reunion island. 

A few Indians I know have managed to visit. I feel Reunion island is not worth 55k in flight and another 1.5-2 lakhs in land package. If I get flights for around 30-35k and easy to manage visa terms, I will plan. Let me see when things work out for me. 

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