France scenic viewpoint
Piton des Neiges
You can see 248 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 248 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).
- 248 kmFarthest ridgelooking north-east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 94%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
- 19Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 3,040 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 19 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%
- Maywest-4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Junnorth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Julwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset52%
- Augwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset53%
- Sepwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset56%
- Octwest-4 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 des Neiges.
Mountain in Réunion
Piton des Neiges is a scenic viewpoint in France, 3,040 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 248 km away, looking north-east.
The sea fills 94% of the horizon.
19 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Piton de la Fournaise (2,621 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
- camping sauvagecampsite · 1.9 km · 53 within 10 km
- Hôtel des Neigesplace to stay · 3.9 km · 190 within 10 km
- Cilaosnearest town · 4.2 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in CilaosBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Roland Garros Airport (RUN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 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
- 53other viewpoints within 5 kmBelvédère de la Roche Merveilleuse, Vue panoramique sur Marla et La Nouvelle, Point de vue de la Chapelle and 50 more
- 27named peaks within 5 kmGros Morne, Sommet de l'Entre-Deux, Piton Marmite and 24 more
- 6marked trails within 3 kmGR R1, GR R2, Sentier du Piton des Neiges and 3 more
- 23shelters and huts within 5 kmAbri du Plateau du Petit Matarum and 22 more
- 7car parks within 3 km
- 2visitor centres within 5 kmOffice de Tourisme de Cilaos, Office de Tourisme Intercommunal de l'Est
- 53campsites within 10 kmcamping sauvage, Camping des 3 Salazes, Camping Chez Julien and 50 more
- 190places to stay within 10 kmHôtel des Neiges, Le noisetier, Case Nyala and 187 more
- cable car and funicular stations 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 des Neiges, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas155 mountains within 25 km
Forestyas5 forests and trees within 15 km
Cascadyas11 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 des Neiges
France
- 91Viewyas Score
- 248 kmFarthest ridge
- 19Peaks in view
- 3,040 mAltitude
Cap Anglais
France · 3 km
- 87Viewyas Score
- 228 kmFarthest ridge
- 23Peaks in view
- 2,193 mAltitude
Coteau Kervéguen
France · 4 km
- 86Viewyas Score
- 181 kmFarthest ridge
- 20Peaks in view
- 2,244 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1545452) · 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, Birdyas, Canyonyas, Cavernyas, Cascadyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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