Saint-Paul is the second-largest commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the extreme west side of the island of Réunion. Until 1999, near Saint Paul there was the 428 m tall mast OMEGA Chabrier transmitter.

Population

Transport

Saint-Paul was to be the western terminus of the proposed Réunion Tram Train. However, the project was abandoned in May 2010 due to a lack of funds. The traditional grave of French pirate Olivier Levasseur, nicknamed La Buse ("The Buzzard") or La Bouche ("The Mouth"), who was most famous for allegedly hiding one of the biggest treasures in pirate history, estimated at over £1 billion, is located in Saint-Paul's Cimetière marin de Saint-Paul cemetery. Besides pirates, the cemetery also serves as the permanent resting place of poets Leconte de Lisle and Eugène Dayot, as well as the painter Arthur Grimaud.

Geography

Climate

Saint-Paul has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), closely bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). The average annual temperature in Saint-Paul is 25.3 C. The average annual rainfall is 482.3 mm with January as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in February, at around 28.2 C, and lowest in July, at around 22.3 C. The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Paul was 37.0 C on 25 January 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was 15.1 C on 14 August 1991.