The route
From Le Tampon, follow the RN3 towards the Plaine des Cafres to the 23rd kilometre, turn left at the village crossroads and drive 3.7 km straight on to the Bois Court viewpoint, at nearly 1,400 m. The car park has 200 spaces. The viewpoint looks down on the hamlet, the ramparts and the Voile de la Mariée. Since August 2025, a glass platform juts out over the drop; it is open from Tuesday to Sunday. On Sundays, a market is held under the kiosks.
The path starts next to the goods lift. In service since the mid-1980s, it supplies the hamlet every day; before it, everything went down on people's backs. You follow the rampart, then plunge towards the bottom of the gorge. After about a kilometre, you pass the Sainte-Rita wayside shrine, on the Grand Coteau. The descent turns steep, in hairpins and steps, down to a pumping station halfway, where there is a tap. After the Petit Coteau, the hairpins tighten as you near the hamlet, and a footbridge leads into Grand Bassin, some 700 m below the viewpoint.
The hamlet has been lived in since the late 18th century: the first settlers came for its springs. In the 1960s it had more than 200 inhabitants and a school, which closed in 1995. The first guesthouse, L'Oasis, opened in 1974. Today about ten people live there all year round, and most families also have a house in Le Tampon, to which Grand Bassin has belonged since 1977.
For the Voile de la Mariée, leave the church on your right and take the path on the left. It fords the Bras de Sainte-Suzanne on large stones, then goes down a tricky stretch. To reach the pool at the foot of the waterfall, you have to edge along a rock ledge or walk in the river. Allow about twenty minutes from the village. You come back the same way, with the whole climb back to Bois Court.
Along the way, the National Park and the ONF point out a relict semi-dry forest, with bois de sable and poivrier des Hauts, threatened by galabert, an invasive plant, and one of the island's three known pisonia trees. A colony of Mascarene petrels, an endemic seabird that nests on the cliffs, was discovered in the ramparts in 2017.
Staying overnight
The tourist office lists several guesthouses and tables d'hôtes in the hamlet, among them L'Oasis, Le Randonneur, Les Mimosas, La Cascade and the Auberge de Grand Bassin. At the end of 2025, half board cost around €70 to €80. Book before you go down: there is no shop and no road, and camping is not allowed at Grand Bassin. A night down there lets you climb back in the cool of the next morning.
Good to know
The hard part of Grand Bassin is the climb back: about 700 m of ascent on high steps, often in the full heat. Save energy and water for it, and set off early. The path crosses rockfall zones: it has been closed several times after falling rocks, one of which injured a hiker in 2022, and again in November 2024. The start of the path, along the rampart, and the lanes of the hamlet are not maintained by the ONF. At the Voile de la Mariée the rock is slippery, and the waterfall can dry up in the dry season. Swimming is not supervised, and the regional health agency (ARS) warns that fresh water carries a risk of leptospirosis, above all after heavy rain. RandoMafate shows ONF closures and the weather for the day before you set off, keeps the map and your position offline at the bottom of the gorge, and the people close to you can see how you are getting on without installing anything.
Plan this hike in RandoMafate
The trail map offline, elevation to the metre, ONF closures and the weather for the day, and the people close to you told when you set off and when you are back.
RandoMafate
