How to rent a car in Mauritius, my experience and advice

The best way to explore and feel Mauritius is to drive around the island, so you need to rent a car and start an adventure. Here I will share my experience.

There are both local rentals and international offices. Local street rental cars may have a lower price, but the quality of the car is like a roulette wheel. International rentals always rent cars in good technical condition. For car rentals at the hotel, the price tag starts from 45-50 euros, which is higher than if you rent on the Internet. What sites did I use when I was looking for a car in Mauritius:

• Localrent – this site contains reliable rentals from local rentacars. To book a car, you need a small prepayment of 15%, the rest can be paid on the spot in cash or by card. Official website →
• Economybookings.com – car rental price from 30 euros / day for a Hyundai i10. On this site there are cars from international car rental companies such as Sixt, Budget, Avis. Official site →

Mauritius has very picturesque roads. The asphalt is excellent, there are markings everywhere, driving is a pleasure.

If you arrive on vacation in Mauritius for 1-2 weeks, it is best to use international services like localrent or economybookings. I booked cars on both sites in different countries and there were never any problems with receiving / returning.

If you arrive for a couple of months, then it makes sense to look for a car from local rental cars. For example, on Flic-en-Flac beach that rents inexpensive Malaysian cars. For example, Perodua Axia. If you are looking for a cheaper car, then this is a great inexpensive option. True, even the Nissan March rides more cheerfully, but it will do for trips around the island.

Be prepared for the fact that they will give you a rental car with an almost empty tank. The first thing you need to do is find the nearest gas station and have cash with you to pay for gas. The price per liter is 56 rupees.

Picking up and dropping off a car at Mauritius airport – my experience

When I was going to Mauritius, I decided to book a car in advance through the Localrent website. I use it more often and have more experience with it, I know it better than any other option.

I took the car with the receipt at the airport for 8 days. Choose a subcompact Nissan Micra. Because I was not going to fly away from Mauritius in 8 days, I rented a car on the beach where I stopped. So, of course, I would have returned the car rented at the airport.

When renting a car at Mauritius Airport, you will need to pay for leaving the parking lot. ATM where you can withdraw cash rupees, located at exit number 7 of the airport.

Leaving a car at Mauritius airport when the car is taken from a local car rental can cause problems. My experience is this. At first, the distributor said that his employee would pick up the car at the airport, at my convenience. Then the employee called and said at what time it was convenient for HIM to pick up the car. And this was supposed to be about 4 hours before the flight. I didn’t plan to arrive at the airport so early, on the contrary, I wanted to stop by the beach near the airport to say my goodbyes. In addition, I paid separately for the delivery of a car at the airport, not in order to arrive at an inconvenient time and then wander around an empty airport, thinking how to pass the time. It turned out to be an unpleasant situation when the employee did not want to give in. Not everyone is – client focused.

What documents are needed to rent a car?

• The current foreign passport, on which you flew to Mauritius.
• Valid international driver’s license. Enough plastic rights, on which the data is written in Latin.

If you rent a car at local rentals, then, most likely, you will need to give a deposit for the car in cash. Some other costs that you can have with a local rental agency:

• For picking up / dropping off a car at the airport.
• Car wash – you can wash the car before returning but not only outside, interior must be clean too. If the distributor does not like it, he will deduct the car wash from the deposit.
• Gasoline – if you were given a car with a full tank and you return it with an empty one.

The island has both large gas stations with shops and toilets, as well as small gas stations.

How much does it cost to rent a car in Mauritius

In 2023 the cost of renting a car on the island is:

• The cheapest price for a car with a manual transmission – 19 euros/day. The car is pure trash. Cheap and very, very cheerful.
• The cheapest price for a car with an automatic transmission is 25 euros / day. Also, a very old car. It goes and thanks for that much.
• The cost of a car on a manual gearbox in normal condition is from 30 euros / day, depending on the size and class of the car.
• The average price for a small car with an automatic transmission is 35 euros per day. The car will be in good condition.
• The hotel offered me a minimum price for a car of 50 euros / day.

You can check actual prices on this website →

Rules of the road in Mauritius

In Mauritius, left-hand traffic. It is easy to get used to it, the roads are loaded with traffic only in the center of the island. Along the coast, except for rush hours in Grand Baie, there are few cars.

Is it difficult to drive in Mauritius? No. It seemed to me that the traffic on the island is very simple, especially after Thailand and Malaysia: D There are no complicated interchanges, except perhaps in the capital, Port Louis, and in other places there are enough roundabouts. Mauritians drive very calmly, there are enough parking lots.

Traffic on the roads of Mauritius during rush hour in the center of the island

The speed limit in Mauritius is 60 km/h in the city and 80 km/h beyond city limits. It is important to follow the rules of the road, and not just out of a sense of civic duty, but also because traffic police are vigilantly monitoring the movement of vehicles.

There are almost no police on the roads, they will rarely stop you. But there are a lot of cameras, and the fine arrives very quickly.

There are a lot of cameras on the roads of Mauritius.

To navigate the island, I used Google Maps. Google knows the roads of the island well; inaccuracies were only a couple of times on the rings. Google thought there were fewer ramps on the ring than there actually were. It’s just that the Mauritians made dead-end ramps in reserve, and Google didn’t know about it then.

There are no problems with parking on the island. All beaches have large parking lots that are free. Near the shops there is also free parking, as well as near the banks.