Mauritius Transportation

Hi,

Of course there is bus to the North of the Island.

From the airport you'll have to walk to come to the bus stop and wait for the Port Louis bus. The bus come in every half an hour. (walk 5 min, bus 75 - 90 min in off peak hours)

In Port Louis you'll have to walk a little bit to take the shuttle to the North bus station. (walk around 5 min and bus around 5 min)

From the North bus station you ask where u want to go and take the bus there.

There you will be. Enjoy Mauritius... everything is possible here... But some things are also impossible here :)))

Impossible if your plane land at night. The bus run here from 6 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon.

If u arrive here at 4 in the afternoon... it will be quasi impossible for you to get to the North because it's peak hour and by the time you arrive at Port Louis it will be almost 6 p.m. and it's only luck if you can get a bus. But it's worth a try.

During peak hour, the bus are full and it will be very very difficult to bring your luggage in the bus.

Enjoy Mauritius there are lots of ways to stay here.

Have a nice time and happy trip
Yus

I've been to Mauritius a few times, and i've experienced all types of transportation.
For a fact, public transport is a big NO. Buses are relatively slow and to get from A to B, you'll have to go through C, D and E. A short trip from Quatre Bornes to Rose Hill for example can easily take 45 minutes or even more. First of all, there's "no bus timetable", etc... Bear in mind that you won't be able to cover the whole island with public transport on it's own.

Let's move on to taxis. Taxis are quite reliable; you'll definitely get to your destination, but it really depends on who the taxi driver is. Most taxi drivers will try to over charge tourists. First of all, taxi drivers don't use 'taxi metres' in Mauritius, and that come to their advantage when you don't know the island. Also be careful of taxi drivers trying to bring you to factory outlets; they get a percentage of what you've spent in the shop!

From what i've experienced, renting a car in Mauritius is the best type of transportation. The roads are quite easy; most of them are single laned roads meaning you don't have to chaneg lanes etc. Also, mauritians are quite friendly and are always willing to show you the directions. Having a car at your disposal, you'll be more free to drive around and visit all the talked about spots of Mauritius. While choosing your car rental company, always get the registered car rental company; the one with the yellow car plates.

Hope that helped. Cheers

Catching taxis is easy and relatively easy in Mauritius but if you want to book in advance for your airport transfers or day trips I recommend contacting Taxis Mauritius - www.taxismauritius.com - they offer a very professional service and they communicate quickly via email. They will provide quotes on transfers or trips - just ask for their best price.

On the flip side another company offering the same services is Summertimes - they are professional and reliable but charge 4 times as much as Mauritius Taxis. I know which company I use. I am not disparaging the services of Summertimes just the prices they charge.

F.Y.O. - I live in Mauritius but am not in anyway associated with Mauritius Taxis.

We used www.taximauritius.com when we were in Mauritius, they were excellent.
We set it all up by email, airport transfer and excursions, service first class. You can pay in euro, rupees or even in sterling, whatever suits you best. Just agree the price by email and keep a print off to take with you. We always tipped the driver in rupees.

Cheers,
Camimi

If you arrange for a taxi in advance you can maybe get for the price of 1500 rupees or a bit cheaper..but if you take a taxi from outside the airport on arrival its maybe even more expensive.. there is info for a taxi driver on my Mauritius page.(as in 2007)

Most hotel have a car rental desk if you pre book with Avis on line you get a good deal about 800 rupees per day.petrol is cheap no credit cards taken just local cash,driving is easy.speed humps in main towns. you can drive the whole island north to south in about 5 hours.
best thing is rent for a week if staying for 2 weeks then you can do your own thing for a week.

The best way to explore the various parts of Mauritius is to rent a taxi for the whole day. The taxi drivers are generally friendly, can speak English and French, and knowledgable. Do negotiate the price before taking the taxi to avoid complications. Generally, a day trip will cost around 1500 Mauritian Rupees per taxi but could be more if longer distances are travelled.

Because Mauritius is an island, the best way to get there is to take a flight. There are flights from Europe, Africa, Middle East, India and the Far East. If you are lucky on a clear day, you can see very beautiful scenery during landing and taking off.