Mauritius Transportation

It's easy, cheap and funny way to take a bus on short ways. But don't take the backseat, it'll be very jumpy!!
Using taxi is more comfortable way to see the island.
It's also very cheap and you can rent a whole taxi with driver for some excursions to see all the places around the island and use as much time as you like when you stop..
This picture is so much like my home country Finland, but it's in the middle of Mauritius!! Our stop at Grand Bassin sacred lake on south-west taxi excursion.

Nearly all the major hotels and resorts have their own taxi rank - which charge way over the going rate for fixed journeys. If you can, get a hotel taxi one way into the nearest big town (Port Louis, Curepipe, Grand Baie etc.), and a local taxi to return. Get the number of the local firm and call them up if you want to go anywhere else. You can also negotiate a tailored tour round the island for considerably less than the hotels offer - plus you get to do what you want and eat where you want. .

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)

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.

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

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

Try to embark your aircraft quickly to get ahead of the queue for passport control. Only 10 x people in front of us and it took 76 minutes before our turn at the immigration. To check in luggage was perhaps just as bad or worse. 95 minutes to check in two cases - eleven people ahead of us - four of which were couples.

We stayed at Clubmed - Plantationd'Albion in a suite on the beach. Fantastic holiday - the best food and the most friendly staff. Would recommend 100+%

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.