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Right-hand drive car hire in Mauritius
Your car waits at the airport or comes to your town. Hire cars here are right-hand drive, and you keep to the left.
Home / Mauritius
Your car waits at the airport or comes to your town. Hire cars here are right-hand drive, and you keep to the left.
A few lines per place, for the driver. Each car offered in a town also turned up in the airport search (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026), and reached the town by delivery. Road times: OpenStreetMap routes of 23 October 2026, empty roads, minutes rounded upward.
At Plaine Magnien. All 126 airport cars used “Airport (MRU)” for pickup and drop-off alike (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026): one handover point, with the meeting set by your voucher.
Nearest by road: Mahébourg and Blue Bay, each about 15 min. Port Louis is about 40 min, M1 all the way.
About 1 h from the airport, the routed drive running M1, M3, then M2; Pereybère is about 1 h too.
From here Port Louis is about 25 min down the M2 and Belle Mare about 40 min, while Le Morne village, at about 1 h 15 min, is the longest leg in our Grand Baie table.
About 40 min from the airport and about 25 min from Grand Baie. The Police du Tourisme work from Line Barracks here.
The smallest of our six town searches: 63 cars (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026). We found no official parking rules or prices for the city, so read the street signs.
About 45 min from the airport, leaving the M1 for B roads near the end, or about 50 min from Grand Baie.
Flic en Flac and Tamarin (about 45 min from the airport) are both on the Police list of fixed speed-camera places.
About 1 h from the airport by the A15 and then the B28, or about 40 min from Grand Baie.
The largest of our town searches, 118 cars (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026). Its police station hosts a tourist police office.
Le Morne village is about 1 h from the airport, mostly on B roads through the south-west, and the run from Grand Baie needs about 1 h 15 min. We time the village, not the mountain.
The steepest delivery charge in our town searches, €110, was on a Le Morne car (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026); compare totals before you choose.
About 15 min from the airport on the A12, the shortest drive in our table, with Blue Bay about 15 min from the airport as well.
Blue Bay, the other short hop from the terminal, has a tourist police office at its police station.
The terminal operator gives the address as Plaine Magnien (read 23 October 2026). Car figures: rental dates 16-23 November 2026, checked 23 October 2026.
All 126 airport cars named “Airport (MRU)” as both their pickup and their return place. 122 showed no extra handover charge; the remaining 4 had a charge already folded into their price.
The terminal has rental desks on Level 0, yet the firm on your voucher may have no desk there. Each company arranges the meeting its own way: follow the voucher, and have your mobile charged and on from the day before pickup.
We asked for prices on 10 airport cars with pickup and return at 03:00 (quoted 23 October 2026; car out 16 November 2026, back 23 November 2026): all could be booked, and 1 charged extra for that hour, both at pickup and at return. Enter your true arrival time and the fee appears in the quote.
For a car that takes its balance in cash only, the airport lists ATMs on Level 0 in arrivals: MCB near Door 04, SBM and ABSA Bank near Door 07, plus a second MCB in the baggage reclaim hall.
Nearest by road: Mahébourg about 15 min and Blue Bay about 15 min. Allow roughly an hour for the north-coast resorts in our table.
Each town searched as a round trip, rental dates 16-23 November 2026, checked 23 October 2026. Towns share cars between them, which is why these counts overlap.
Choose the airport to have the car waiting when you land, or a town such as Belle Mare or Le Morne for delivery. The search quotes in euros.
Compare totals, since delivery and handover costs already sit inside them, pick the cover you want and settle the advance online. The voucher email names the firm, its phone line and the meeting spot.
The balance is due when you collect, and some cars want it in cash only. Check the methods before you fly; for cash, the airport card above lists the ATMs in arrivals.
Our 23 October 2026 look at the 126 airport cars, for rental dates 16-23 November 2026. Deposits and prices are quoted in euros.
The terms leave how the balance is paid, and how and when a deposit is held and released, to your booking and voucher. Our data showed no timeline for deposit refunds.
Road rules from the Mauritius Police (Traffic Branch page, December 2025), the Road Traffic Act and UK travel advice, all read 23 October 2026. Times routed on 23 October 2026 for an empty road, rounded up.
From the airport to Port Louis the routed drive keeps to the M1, about 40 min. For Grand Baie and Pereybère it goes on along the M3 and then the M2, about 1 h in all. The Police put the car limit on motorways (M roads) at 110 km/h unless signs show otherwise; the road letters above are from OpenStreetMap.
Below the motorways the Police limits drop to 80 km/h on A roads, 60 on B roads, 40 on C roads and 30 in streets. Chamarel, about 50 min by road from MRU, sits inland on hill roads, and Le Morne village (about 1 h) is reached mostly on B roads, so empty-road times run short there.
On reaching a roundabout, yield to whatever approaches from your right; Mauritian law’s fixed-penalty schedule lists “Failing to give way to traffic from the right when approaching a roundabout” as an offence.
UK travel advice warns that “Pedestrians and cyclists often use main roads, including motorways, during the day and at night”, and that motorbikes are slow and often ride without lights after dark.
Head, rear and number-plate lamps must be lit during hours of darkness, an offence in the Act’s fixed-penalty schedule, which also lists “Unauthorised use of horn”.
Fixed speed cameras stand at places the Police name on their Traffic Branch page, Flic en Flac and Tamarin among them. Fixed penalties are paid at the District Court named on the notice, not on the spot, and the Police give 28 days to pay a camera notice at any District Court. That notice reaches the car’s owner first, and an owner who was not driving returns Part B within 14 days so it is served on the driver; how a hire company passes it on, we could not check. The Traffic Branch runs a 24-hour hotline on 166.
Sources, all read 23 October 2026: the Mauritius Police Force, the Road Traffic Act, UK travel advice and the rental terms.
Clause 11 of the rental terms, then three separate sources: the airport operator, the Mauritius Meteorological Services and UK travel advice, all checked on 23 October 2026.
“Do not use your car during floods and cyclones of category 3 or higher because the insurance does not cover any damage in such cases. Follow flood and cyclone warnings on the my.t weather app or on the Mauritius Meteorological Services website.”
Cover on the airport cars, listed 23 October 2026 (rental dates 16-23 November 2026), and the exclusions in the terms.
Every car carries its own mix, starting at Minimum coverage. Basic coverage was on 123 of the 126 airport cars, Full Coverage on 67 and Full Coverage Plus on 28.
We priced a Hyundai Grand i10 on 23 October 2026: its lower levels asked no deposit yet left you liable for up to €750, and Full Coverage Plus cut that to €0.
Wheels, underbody, windscreen and the car’s interior are left out of the standard insurance, as is anything deliberate: vandalism, neglect, intentional damage.
Clause 11 bars using the car in floods and in cyclones of category 3 or above, and damage in those conditions is uninsured.
Phone the company as soon as it happens; the police must write a report too, unless the company says it is not needed. Without both, the insurance is cancelled.
Personal Accident Insurance and Theft Protection stand apart from the cover levels, each priced on the Mauritius cars that carry it.
Mauritius’ terms allow paved public roads only and name no specific road as banned, so the surface is what counts. Leaving the country is not allowed either, and on 23 October 2026 not one extra on the Mauritius cars was a cross-border or ferry option.
Airport-to-town and town-to-airport returns are fine: see “Leaving the car in another town” above.
Routed with OpenStreetMap on 23 October 2026, for an empty road with no stops, then rounded up. Expect longer in the south-west hills and in town.
To Grand Baie and Pereybère the route takes the M1, then the M3, then the M2; Port Louis is M1 all the way. Le Morne is timed to the village rather than the mountain.
Your costs, not the rental’s. The car park tariff as the terminal operator lists it (read 23 October 2026).
Count per class among the airport cars, rental dates 16-23 November 2026, listed 23 October 2026. Some cars carry two class labels, so the cards add up to more than the list; your own dates give your own price.
67 cars
out of 126 at the airport
47 cars
out of 126 at the airport
20 cars
out of 126 at the airport
10 cars
out of 126 at the airport
2 cars
out of 126 at the airport
1 car
out of 126 at the airportYes. The rental terms describe left-hand traffic and right-hand steering, so expect a right-hand-drive hire car.
Not for the cars we checked. Of the 126 airport cars, read on 23 October 2026 for rental dates 16-23 November 2026, not one was marked credit card required. Under the terms a company may still want one, physical, embossed and naming the main driver, so look at your car and your voucher before you fly.
On 113 of the 126 airport cars, yes: they had none when checked (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026). A zero deposit does not remove your liability for damage, so weigh the cover levels too.
Delivery runs to towns including Grand Baie, Flic en Flac, Belle Mare and Le Morne. In our town searches (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026), each car offered in those towns also appeared at the airport and was delivered (the booking partner calls it “City delivery”), with any delivery charge already in its price. The voucher fixes the exact meeting point.
Damage is then not insured. Clause 11 of the terms: “Do not use your car during floods and cyclones of category 3 or higher because the insurance does not cover any damage in such cases.” Separately, the airport operator says driving is prohibited three hours after a Cyclone Warning Class III is issued.
Licence valid only where it was issued? Then the Mauritius terms strongly advise a permit. Mauritian law lets an international driving permit holder drive without a local licence. UK visitors: according to UK government advice checked 23 October 2026, a photocard licence from the UK is accepted for driving there.
999, or 112, which the Police list beside it as their hotline. UK travel advice gives 114 for ambulances and 115 for firefighters. Once the emergency is handled, call the rental company and have the police make a report.
Not under the fixed-penalty system: the Road Traffic Act has a fixed penalty paid at the District Court named on the notice. For speed-camera notices the Mauritius Police give 28 days, at any District Court. A camera notice is addressed to the car’s owner, which for a hire car is the rental company; we could not check how a Mauritius firm forwards it, and the terms make fines the renter’s cost.
Up to 7 days before pickup in general (convertibles and luxury cars: 30 days). Took the 24-hour cancellation option at checkout? Then the cut-off moves to 24 hours before pickup, and 6 of the 126 airport cars had that option (23 October 2026, rental dates 16-23 November 2026). Whatever the timing, there is no refund of the 6% payment service fee.
Airport handover or delivery to your town, priced in euros.