🇲🇺Mauritius

The stay

• No visa for a visit of up to 60 days. Not 90 - Mauritius is one of the places where that assumption goes wrong.
• Your passport must be valid for the duration of your stay and have one blank page.
• Proof of onward or return travel is checked, along with an accommodation booking.

The All in One form

This is the one piece of admin that decides how your arrival goes.

• Complete the Mauritius All in One travel form online before you travel, at safemauritius.govmu.org.
• It is one submission covering immigration, customs and health, which is why it replaces three pieces of paper.
• Print the QR code and have it to hand at the airport. A screenshot on a phone with a flat battery after eleven hours is the failure mode here.
• Without it you fill in a disembarkation card at the airport instead, which is the same information written by hand in a queue.

Practical

• Do it a day or two before departure, not at the gate, so a mistyped passport number can still be fixed.
• Everyone in the party needs their own, children included.
• There are strict rules on what may be brought in and out. The customs half of the form is where you declare, and declaring is free.

Getting treated

• Medical facilities are available but standards vary. Public hospitals and clinics provide adequate services.
• Private clinics are more modern and better equipped, cost significantly more, and generally want payment upfront.
• Insurance covering medical evacuation and hospital stays is the thing to have, because a serious case leaves the island.

Mosquito-borne illness

• Chikungunya is a risk, and the joint pain it causes can last months or years.
• Dengue occurs sporadically, and the mosquitoes bite in the daytime, mostly around sunrise and sunset.
• Repellent and covered arms at dawn and dusk are the practical defence; there is no vaccine you can rely on for dengue.

Everyday

• Typhoid is present but low risk for most travellers.
• Check that your policy covers the water sports you plan. Diving and kitesurfing are the usual exclusions, and this is a country people come to for both.

The geography of the decision

• The airport is in the south-east. The north (Grand Baie), the west (Flic en Flac, Le Morne) and the east (Belle Mare) are each a real drive from it.
• East to west is about 1 hour 15 minutes. North is comparable. A late landing plus a transfer is a two-hour tail on the flight.
• Mahebourg and Blue Bay are 10 to 15 minutes from the terminal, which makes them the sensible first night after a night flight.

Practical

• Book the transfer with the hotel unless you are landing in daylight and happy with a bus.
• Villas are a common way to stay here, and burglary from tourist villas is the most reported crime. Use the safe and lock up.
• Beach and street vendors are best avoided, which the FCDO says directly.

The cyclone season

• November to May. Severe storms damage property and interrupt essential services.
• In a cyclone you may not be permitted to leave your accommodation, and car insurance often lapses for the duration.
• Travelling in that window means being ready to change plans at short notice, and carrying your airline's and tour operator's emergency numbers.

Mauritius Telecom (myt)

• The myt 5G Tourist SIM costs EUR 30 including VAT and runs 30 days.
• Unlimited 5G data, plus MUR 200 of airtime for local and international calls.
• Anyone aged 18 or over travelling as a tourist or on business can buy one.
• You need a valid passport and the address you are staying at. Nothing else.
• Collect at the Telecom Shop at SSR International Airport on arrival, or take the eSIM from the myt digital kiosk in the terminal.

Emtel

• The Emtel tourist pack costs MUR 1,500 including VAT, also 30 days, also unlimited 5G data, with unlimited SMS and MUR 200 airtime.
• Pre-book online and the eSIM arrives by email before you land, or collect the physical SIM at the airport counter.
• The pre-booking form asks for your flight number, arrival date, address of stay and a passport scan, so it is worth ten minutes at home.

Which to do

• Pre-booking an eSIM is the version that works on arrival, because it is live before you clear immigration.
• A physical SIM at the counter is fine if you are landing in daylight and do not mind the queue.
• Both are a month of unlimited data for roughly the price of two days of roaming, which makes this an easy decision.

Power

• 230 V, 50 Hz, sockets type C, E and G. That is the continental round two-pin, the French earthed version, and the British three-pin, all on one island.
• Which one is on the wall depends on the building's age. Bring the UK adapter and a European one, or a universal.

Language

• English is the official language of government and law.
• French dominates the media and much of daily business.
• Mauritian Creole is what people actually speak to each other, and it is French-based rather than a dialect of French.
• You will be understood in English everywhere a visitor goes.

Practicalities

• Time is UTC+4, with no daylight saving.
• The island is small and the roads are not fast. Distances in kilometres badly understate journey times.
• Sunday is quiet and rural bus services thin out further.

The currency

• The Mauritian rupee (MUR). It is not the Indian rupee and the two are not interchangeable.
• Rates on the island are generally better than at home, and there is a bank and ATMs in the arrivals terminal.

Cards and cash

• Hotels, resorts, restaurants and larger shops take cards.
• Cash runs the rest: buses, markets, small shops, street food and most taxis.
• Carry small notes for buses, because conductors on a rural route will not break a large one.

ATMs

• ATMs are common in the towns and along the developed coast, and thinner in the south and the interior.
• Withdraw in the town rather than at the resort desk. Hotel exchange counters exist for convenience and price accordingly.

Petty theft is the risk, not fraud

• Most crime is non-violent: burglary from tourist villas and theft of unattended bags.
• Port Louis, Grand Baie and Flic en Flac are where petty theft is most reported.
• Do not leave a bag on a beach lounger. That is the single most common way money goes missing here.

Buses

• Two grades, ordinary and express, roughly every 15 minutes.
• 05:30 to 20:00 in towns, 06:30 to 18:30 in rural areas. Evenings are taxi territory island-wide.
• They are cheap and they are how the island moves, but they are not fast; nothing on Mauritius is fast by bus.

Metro Express

• One light rail line, Port Louis to Curepipe, through the central urban corridor: Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Vacoas.
• Buy an MECard from the station machines and top it up. There is no cash fare.

Driving

• On the left. Traffic coming from your right has priority, which is the rule that catches visitors at roundabouts and junctions.
• A UK photocard licence is accepted.
• Accidents are frequent and motorbikes often ride without lights at night.
• The drink-drive limit is about a quarter of England's, and exceeding it brings fines and possible imprisonment.
• Car insurance is often void during an active cyclone, and you may not be allowed to leave your accommodation anyway.

On the water

• Water sports operators must hold a Ministry of Tourism permit and carry adequate life jackets. Ask to see both; the requirement exists because it has been ignored.

Crime

• Most crime is non-violent: burglary from tourist villas, theft of unattended bags.
• Petty theft is most common in Port Louis, Grand Baie and Flic en Flac.
• Sexual assaults on tourists have been reported.
• Avoid street and beach vendors, which is the FCDO's own phrasing.

The law that catches people

• Possessing or importing cigarette papers is illegal in Mauritius. They are treated as drug paraphernalia. Roll-ups are a perfectly ordinary thing to have in a bag at home and a criminal matter here.
• Cannabis and other drugs carry lengthy imprisonment and heavy fines.
• Police may ask for identification. Carry a copy of the passport page.

The sea

• Use permitted water sports operators, with life jackets aboard.
• The lagoon is calm and the open sea past the reef is not, which is the trap on a windward coast.

At sea, further out

• Piracy risk in the wider Indian Ocean extends up to 1,000 nautical miles from the Somali coast, which matters for sailors rather than for holidaymakers.

The numbers

Notes

• 999 is the number to remember. It reaches police, ambulance and fire.
• 112 works from a mobile and reaches the police, including the tourist police.
• The direct numbers are worth having in a coastal village, where getting to the right service first saves a transfer.
• In a cyclone, follow the local authorities rather than the emergency line. Warnings are broadcast in classes, and class III and IV mean stay where you are.