Mauritius is small enough that no choice of base is wrong, and varied enough that the choice still shapes the holiday. Each coast has its own weather, its own pace and its own driving. This guide is about what each side is like to live on for a week with a car outside.
One thing to settle first: with a car, you are not locked in. The whole island is inside a two-hour drive, and most day trips are under an hour each way. Base yourself where you want to wake up, and drive to everything else.
North: Grand Baie, Trou aux Biches, Pereybere
The north is where most first trips happen, and it is the easiest place to be car-mobile. Distances are short, the roads are flat, and there is a proper town rather than a strip of resorts.
Grand Baie holds the shops, the restaurants and the boats out to the northern islets. Trou aux Biches, Mont Choisy and Pereybere are the calm swimming beaches, ten minutes apart. Cap Malheureux marks the top of the island, with the view across to Coin de Mire. A few minutes inland, Triolet, Goodlands and the Pamplemousses gardens are ordinary working Mauritius rather than holiday Mauritius.
Driving here is slow and undemanding: short hops, narrow village lanes, and beach car parks that fill by mid-morning at weekends. Port Louis is about half an hour down the motorway outside the rush.
Base here if you want life outside the hotel gate, easy dinners and short drives. The north zone page and the Grand Baie page list what is available locally.
West: Flic en Flac, Tamarin, Le Morne approaches
The west is the sunset coast, and the driest side of the island. Flic en Flac has a long public beach and a working village behind it; Tamarin and Black River are quieter, more residential, and the base for dolphin trips and kitesurfing.
The west is also where the island goes vertical. Chamarel, the Seven Coloured Earths, Black River Gorges and the road up into the hills are all within a short drive — roughly 45 minutes up from the coast, with the views over the west on the way there being half the reason to go.
Roads are good along the coast and steep and winding above it. Nothing needs a large car, but a car with a bit of pull makes the hill roads more relaxed.
Base here if you like sunsets, hiking and a slightly quieter evening than the north. The west zone page and the Flic en Flac page cover the area.
East: Belle Mare and the quiet coast
The east is the calm, green, low-key side. Belle Mare's beaches are the widest on the island, the lagoon is enormous, and the villages between Trou d'Eau Douce and Poste Lafayette are unhurried.
It is also the windiest coast, which is wonderful in February and noticeable in July. Boats to Ile aux Cerfs go from this side, and so does most of the island's kitesurfing.
Driving here is the most pleasant on the island: coast roads, little traffic, few junctions. The trade-off is that there is less within walking distance of wherever you stay, so the car does more work — which is exactly why people who base here rent one.
Base here if you want quiet, space and a slower rhythm. The east zone page is the local starting point.
South: Le Morne, Souillac, the wild coast
The south is the dramatic one. Le Morne stands over the south-west corner, the cliffs at Gris Gris take the open ocean with no reef in front of them, and the coast between Baie du Cap and Souillac is the emptiest stretch of road on the island.
This is also the least developed side: fewer restaurants, fewer shops, longer gaps between fuel stations. On a map that reads as remote; in practice it is thirty to forty minutes from anywhere with a supermarket.
The roads are fine but rougher in places, with more potholes and steeper approaches than the north. A car with slightly more ground clearance earns its keep here more than anywhere else.
Base here if the scenery is the point and you are happy to drive to dinner. The south zone page shows the local fleet.
Centre and Port Louis
The plateau — Curepipe, Quatre Bornes, Moka, Ebene — is where Mauritius actually lives. It is cooler, greener and wetter than the coast, and it is the cheapest place to stay by a distance.
From the centre every coast is roughly an hour away, which makes it a genuinely practical base for a driving holiday, if not a beach one. Port Louis itself is the capital, the port and the market: worth a morning, hard to park in, and not where most visitors sleep.
Base here if you are working, visiting family, or treating the island as somewhere to explore rather than somewhere to lie down. The Port Louis page and the south-east page between them cover the middle and the airport end. Expats and Premium Visa holders staying for months tend to settle on the plateau or the west coast, and the long-term rental guide covers the monthly rates and paperwork that go with that.
Drive times between the coasts
Approximate, outside the Port Louis rush, and always longer than the distance suggests:
- Airport to the north — about an hour and a quarter.
- Airport to the west — around an hour.
- Airport to the east — under an hour.
- North to Port Louis — about half an hour.
- North to the west coast — around an hour.
- West to the south coast — under an hour.
- Anywhere on the plateau to any coast — roughly an hour.
The two things that stretch these numbers are the capital at rush hour and village roads at school time. Neither is dramatic; both are worth ten extra minutes.
Which car for which base
- North — a compact car. Village lanes, tight beach car parks, short distances, and the cheapest thing to fuel. This is the island's default for good reason.
- West — a compact or a sedan. The hill roads are the deciding factor; a slightly larger engine makes the climb to Chamarel less of an event.
- East — a sedan. Long coast drives, few junctions, and the boot space for a day out with towels, cool box and snorkels.
- South — an SUV. Ground clearance and a higher seat are worth having on the rougher approaches, and the drives are longer.
- Centre — anything, but comfort matters more than size, because you will be on the motorway daily.
- Family of five or six, anywhere — a seven-seat minivan. Seats decide this, not the coast; see the family guide.
And then drive
Whichever coast you pick, plan at least two long days out of it. The island rewards that far more than it rewards choosing the perfect base. Three road trips sets out the obvious ones, north, east and south, with the stops worth making on each.