Living in Mauritius: Cost, Internet, Transport and Daily Life

Updated August 2026. We spent about three months living in Mauritius, long enough to learn that the island works very differently when you are trying to live there rather than staying in a resort for a week. This update keeps our firsthand observations but removes old mobile-data packages, stale payment-app claims, and prices that were beginning to read like current quotes.

Living in Mauritius: the short version

Mauritius can work very well for a medium-term stay if you choose the right part of the island. Internet access is good, mobile data is easy to arrange, local food can be inexpensive, and the coast gives you easy access to beaches and outdoor activities.

The part we underestimated was transport. Mauritius is a small island on a map, but day-to-day journeys can be slow because of traffic and because useful destinations are spread out. Where you live changes the experience enormously.

Where we would live in Mauritius

If we went back for another few months, I would start with the west coast, particularly around Tamarin or Flic en Flac. We originally avoided these areas because they looked more tourist-oriented. In practice, they still have plenty of local life, while giving you easier access to the beach and less of the dense traffic we dealt with around Beau Bassin/Rose Hill.

Cost of living

I no longer think a list of our 2022 grocery, rent and vehicle prices is useful without a date attached. Accommodation varies hugely between long-term local rentals, short-term furnished apartments and resorts, and imported goods can move in price quickly.

The useful distinction is that resort Mauritius and everyday Mauritius are almost different economies. Resort rooms and tourist services can be expensive. Local street food, ordinary supermarkets and longer-term housing can be much more reasonable. Your transport choice can become one of the larger recurring costs if you rent a car for months.

Getting around Mauritius

We found a car extremely useful. Buses work for established routes, and Metro Express is useful on the corridor it serves, but neither gave us the flexibility we wanted for hikes, beaches, shopping and regular appointments around the island.

Our longer guide to driving in Mauritius covers road conditions, traffic and renting a vehicle. The short version is that distances look small and can still take a long time.

Internet and SIM cards in Mauritius

This is one area where the old post was badly out of date. We used an old prepaid pack that gave us a huge block of data for several months. That exact package is not something I would tell a 2026 visitor to look for.

my.t now sells a dedicated 5G Tourist SIM/eSIM for €30, valid for 30 days, with unlimited mobile data, unlimited local SMS and Rs 200 of call credit. You can arrange it at the airport, at Telecom shops, or through the online process. A valid passport and your address in Mauritius are required.

For a longer stay, ask about the current normal prepaid options rather than repeatedly buying a tourist package. The important thing for remote work is that mobile data gives you a useful backup when home internet goes down.

Languages in Mauritius

Mauritian Creole is the language you hear most in ordinary conversation. French is extremely useful and, in our experience, often easier for day-to-day spoken interactions than English. English is widely used in formal contexts and many people speak it well, but you should not assume everyone prefers it socially.

We wrote a separate guide to the languages of Mauritius, including some useful Mauritian Creole phrases.

Food in Mauritius

Mauritian food reflects the island’s Indian, Chinese, African and French history without tasting exactly like any of those cuisines. The simple foods were the ones we returned to most often: roti with curry, dholl puri, biryani, haleem and alouda.

Roti was easily my favourite. A warm roti stuffed with curry after a day outside is still one of the clearest food memories I have of Mauritius.

What to do while living there

The strongest reasons to live in Mauritius for a while are outdoors: hiking, swimming, diving, surfing, kitesurfing and exploring the coastline. We put together a separate Mauritius bucket-list map for the places we wanted to see.

I also spent a good chunk of our stay training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Mauritius, which was one of the better ways to meet people outside the visitor bubble.

Would we live in Mauritius again?

Yes, but I would choose the location more carefully. For us, a west-coast base with useful shops nearby would solve much of what we disliked about the first stay. Mauritius suits you particularly well if you work remotely, like outdoor activities, and are comfortable either driving or organising your life around a smaller local area.