Mauritius airport name. Mauritius island international airport
The Republic of Mauritius is a beautiful island nation in the Indian Ocean. Tourists from all over the world love to relax on this wonderful oasis, which is full of tropical flowers. The climate on the island is very favorable, there are many interesting places, and high-quality service completes the picture of a wonderful holiday.
The airport is very modern and equipped. Its plan is very simple, so you will never get lost there. Some interesting facts about the airport:
- In 2013, a new additional terminal D was opened, where a large Duty Free shopping area was placed. There you can buy various souvenirs, perfumes, elite alcohol and other goods from well-known manufacturers. Enormous funds were spent on the construction of the terminal. The Russian company supplied LED lamps for the airport.
- The largest terminal is Terminal B. There are departures and arrivals, as well as shops and cafes.
- The airport accepts planes from more than 70 countries of the world. Every year the island becomes more and more popular for tourism and recreation, so more and more travelers arrive from different countries.
- Visas for Mauritius are issued at the airport, which is incredibly convenient: you do not need to worry about obtaining it in advance.
In Mauritius, the airport of international importance named after the country's first prime minister, Sivusagar Ramgoolam, is the only one in the country. Mauritius International Airport is located next to the city of Mahébourg and 46 km. from Port Louis, the capital of the state, in a southerly direction. The airport accepts flights of European and Asian airlines and carries out domestic flights.
tourist vacation in this country it has always been popular, and the airport had only one terminal, but recently the flow of tourists has increased, in connection with this, a second terminal with a capacity of up to 4 million passengers per year was opened. The two-story terminal building is equipped with ecological high-tech systems, as energy is taken from the sun, and rainwater is included in the cooling system of the airport building using thermal protection panels.
Passengers arrive at the airport and disembark on the first floor of the terminal, while passengers departing from the country board on the second floor. There are only passengers in the building, which does not prevent a well-developed infrastructure from providing passengers with various types of services, where there are modern, luxurious VIP rooms with boutiques located on both floors, a large selection of various press.
Guests also provided services of computers and the Internet, a buffet, shower rooms, a buffet, a bar. From the first minutes of arrival, guests feel the highest service and a high level of security provided by reliable systems that allow them to take care of the safety of passengers' belongings.
Mauritius Seawoosagar Ramgoolam International Airport uses international codes. All countries use them, tags with such codes can be seen on the luggage of passengers, this is done so that the luggage is not lost. Friendly attitude towards guests and unobtrusive service from the staff leave a good impression on tourists from different countries.
You can visit the country without visas, and a visitor visa will be opened to everyone directly at the airport within a few minutes for free. At the airport, you can use the car rental service, order a taxi to get to your hotel, but if the tourist is tired after the flight, then there are hotels near the airport where you can comfortably relax and go further along your route.
Where can I find cheap tours?
It is better to look for profitable tours through a service that compares prices from more than 120 tour operators and allows you to find the cheapest deals. We do it ourselves and are extremely satisfied 🙂
A lot has been written about Mauritius: magazines draw colorful articles, agencies publish bright videos with white sand, and eyewitnesses are divided into those who enthusiastically talk about their wonderful impressions and those whose expectations were not met. What is he really like? In this two-part review, we will tell you about our trip to Mauritius in December 2016.
The first part of the review will be devoted to general questions: car rental in Mauritius, traffic in Mauritius, Port Louis capital, shops and supermarkets, and in the next part we will make a tour of the beaches of Mauritius.
Mauritius airport
From Madrid, we flew with Emirates via Dubai, where we spent a very busy day. Large Airbus 380s are allowed into Mauritius - there were many who wanted to soak up the sun. At the end of the flight they distribute migration cards and maps of visited countries, in which you indicate that you have not recently been to certain states in Africa. If there were, you will be sent to medical examination at the airport.
Border control did not take long - there were many windows and we moved quickly. Luggage was also not long in coming. We changed money Shibani at the airport at a reasonable rate. The airport is small, there is Wi-Fi, a couple of exchange offices and a cafe. At the exit is an open-air waiting room with a roof.
Rent a car in Mauritius
We lost time when renting a car. Firstly, a representative of the Avenue car rental agency met not only us, but also a large family with three children, whom he took first to inspect the car, but we stayed waiting for him at the airport for an hour! At that time, we had not yet bought a SIM card, and the Internet at the airport had one name. Free parking is not very close to the airport, plus the Mauritians are very slow, and when you have not slept for two days, waiting in the heat is the last thing you want to do.
The most popular rental car in Mauritius is Hyundai i10, most often red. It is produced both on the mechanics and on the machine. Since Mauritius has left-hand traffic and I can't handle a manual transmission, we decided to take an automatic and in advance, several times indicated that we were exclusively machine. What a surprise it was when they gave us to fill out documents for mechanics, claiming that they had never heard of any machine gun and we did not ask for anything. As it turned out later, our car was given to someone by mistake, and they brought us this one. Kinda ride. Didn't roll. We called the agency through which we booked, they promised to pick us up and take us to the villa, and deal with the replacement of the car on the spot. The representative of the rental office ran after us for a long time, trying to squeeze 50 euros out of us for bringing us a car.
Conclusion: local rental companies are cheaper than international ones, but you should be on the lookout. The price quoted to you in advance may not include delivery fee(“meeting at the airport”) cars, gasoline (we were left with 4 divisions) and, of course, zero deductible. We took from 400 euros, but when we received the car, 400 suddenly became 500. Check the documents carefully. Arguments about the car took another hour and a half. Of course, this agency should be avoided.
The sun in Mauritius is just crazy. For some 20 minutes, my face turned red, and the cream was lying somewhere in the back of the suitcase. Prepare the essentials ahead of time.
Roads in a residential area
Villa rental in Mauritius
Our villa was located near La Preneuse beach in a complex of three cottages with a communal pool. We booked through Airbnb - it turned out to be much cheaper and more comfortable than expensive hotels in tourist areas. Ratio approximately 50 euros per night vs 200. These are vacation rental privileges. Difficulties can be with the choice of the beach where you rent, but I will talk about the beaches later - we have traveled all over.
The advantage of our villa is that it was located five minutes from a quiet deserted beach and 20 minutes from the spruce Le Morne. nearby supermarket "London"— looks like Soviet stores with those big glass cases of sausages and cheeses. Among the products there are many that were sold in Vladivostok many, many years ago - milk powder, Anchor butter, TipTop ice cream, and rice is also sold here in packages of 5, 10, 20 and 30 kg.
While we were shopping in the store, our new car arrived. The same red. The same Hyundai i10. After receiving the keys, we went to Le Morne beach for a little snorkeling. It gets dark early in Mauritius - sunset starts at 6, so we arrived when the sun was almost gone.
In general, Le Morne is a very beautiful place, it smells delicious of fir trees, crabs hide in the sand right by the shore. Snork is very weak, almost nothing, only hedgehogs.
Capital Port Louis
The next day we had to get to the capital of Mauritius is the city of Port Louis. Despite the fact that according to the map the distance is only 30 km, it will not be possible to get there with a breeze. The road has two lanes, that is, one in each direction, the traffic is very dense, 10 km from the city a crimson traffic jam begins. Our trip took 1.40 hours. The locals ignore the rules of the road. It becomes clear why there is no zero franchise. They don’t care if it’s a “brick” or a double solid - they will turn or go into the oncoming lane simply because it’s so convenient for them. So, on one of the turns we took down the headlight and got all 400 euros. You will never be given the difference, the locals will agree with the car service how to distribute your money. The only advice reduce the deductible and try to drive carefully, although it's not easy with this crazy traffic.
In the capital Port Louis (Port Louis) paid parking, is carried out by piercing the parking start time on cardboard cards that are sold pack of 10 pieces. The face value of one card is 10 or 20 rupees. For one time in the city I had to buy a whole stack. We did not want to return to this hell.
The capital of Mauritius is very dusty, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is chaotic, in the very center there is a large bus station, from where you can quickly get to anywhere. There are small shops and many cafes.
Western part of Mauritius
I will not dwell on the beaches that we will discuss in the next review, but I will describe briefly.
Flic en Flac beach
Tourist mecca, very shallow, wide, with diving centers and boaters, fruits on the shore and chickens near the road. A lot of hotels, villas and restaurants. Not far from the beach, the Super U shopping center and supermarket is the only echo of France besides the language. Dive often go to the "Aquarium", a very popular place at 15-30 meters, located five minutes from the coast.
By the way, beware of the bright fish that will circle around you - one of these attacked without warning and bit my finger, and then Vanya's hand. She is small but aggressive.
Tamarin beach
As crowded as Flic en Flac, smaller, surrounded by trees and a small car park. Excursions to dolphins leave from here, which I will talk about in the next review.
Again, at the entrance is the Padi Diving Center. The pleasure of diving will cost 40-60 euros depending on the location. The specified diving center promised us a dive on Thursday by appointment on Wednesday, but on Wednesday there was no record left. You need to book in advance- they will take a deposit from you and write it on the board.
There is a common problem with the beach: those that are beautiful are crowded, and those that are deserted are ugly.
La Preneuse
Nobody at all. A couple of villas and silence.
By the way, there is no Snork, and comrades from Tamarin told about unprecedented fish in the area. We very carefully studied the bottom - there is nothing.
This beach is not very beautiful, but it is quiet here.
Supermarkets in Mauritius
There are several large Super U supermarkets throughout the island, where you can stock up for a week. We bought a big fish, which was cleaned and cut as I wanted, fruits, vegetables and ice cream instead of a cake - all for my birthday.
There are not many supermarkets, but in any case you need a car to get there. Supermarkets are always located in the clothing shopping center. I have little idea how get around Mauritius without a car The island is large and everything is quite far from each other. Of course, hotels offer excursions, but you will have to pay 10-20 times more, depending on the appetites of the hotel.
Pastries in Mauritius are just disgusting, no connection with France, forget about it. Although I understand them - cakes will not survive in such a heat, but it is quite possible to replace the cake with fruit. Every two kilometers there are tents where you can buy pineapple, banana, papaya, watermelon, lychee and much more.
Pineapples sell small orange ones and bigger ones. In Spain, I always take Del Monte - they are very sweet, but not as fragrant as in Mauritius. If I had a choice, I would still stop at the small Mauritian ones - they they smell like the tropics and are very, very fragrant, and the core is crispy and edible.
Food in Mauritius
We always prefer to rent a villa so that we can use the grill and that no one comes into our house. Hotels will not provide you with a kitchen, and they will charge extra money for grilling. Also in the cottages you can ask the locals if they have familiar fisherman who will bring whatever you want.
I think All Inclusive food in Mauritius is generally superfluous. Breakfast is healthy, but for lunch you can overeat fruit or all sorts of unusual things from the supermarket, such as the New Zealand ice cream of my childhood TipTop. For dinner like this hotels often offer a la carte menu with a limited selection– you will have to pay extra for 70% of the dishes, which in the end turns out to be more expensive than taking accommodation and going to dinner on your own in different places, and not in the same hotel with the same set of dishes, where you eventually have to diversify the menu and pay for an upgrade dish.
We had dinner at the restaurant The Beach at the Lux Le Morne hotel and witnessed a disgruntled couple complaining about the limited menu and that you have to pay extra for everything. They say the thing. Therefore, renting a cottage is better 🙂
Beach Hotel-Restaurant Lux
The restaurant is good, by the way. For important events set up a table right on the beach. The cuisine is author's, delicious, the restaurant deserves its stars on Tripadvisor.
Once for lunch we stopped at a wonderful restaurant of Creole cuisine Escale Créole, where we tried all the delights of the local cuisine, surrounded by a green garden and a light breeze.
What is included in Creole cuisine? Rice, lentils, saltwort, green bean pods, fish in lemon, venison, spiced sausages and a variety of cucumbers, salads and hot sauce.
You need to come only at lunchtime and it is better to take care of booking in advance. The territory near the restaurant is simply amazing: flowers, fruits, huge snails are all around.
Casela Nature Park in Mauritius
On the morning of the third day, Casela Park was planned, where tickets were bought the day before. More precisely, the tickets we tried buy online with 10% discount, but at the stage of payment, the site gave an error, and the park did not respond to emails.
However, we insisted on the right to this discount by presenting an online order. Successfully.
The park is not very impressive, roughly speaking, it's a zoo. Animals in enclosures, some in an open paddock, where a safari bus is carrying. What we will meet: antelopes, rhinos, turtles.
Peacocks roam freely, sometimes spreading their tails, flamingos jump on one paw in the shade of the swamp, and a hippopotamus hides from the scorching sun in the reed bushes.
The publicized interaction with cats is just ridiculous, an attraction for tourists. Those who wish are led into a cage and put behind the back of a lioness, which must be stroked and looked into the camera.
No one asked me if I wanted to sit and take these stupid photos with a forced smile, or if I wanted to shoot lionesses myself at arm's length. Should be ironed. It's supposed to be photographed. Everyone does it. And you shouldn't shoot. It is forbidden.
On a safari, an ostrich comes up to the bus and gnaws on the crossbars.
Pleased with a good composition of birds, but again in small enclosures.
The park will be interesting for children, inquisitive adults will be very bored. Be sure to have a cream no matter what time of day you come.
Sands of Chamarel
Seven sands (Seven Colored Earths) of different colors - a natural formation that attracts a cloud of tourists. On the way, you will meet the exit to the observation deck - be sure to stop, the views are unforgettable.
Entrance to the park - $ 5, quite an adequate price, because there is nothing special to see here - a waterfall, sands and 6 turtles in a paddock.
The “sands” are open until sunset, that is, until 17.00, but the entrance will be closed earlier.
In the photo they seem very majestic, but in fact it is a very small piece of land, enclosed by a fence.
Don't forget to leave a comment and subscribe to our pages
Before an independent trip to Mauritius, you should read information on how to get from Mauritius airport to the cities of the island, and how to get from the cities to Mauritius airport. Thanks to the article, you will be able to choose the best transport for yourself.
Mauritius airport information
- Official name of the airport: Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport Mauritius
- Airport code: IATA: MRU, ICAO: FIMP
- Addressairport: AML House,SSR International Airport, Plaine Magnein, Mauritius
- Location of the airport and distance to the center of the capital: The airport is located 46 km southeast of the capital Port Louis.
- Airport reference phone: +230 603 6000
- Official website of the airport: http://aml.mru.aero/
- Passenger turnover of the airport: 3.5 million people per year
- The cost of the flight from Moscow and St. Petersburg: air ticket Moscow - Mauritius in two directions from 728 Euro with a connection in Paris or Amsterdam; air ticket St. Petersburg - Mauritius in two directions from 717 Euro with a connection in Istanbul.
- Direct flights to Mauritius operate from the following major cities: Paris, Dubai, Frankfurt, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Milan, Rome, London, Istanbul, Johannesburg and charter from Moscow
- The local time: UTC+04:00
- Local currency and exchange rate: Mauritian rupee (MUR). Rate today: 1 Euro = 40 MUR or 1000 rubles = 500 rupees.
- Airport weather: Ocean water temperature: year-round 23-28 °C. The air temperature is stable: all year round 25-33 °C. Most rainy days are in December-March.
- Restaurants and food outlets: Café Lux cafe, Tropical break restaurant, SUBWAY fast food, bars where you can have a drink and a snack before the flight
- Shopping/shopping: Duty Free Paradise, bookstore, souvenirs
- Additional services: ATM, exchanger, free WiFi, VAT refund (tax free)
Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean, measuring 45 by 65 km. The island is located east of the island of Madagascar. If you want to be on the mainland, i.e. in Africa, then it will take 2000 km to fly to the nearest point. The only international airport on the island is the Mauritius Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, and wherever you fly from, this is where you will arrive on the island. Since 2013, a new modern terminal has been operating at the airport. I am posting a map of the Mauritius airport with the international departure area so that you can understand the location of the exits.
Air Mauritius is the largest airline in the country, which flies to South Africa, Australia, Paris, Germany (Frankfurt, Munich), Nigeria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, in total, to more than 40 destinations. Since it is quite far to fly to destinations, the main aircraft of the airline is the Airbus A340.
On the map of the island of Mauritius, you can see the location of the airport and all the cities of the island.
Buses from Mauritius Airport
The bus is the only form of public transport that connects Mauritius airport with several major cities on the island. In total there are 3 bus routes that go to Mauritius Airport. You can take any of them at the bus stop, which is located in the parking lot opposite the terminal building.
Bus number 9 runs between Mahebourg Bus Station (Mahebourg bus station) and Curepipe Jan Palach South Bus Station (Curepipe) through the airport. Route duration: 70 minutes. Buses run every 10 minutes from 5:20 to 20:00.
Bus number 10 runs between the bus stations Mahebourg Traffic Center (Mahebourg) and Rivière des Gallets via the airport. Route duration: 105 minutes. Buses run every 20 minutes from 5:30 to 18:00.
Bus number 198 runs between Port Louis Victoria Square Bus Station and Mahebourg Bus Station via the airport. Route duration: 85 minutes. Buses run every 15 minutes from 06:15 to 18:45. Port Louis Victoria Square Bus Station is a port bus station in the island's capital, Port Louis. At the bus station, you can transfer to buses that go to the west of the island or to the south, for example, to Flic-en-Flac.
If you need to get from the airport to Grand Baie, you first take bus number 198 from the airport to Port Louis Victoria Square Bus Station, where you transfer to bus number 215. Travel time with transfer will be approximately 2.5 hours. The fare for the whole journey will be 50-90 rupees. You may be asked to pay extra for luggage.
Please note that the fare will depend on the condition of the bus, your destination, whether the bus has air conditioning, and how good you look.
Taxi from Mauritius airport
The most comfortable way to get to the hotel after a long flight is a taxi. But do not expect that local taxi drivers will be kind and agree to take the vases for adequate money. There are no meters, and you have to negotiate with drivers about the fare on the spot. Even upon arrival at the destination, local taxi drivers always beg for a tip and say that there is no change. Another problem is the optionality of drivers: you can arrange a trip with a local driver somewhere in a day or two, and he will simply become lazy and will not arrive at the appointed time.
Car rental at Mauritius airport
Experienced travelers, going to some resorts, do not rely on public transport, but rent a car immediately upon arrival. Renting a car solves several problems at once:
- You do not need to book a transfer upon arrival.
- You can independently explore all the sights of Mauritius, even its most remote corners, without annoying guides and the need to adjust to the time.
- In Mauritius, there are good villas and bungalows that are not very close to the beaches, so the beach can only be reached by car. This may not seem like a very comfortable option, but such villas are much quieter than hotels, and the cost of renting a villa can be 3 times lower than the cost of renting a room.
- Every day you can spend on a variety of beaches in Mauritius, fortunately, the beaches here are very picturesque.
There are offices of 8 rental companies at the airport, on a reliable website with a Russian version you can book a car in any of them, where you will be shown the price of all rental companies in the search results. The cost of car rental starts from 30 Euro per day.
There should be no problems with traffic on the roads, the roads on the island are paved, the traffic is normal, there are signs, the police do not nightmare tourists. The only catch is the left-hand drive, which means that you will have to get used to the right steering wheel.
In addition to renting a car, in popular tourist places you can rent a motorcycle, scooter or bicycle. Depending on its condition and the adequacy of the distributors, the prices for renting a scooter vary from 10 to 15 Euro per day. The cost of gasoline on the island is 1.2 Euro per liter.
