Getting Around Bermuda

The rule that changes everything else

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office states it without qualification: tourists are not allowed to drive cars in Bermuda.

That single sentence removes the option every other guide in this section opens with. There is no counter to collect keys from, no license to check, no insurance excess to argue about. If you have read advice about renting a car in Bermuda, it was written by somebody who carried it over from somewhere else, and following it would be an attempt to do something the island does not permit.

What you use instead

Buses, ferries and taxis. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office record treats public transportation here as a normal and workable way to move around, which is not something it says about every destination, and it is what a visitor is expected to use.

Plan on that basis from the beginning. Where you stay matters more when you cannot drive: a property on a route is a different trip from one that is not. Build a little slack into connections, and treat the last departure of the evening as a real constraint rather than a detail.

Scooters, and the warning attached to them

Scooters are the option visitors reach for, and the record carries a specific and serious caution: accidents between 50cc scooters and cars are common, and they have caused serious injuries and deaths.

That is not a reason nobody should ride one. It is a reason to decide deliberately rather than by default. If you have never ridden, a Bermudian road is a poor place to learn. If you do ride, remember the theft record below, and check that your travel insurance covers you on a scooter at all, because a great many policies do not and a medical bill here is measured against American treatment costs.

The speed limit is lower than you think

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office records a national speed limit of 35 kilometers per hour, a little over twenty miles per hour. That is the limit for the whole island, not a zone.

Read it as a description of the roads rather than as a restriction on them. Journeys take longer than a map suggests, distances that look trivial are not, and an itinerary built on mainland driving times will not survive contact with the island.

Do not leave anything under the seat

The record names theft of unattended baggage and belongings, including from rental scooters. Storage on a scooter is convenient, visible and unattended by definition. Take what matters with you when you park.

Where this fits

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic, and its transportation rules are its own. Nothing on this page is drawn from an island in the Caribbean, where hire cars are the norm and the advice would be exactly wrong. Our accessibility guide and our guide for senior travelers both start from the same premise, because when driving is not an option it stops being one for everybody.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Bermuda safety and security: a moderate level of crime, theft of unattended baggage and belongings including from rental scooters, the record that Bermuda is a separate legal jurisdiction to the United Kingdom with its own laws, that it is illegal for anyone to be topless in public and illegal to drink alcohol in public outside of licensed premises, that weapons law covers ammunition including empty magazines, that drug offenses carry prison sentences of up to 25 years, that same-sex partners can no longer marry following a change in the law, that there are strong rip currents in many places, that most people do not swim in the sea until after Bermuda Day in late May, that tourists are not allowed to drive cars, that accidents between 50cc scooters and cars are common, a national speed limit of 35 kilometers per hour, and a hurricane season normally running from June to November. Accessed 18 September 2026.