Mauritius Travel Safety Guide

The quick answer

The United States places Mauritius at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, for crime. The United Kingdom warns against travel to no part of Mauritius and publishes no regional-risks page for it.

Most of what can go wrong here is either a stolen bag or a legal problem, and the second is much more serious than most visitors realize.

Crime

The FCDO's summary is that most crime is non-violent: burglaries from tourist villas and theft of unattended bags. Petty crime is common, particularly in tourist areas such as Port Louis, Grand Baie and Flic en Flac. It also records some reports of sexual assaults on tourists.

Its advice is unusually practical:

• Make sure your accommodation is secure.
• Keep your passport and important documents in a hotel safe.
• Do not walk alone at night on beaches or in poorly lit areas, particularly in the backstreets of the business district of Port Louis.
• Only rent accommodation that is registered with the Mauritius Tourism Authority. This is a specific and checkable instruction, and it is the one most often skipped.
• Do not do business with street or beach vendors.

Report incidents to the Mauritius tourist police on 999.

⚠ The legal risks, which are the real ones

Drugs

The FCDO's language is not the usual boilerplate and it deserves quoting closely. Illegal drugs, including cannabis, carry severe penalties. Expect a long jail sentence and heavy fines for possessing, using or smuggling them, including when transiting through the airport. Airports here have excellent detection technology and it is also used to scan the baggage of transiting passengers.

And then the sentence that matters most: if you are found with any drugs, it is unlikely you will be bailed, regardless of the type of drug. Prosecutions take a year or more to come to court, and you will be detained until your trial.

Pack your own luggage and do not carry anything through customs for anyone else.

Police investigations

This is the other one nobody expects. If you are under police investigation, you will be provisionally charged and not allowed to leave the country without a judge's consent. It can take up to two years for the authorities to decide whether to issue a formal charge, and if you cannot support yourself financially you will be kept in prison while the police finish their investigation.

Two smaller ones

• Cigarette papers. It is illegal to possess or import them. This is not a misprint.
• Personal identification. Police may occasionally ask to see your passport or driving license.

LGBT+ travelers

The FCDO records that same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in October 2023. It also describes Mauritius as a relatively conservative society and notes that local attitudes vary. Both halves of that are worth carrying: the law changed, and the social picture is more mixed than the law.

In the water

The main hazards on a Mauritian holiday are aquatic rather than criminal.

• Stonefish. The FCDO records that stings are rare but can be fatal. Get urgent medical attention if you are stung, and note that many hotels stock anti-venom serum. Reef shoes are the simple precaution, and they matter most where you are wading rather than swimming.
• Currents. The lagoon is calm because of the reef. Outside it is a different sea. Take local advice about where it is safe to swim and respect flags.
• Health risks named by the FCDO here are dengue, chikungunya and schistosomiasis. The first two are mosquito-borne, so repellent is a daily habit rather than an evening one.

Terrorism

The FCDO's position is that although there is no recent history of terrorism in Mauritius, attacks cannot be ruled out. We quote it as written.

Healthcare, and the money question behind it

Good private healthcare is available and can be expensive. The FCDO notes that more complex cases may require evacuation to Réunion or South Africa, that ambulance quality and response speed can vary, and that if you can, you should go directly to the hospital. The emergency medical numbers are 999 or 114.

Insurance that covers treatment and repatriation, plus accessible funds, is the practical conclusion. See Mauritius for Senior Travelers.

Sources

• US Department of State: the Mauritius travel advisory, currently Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, for crime. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Mauritius travel advice, which warns against travel to no part of the country. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Mauritius safety and security: crime, the accommodation-registration advice, drug law, police investigations and the decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity in October 2023. Accessed 14 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Mauritius health advice: the emergency numbers, dengue, chikungunya and schistosomiasis, stonefish stings, and the rules on bringing medication. Accessed 14 September 2026.