The rupee, from arrivals hall to departure gate

The currency of Mauritius is the Mauritian rupee, and it is used nowhere else. One rupee is divided into a hundred cents. This peculiarity calls for a simple habit: you do not arrive with rupees, you obtain them on the spot. The rate offered on arrival is generally better than the one you would find before leaving, and the airport is equipped for this from the moment you leave the baggage hall.

Level 0 of the terminal, the arrivals level, has six bureaux de change in the hall for tour operators and hotels, numbered from 1 to 6: Change Express, Thomas Cook, MCB, Shibani Finance, SBM and BA Exchange. It is in this same hall that inbound agencies and hotel representatives wait for their travellers, so changing money happens on the way to the transfer, with no detour.

Cash machines are on the same level. MCB has placed one in the left wing, near door 4, and another in the baggage reclaim hall, next to the quarantine service. SBM and ABSA bank have installed theirs in the right wing, near door 7. You can therefore withdraw rupees before you have even collected your suitcase.

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Large sums must be declared

One customs rule applies on entry and on exit alike, and even in transit. Anyone carrying cash, bearer negotiable instruments, precious stones or metals, gold, diamonds, jewellery or goods of high value, works of art included, worth more than 500,000 rupees or its equivalent in foreign currency, must declare it to customs. The form is completed at the customs counter at the airport, the port or the cargo terminal, or online, on the website of the Mauritius Revenue Authority.

The penalty is anything but symbolic. Failing to declare, refusing to do so or making a false declaration exposes the traveller to a fine of at least 20 per cent of the amount concerned, up to a limit of two million rupees, and to a prison term of up to five years. The customs officer may question the traveller about the declaration and examine their passport, ticket and luggage.

In everyday life, there are several ways to pay in rupees. Metro Express ticket machines accept both cash and bank cards, whether you are buying a ticket or topping up a travel card. Paying by phone has its place too: since 17 August 2026, the airport car park can be paid for by scanning the QR code on the ticket, with the Juice or Blink apps or through the MauCAS QR system, unless you prefer the pay stations, which take notes and coins.

For a taxi ride, the custom is to agree on the fare before setting off. Apps such as Yugo also let you book a car at a price fixed in advance. At markets, bargaining is welcome. Everywhere, the same caution applies: ask the price before buying anything, and buy no product or service from anyone not authorised to sell it.

In 2026, the standard rate of Mauritian VAT is 15 per cent, and foreign visitors can reclaim the VAT they have paid on their purchases. There is one condition: the purchases must have been made in a shop approved by the Mauritius Revenue Authority, registered with the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the MCCI, and displaying its sign. The process has two stages, and it means arriving at the airport early.

Before check-in, you present your purchases and your receipts, DF5 slips headed “VAT paid supplies to visitors”, at the VAT refund counter run by customs in check-in hall B. Once through immigration and security, you present the stamped receipts at the MCCI counter, opposite boarding gate 19, and collect your refund.

Three rules shape the scheme. No refund is made if the amount due, before charges, is less than 300 rupees for purchases from a single shop. A charge of 2 per cent of the sale value excluding tax is deducted from each refund. And the refund is paid in euros, pounds sterling, US dollars or South African rand.

Some fifty shops on the island also sell duty free. Purchases weighing less than seven kilos are collected at the same MCCI counter, on presentation of the receipt. Heavier ones are handed over in the check-in hall, by prior arrangement with the shop and the MCCI.

One detail remains, and it matters. On departure, the bureaux de change are in check-in halls A and B, and there are none beyond immigration. Any rupees left over must therefore be changed before you show your passport. After that, it is too late.