Mauritius Packing List
- Country Mauritius
- Guide Packing
- Reviewed 19 August 2026
- Length 1 min read
Credit Sarvesh Lutchmun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Last reviewed 19 August 2026
Mauritius is small enough that you will do several different kinds of day in one trip. The island is warm all year and wetter than people expect, the interior is genuinely cooler than the coast, and the places worth dressing for are religious rather than formal. Pack for all three and you will not have to buy anything.
Clothing
- Light, loose cotton and linen. Synthetics are miserable in humidity.
- A long skirt or long trousers, and a top that covers the shoulders, for temples.
- A fleece or a light jacket for the central plateau and for evenings.
- A rain layer. Showers are brief, frequent and can be heavy.
- Sandals for the coast and closed shoes with grip for the gorges.
- A hat with a brim and sunglasses, both used more than you expect.
Everything else
- Reef-safe sunscreen, in high factor, and more of it than you think.
- Insect repellent for dusk, especially inland and near still water.
- A refillable bottle. Tap water is generally treated, but ask locally.
- A dry bag, for the boat trips that are the reason many people come.
- A universal adapter. Mauritius uses both the British three pin and the round two pin.
- Any prescription medicine in its original packaging, with the prescription.
Two things worth knowing before you shop
The reef is the attraction and the reef is fragile. Sunscreen labeled reef-safe is worth seeking out at home, because the choice on the island is narrower and dearer.
The other is the temples. Ganga Talao, the mandirs in the villages and the mosques in Port Louis are all working places of worship rather than sights, and turning up in beachwear is the one avoidable way to be conspicuous. Shoes come off, shoulders and knees are covered, and nobody will make a scene about it, which is precisely why it is worth getting right.