Taxi in Seychelles
Agree the price
before you get in.
What a taxi actually costs here, route by route, how the fare is settled, and the day a hire car becomes the cheaper answer.
Tell us where and when.
Route, time, how many of you. Meera confirms the car and a fixed price in writing. Nothing is charged now.
What it costs.
Guide prices for a private car, published by our own house, SeyBooking.com. Rupee figures are indicative.
| Short runs around Victoria and Beau Vallon | €30 to €40 · about ₹4,400 |
|---|---|
| Airport to Eden Island or Victoria | €40 to €50 · about ₹5,500 |
| Airport to Beau Vallon | €50 to €70 · about ₹7,700 |
| Airport to Baie Lazare, for the Four Seasons and the Kempinski | €90 to €110 · about ₹12,000 |
| Beau Vallon to the southern beaches | €80 · about ₹8,800 |
| A full day on Mahé with the driver waiting | €240 · about ₹26,500 |
Guide prices, published by SeyBooking.com. They move with the exact route, the hour and how many of you there are, which is why the price is agreed in writing before the trip rather than read off a meter afterwards.
Read those as ranges rather than as a price list. A fare here moves with the exact road, the hour of the day and how many of you there are, and a single number would be a false precision dressed up as authority.
What does not move is the method. The price is agreed before the trip, in writing if we arranged it, out loud at the kerb if you did not.
The one thing you need to know.
In Seychelles the fare is agreed as you get in, not read off a meter as you get out. Meters exist and are fitted. They are rarely the thing that decides what you pay.
This is not an attempt to catch you out. It is simply how it works, and a driver expects to be asked. Ask the price before you sit down, and say so plainly if it sounds high. That is usually the whole negotiation.
Cash is easier than a card. Seychelles rupees are better than euros, because the rate inside a driver's wallet is never the rate at a bank. And Indian rupees are not money here at all, which is worth knowing before you land with a wallet full of them.
After midnight the price is often higher. Settle that in advance rather than at the door of the hotel at one in the morning.
The day the taxi gets expensive.
One run from the airport to the hotel is sensible. Two runs a day, every day, is not.
A car starts at €45 a day, about ₹5,000, with insurance, unlimited kilometres and delivery to where you are staying. On day two it is already cheaper than taxis, and unlike a taxi it is sitting outside when you want to leave at six to have a beach to yourselves.
The exception is La Digue, which has almost no cars at all. There you take a bicycle, and a bicycle is genuinely enough for the whole island.
- Car hire
- From €45 a day, no deposit, delivered
- Airport transfer
- A fixed price, and someone waiting with your name
- Buses
- SPTC, cheap and slow, and cashless
- A bicycle on La Digue
- The only thing the island needs
How else you move.
The six that arrive every week.
Do the taxis have meters?
Officially yes. In practice a visitor is almost always quoted a fixed price, and that is normal here rather than a trick. Ask what it costs before you get in, agree it, and there is nothing left to argue about at the other end.
Can we pay by card?
Rarely. Most drivers want cash, in Seychelles rupees or in euros. If you need a card it can be arranged, but it has to be arranged beforehand.
Rupees, but which rupees?
Seychelles rupees, not Indian ones. They are a different currency and Indian rupees are not accepted anywhere on the islands. Change money at the airport or a bank rather than with a driver, because a driver's exchange rate is your loss.
Is it more expensive at night?
It often is, after midnight. That is worth settling before the trip rather than after it. A pre-booked car has the night price already in the fixed figure.
When does hiring a car become cheaper?
On the second day. Two taxi runs a day already cost more than a car for the whole day, and a car costs the same whether it moves once or six times. If you plan to see anything at all, the car wins almost immediately.
Are taxis any use on La Digue?
No, and you will not want one. There are almost no cars on La Digue. The island runs on bicycles, and a bicycle covers all of it.
Need a car and a driver?
Send the route and the time. You get a fixed price back in writing, before the trip rather than after it.