Mauritius vs Hawaii

Cost

Both sides have sourced restaurant prices, and the gap is large.

Mauritius, checked August 2026: an inexpensive restaurant meal is Rs300, with a range of Rs150-600. A three-course dinner for two at a mid-range restaurant is Rs2,000, range Rs1,200-4,000. A pint of domestic draught is Rs100. Note that some upmarket restaurants add a 10-15% service charge on top.

Honolulu, checked July 2026: an inexpensive meal is $28. The same mid-range dinner for two is $140. A pint is $10.

Hawaii is one of the more expensive places to eat in this directory and Mauritius is one of the cheaper ones. We do not have sourced accommodation rates for either, so this page does not put a figure on what a week costs — but the daily food spend alone is a different order of magnitude, and that compounds over a fortnight.

Getting there

Mauritius has one international airport, SSR in the south-east. Air Mauritius flies non-stop to and from London, Paris CDG daily, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Geneva, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Antananarivo, Saint-Denis on Réunion, Kuala Lumpur and Perth, with Dubai served non-stop under a codeshare. There are no direct flights from the Americas at all.

Hawaii is the mirror image. Honolulu takes non-stop mainland service from Anchorage, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle-Tacoma. Kahului on Maui adds non-stop service from Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento. Līhuʻe and Kona are more limited.

On entry, Mauritius grants a tourist visa on arrival for up to 180 days cumulative in a calendar year, case by case, and asks you to complete the All in One travel form before departure. Hawaii is US entry: ESTA for Visa Waiver nationals, a visa otherwise.

The beaches

The structural difference is the reef.

Mauritius is ringed almost entirely by barrier reef, which is why the water inside it is flat on most of the coast on most days. The trade is a breeze: kitesurfing season runs April to November with July and August the windiest, concentrated on the east and south coasts, so the months that are calmest underfoot are the windiest on the water.

Hawaii has no such ring, and its beaches are seasonal in a way that catches people out. The state's own ocean safety service is blunt about it: in winter, north shores get consistent huge and dangerous swells and novice swimmers of any skill level should stay out of the water at those beaches, while south shores go flat-to-small. In summer the pattern inverts and south shores see large swells frequently. East shores are rough in both seasons from the trades.

In practice that means Hawaii always has a swimmable coast — you just have to know which one, and drive there.

In this directory: Mauritius has 2 beaches listed, 2 rated calm for swimming. Hawaii has 2, 1 calm.

In the water

Mauritius runs roughly 23.7°C to 28.5°C across the year, warmest in March at about 28.5°C and coolest in August and September at about 23.7°C. Swimmable year-round at the main resort coasts, though August and September are cool enough that some people notice.

Hawaii averages 23.3°C, rising to about 26.7°C in summer, and the important point is that it barely moves. Ocean temperature is close to constant year-round; what changes drastically by season is the waves, not the water.

So the two are within a degree or so of each other at their coolest, and Mauritius is a few degrees warmer at its peak.

When to go

The best months line up almost exactly, which is unusual in this set and makes the choice cleaner: both run May to October.

In Mauritius that is winter — drier, breezier, around 25°C, and the beaches are quieter. The months to think hard about are the others: cyclone season officially runs November to 15 May, which is a wider window than most people assume and is not confined to January to March. Direct hits are not common, but that is the official season.

In Hawaii, May to October is summer, averaging 29.4°C in the daytime at sea level against 25.6°C in winter, and it is when north-shore waves subside enough for general swimming. November to March is the wettest stretch, though rainfall is highly localised — the leeward coast is usually dry when the windward side is not.

Beyond the beach

Mauritius is a country rather than a resort strip: a working capital at Port Louis, a mountainous interior, and a food culture drawing on India, China, France and Africa at once. Because the island is small and roads reach everywhere, none of it is a committed day out.

Hawaii's equivalent is landscape and Hawaiian cultural sites, and it is spread across six islands rather than concentrated on one. Seeing much of it means the rental car the tourism authority tells you to book ahead, and often an early start.