Réunion on a British Licence — Yes, but Mind the Side Switch

Réunion is French soil in the Indian Ocean, which makes the licence question easy for a British visitor — and puts the real attention where it belongs: on the road itself.

Can a British driver use their licence here? Yes

You can drive in Réunion on your UK licence. As a French overseas department it runs on French and EU motoring rules, and a UK photocard is accepted for tourist-length stays. If you happen to keep an International Driving Permit for other trips, carrying it does no harm, but it is your home licence and passport that the rental desk wants to see.

The one change that genuinely matters: driving on the right

The UK drives on the left; Réunion drives on the right. This is the adjustment most likely to trip up a British driver, and the danger window is your first day — pulling away from the rental lot at Roland Garros airport, joining a roundabout that now flows the other way, or glancing the wrong direction at a junction. Take your first stretch on a quiet road, not straight into Saint-Denis traffic, and stay deliberate at every turn until it stops feeling backwards.

What the island throws at you

Réunion is a volcano in the sea, and the driving reflects it. The coastal road rings the island, while the routes inland climb hard into the cirques of Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate — narrow, switchbacked and tunnelled, with weather that shifts as you gain height. Mist, sudden rain and rockfall are part of the picture on the mountain roads, so leave time, use low gears on the descents, and don’t rush the bends.

Posted limits and local fine levels are not consistently documented for the island, so the honest guidance is to drive to the road and the conditions rather than to a precise number, and follow the signed limits as you find them. The general emergency number is 112, and downloading offline maps is wise before you head inland where signal drops away.

For the wider French rules that apply here, see our Réunion driving guide, and confirm what any onward leg of your trip needs with the Driving Permit Checker.