Ascension Island Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Ascension Island drives on the left hand side of the road and you can drive here on your own licence for up to 3 months.The speed limit is 20 mph in Georgetown and Two Boats Village, and when passing the airforce Base and either 30 or 40 mph elsewhere
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, around 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from the coast of Africa and 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) from the coast of South America, It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Around 900 people live on the Island in one of the 5 settlements- Georgetown (The Capital and main town), the village of Two Boats , Cat Hill (the United States’ main base on the island), Traveller’s Hill (British Royal Air Force base) and Wideawake Airfield .
The island has 40km of roads, 6 of which are paved, and a large number of dirt roads. The main road is Airhead Road linking Georgetown with the airfield, which passes through Cat Hill. Old Mountain Road and New Mountain Road link Two Boats to Cat Hill and the RAF Base. There are also 3 routes leading to the edge of the island – the English Bay Road leading to the BBC relay station, the Ariane Road leading to the Ariane Tracking Station and the NASA Road leading to the former NASA site in the south east of the island.
All paved roads are in good condition, dirt roads may require a 4X4. There are also speed bumps which are elevated quite high from the road surface so beware of hitting one at speed. There is only one petrol/diesel station on the island, at“One Boat” settlement. Opening times are limited. You should also be aware that wild sheep and donkeys can congregate on the roads, especially during wet weather.
None of the big multinational companiesoperate here but two local operations have a small number of cars to rent – The Obsidian Hotel and Birdie’s, which is the petrol station mentioned above. If one of these companies, or someone else on the island would like to write a blog post on driving on Ascension Island, please contact me on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com
Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.
