The Maldives on a budget
Guesthouse islands exist because the Maldives without a resort costs a fraction of the Maldives with one. The reef is the same reef.
Photo · Aleksandra Jopek / Google Kaafu Atoll
Dhiffushi
Dhiffushi sits at the eastern edge of Kaafu, at the end of the chain rather than in the middle of it, with a little under…
Photo · Petra Caganova / Google Baa Atoll
Goidhoo
Goidhoo has just under six hundred residents and shares a reef with Fulhadhoo and Fehendhoo in the south of Baa Atoll. Of the…
Photo · Hussain Solah / Google Kaafu Atoll
Gulhi
Gulhi is a small island in southern Kaafu with fewer than a thousand residents, and its main advantage is position: it sits on…
Photo · Marc Perreault / Google Kaafu Atoll
Guraidhoo
Guraidhoo sits in southern Kaafu with around seventeen hundred residents, which makes it a proper island community rather than a…
Photo · Anil Travel Logs / Google Haa Dhaalu Atoll
Hanimaadhoo
Hanimaadhoo is the gateway to the far north. It has the regional airport, around two and a half thousand residents, and roughly…
Photo · ibrahim nashid / Google Kaafu Atoll
Hulhumalé
Hulhumalé is not a holiday island and does not pretend to be. It is reclaimed land next to the airport, built to take the…
Photo · Bilal Afzal Khan / Google Kaafu Atoll
Maafushi
Maafushi sits about 26 km south of Malé in Kaafu Atoll, and it is where local-island tourism in the Maldives first took hold at…
Photo · Mohamed Naushad / Google Alif Dhaal Atoll
Mahibadhoo
Mahibadhoo is the administrative centre of Alif Dhaal and, with over two and a half thousand residents, by some distance the…
Photo · Richard Newman / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Mathiveri
Mathiveri sits at the northern end of Alif Alif with fewer than nine hundred residents — small enough to walk end to end, large…
Photo · Jenzy Ben / Google Kaafu Atoll
Thulusdhoo
Thulusdhoo is the surf island of Kaafu Atoll, and it wears that identity plainly. Two of the best-known breaks in the country sit…
What to ask before you book
- The public ferry costs a few rufiyaa where a speedboat costs tens of dollars — but it runs on fixed days and not at all on Fridays on many routes.
- Eat where the islanders eat. The cafés off the main street are a fraction of the guesthouse restaurant.
- Excursions are where budgets go. Pick two rather than one a day, and book them on the island rather than in advance.