Travelling alone as a woman
Local islands are small, quiet and socially conservative, which in practice makes them straightforward to travel alone. The adjustments are about dress and setting, not safety.
Photo · Ilija Jevtic / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Bodufolhudhoo
Bodufolhudhoo has just over seven hundred residents, which puts it among the smaller guesthouse islands in Alif Alif. That size…
Photo · Lucie Mohelnikova (other way holiday) / Google Baa Atoll
Fehendhoo
One hundred and ninety-eight people live on Fehendhoo. That makes it the smallest inhabited island covered here — smaller than…
Photo · AROUND THE WORLD / Google Baa Atoll
Fulhadhoo
Three hundred and forty-one people live on Fulhadhoo, on a long sandbank at the southern edge of Baa. It is one of three small…
Photo · Eduard P / Google Vaavu Atoll
Fulidhoo
Four hundred people live on Fulidhoo. That number explains most of what the island is: a few sand streets, a handful of…
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 · Denis Ivko / Google Vaavu Atoll
Thinadhoo
Two hundred and fifty-eight people live on Thinadhoo. That makes it the smallest island covered here by a wide margin, and it is…
What to ask before you book
- Shoulders and knees covered in the village, swimwear on the bikini beach. That is the whole of it.
- A headscarf is not expected of visitors.
- Smaller islands mean the guesthouse owner knows where you went — which is exactly as reassuring as it sounds.