The islands where people actually live
Around a thousand islands make up the Maldives; fewer than two hundred are inhabited, and only some of those have guesthouses. These are the ones worth knowing about — each with its own character, its own way in, and its own reason to go.
Narrow it down
Showing 5 of 25 islands
Photo · Warren Mills / 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…
1,270 residentsBikini beach
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…
1,743 residentsBikini beach
Photo · Rune Tollefsen / Google Kaafu Atoll
Huraa
Huraa lies in northern Kaafu with around sixteen hundred residents, close enough to Malé that the transfer is short and far…
1,654 residentsBikini beach
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…
4,471 residentsBikini beach
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…
1,801 residentsBikini beach