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◆ Country guide · South Asia

Maldives, atoll by atoll

A country of 1,192 islands and 298 square kilometres of land, scattered across roughly 90,000 square kilometres of ocean. Almost every decision here comes down to which island you sleep on and how you reach it.

515,132

People

1,192

Islands

Atolls

Region

Best months

Feb · Mar · Sep

Ideal length

7–10 days

Budget / day

$120–400

Language

Dhivehi

Getting around

Ferries, speedboats & seaplanes

When to visit Maldives

Two monsoons, and they decide the trip: dry water from December, wildlife from May.

Full month guide →

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Best: February and March, the settled middle of the northeast monsoon Peak: December and January, when the resorts price for the holidays Good: April and May either side of the change, and August to October for the mantas Wettest: June, July and November, with squalls, wind and the lowest prices of the year

Quick answer · where to go in the Maldives

Everyone arrives at Velana International Airport beside Malé, and the next decision is the trip. A resort island is one property on one island, reached by speedboat or seaplane, with the reef at the end of the jetty. A local island is an inhabited one with guesthouses, a ferry timetable and a designated swimming beach, and it costs a fraction of the same water. For a first week, stay in the atolls near the capital where the public ferries run. For mantas, go to Baa Atoll between May and November. For whale sharks year round, go to South Ari. For sharks, walls and a country that feels nothing like the brochure, fly to Fuvahmulah or Addu in the far south.

All regions Malé & Kaafu Baa & the biosphere Ari Atoll Vaavu & Meemu Laamu & the central atolls Huvadhu & the far south Addu Fuvahmulah Haa & the far north

Jump to Map Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Maldivians Food FAQ

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

No natural ground in the Maldives is much above head height. The country averages about 1.5 metres above sea level, and its highest natural point is roughly 2.4 metres, which makes it the lowest-lying country on earth and the reason sea level is domestic politics here rather than foreign policy.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"The Maldives is honeymoons and overwater villas."

The realityThat is one product, sold hard, on privately leased islands. Inhabited islands have taken paying guests since the guesthouse rules opened up at the end of the 2000s, and they are where the diving crowd, the surfers and most independent travellers now stay.

"You cannot go unless you have a resort budget."

The realityThe public ferry network links the atolls around the capital for the price of a bus ticket, and a guesthouse room on an island like Maafushi or Dhigurah is priced like any other beach destination in South Asia. The expensive part is the seaplane, so the cheap trip is the one that stays within ferry range.

"One island is much like the next."

The realityFuvahmulah is a single island that forms its own atoll, has a freshwater lake and dives tiger sharks off the harbour wall. Addu is a chain joined by a causeway road with a British-era airfield under it. Baa is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The map is not a repeating pattern.

"There is nothing to do but lie on the sand."

The realityThe country is one long reef system, and the water is the itinerary: manta and whale shark seasons, wall dives, wrecks, and a surf season on the eastern reefs that runs through the southwest monsoon.

Overwater villas and nothing elseHoneymoon destination onlyThe islands are sinkingNo culture, just sandImpossible on a normal budgetYou will never meet a Maldivian

How to fit in

Inhabited islands follow a modest dress code in public: shoulders and knees covered. Swimwear belongs on the designated bikini beach and nowhere else, so carry a cover-up off the sand.
Alcohol is legal on resort islands and liveaboards, and not on inhabited islands. Do not bring any in through the airport; it is taken off you at customs.
Friday is the weekly holiday and the middle of the day belongs to prayers. Shops shut, ferries thin out, and nothing much moves until the afternoon.
Ramadan changes the day completely, including eating and drinking in public. Guesthouses will feed you, but do it discreetly and expect shorter hours everywhere else.
Shoes come off at the door of a home and at a mosque. Ask before photographing anyone, and expect a no at the mosque door if you are not Muslim.
Do not touch, chase or ride marine life. Hanifaru Bay is snorkelling only, with scuba banned outright, because a diver’s bubbles break up the feeding.

Famous Maldivian faces

The names behind Maldivian politics, sport, screen and letters. Pick a field.

Mohamed Nasheed

The first democratically elected president, and the country’s best-known campaigner on rising seas

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

President for thirty years, from 1978 to 2008, over the decades tourism was built

Ibrahim Nasir

Led the Maldives to independence in 1965, and opened the first resort in 1972

Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam

The sultan who ended Portuguese rule in 1573, marked every year on National Day

Ali Ashfaq

The national football team’s record scorer, with 58 goals in 101 caps

Zero Degree Atoll

The band, formed in 1987, that put the bodu beru drum into modern Maldivian music

Yoosuf Shafeeu

Actor, director and editor, and the most decorated name in Maldivian cinema

Hussain Salahuddin

Writer, poet and scholar, and one of the founders of modern Dhivehi letters

Mohamed Muizzu

President since November 2023, and mayor of Malé before that

Hassan Sobir

Diplomat and politician, ambassador to Japan from 2023 until his death in 2025

Aishath Sajina

Swimmer, who raced the 100 metre breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics

Abdulla Rasheed

Footballer, remembered as the first player to score for the national team

Niuma Mohamed

Actress, director and producer, and one of the most awarded names in Maldivian film

Mohamed Jameel Didi

Wrote the words of the national anthem, Gaumee Salaam, in 1948

Fathimath Saeed

Poet and writer, and the foremost woman of Maldivian letters in her generation

Habeeba Hussain Habeeb

Writer, author and librarian, who spent a career putting Dhivehi books on shelves

Must-try Maldivian food

Tuna, coconut and a starch. Almost everything on the table is a combination of the three. Pick a category.

Mas huni

Shredded smoked tuna worked through grated coconut with onion, chilli and lime, scooped up with roshi. The national breakfast, eaten every day.

Garudhiya

A clear tuna broth, poured over rice and finished at the table with lime, chilli and raw onion. The plainest dish here and the one people miss abroad.

Rihaakuru

What is left when that broth is reduced for hours: a dark, salty tuna paste eaten with rice, roshi or breadfruit. An acquired taste worth acquiring.

Mas riha

Tuna curry, thickened with coconut milk and scented with curry leaf and pandan. The default dinner on an inhabited island.

Roshi

The thin unleavened flatbread that carries everything else. Ordered by the piece, never by itself.

Fihunu mas

Whole reef fish scored to the bone, rubbed with a chilli and garlic paste and grilled over coals until the skin blisters.

Gulha

Fried dough balls with a tuna, coconut and chilli centre. The short eat everyone starts with, and the one that disappears fastest.

Bajiya

A triangular pastry of tuna, onion and coconut, cousin to the samosa and drier in the best way.

Masroshi

The same tuna and coconut mix folded inside flatbread and griddled. Breakfast, or the thing you take on a boat.

Bis keemiya

A rolled pastry parcel of egg, cabbage and tuna, fried and cut on the diagonal.

Kulhi boakibaa

A dense savoury cake of rice, tuna and coconut, baked and cut into squares. The centrepiece of a tea table.

Kukulhu riha

The chicken version, milder and slower, usually the alternative when the whole table is not eating fish.

Bambukeyo hiti

Breadfruit simmered in coconut milk. The starch that fed these islands long before rice arrived by ship.

Saagu bondibai

Sago pearls in sweetened coconut milk, scented with rose water. Served warm at celebrations.

Dhonkeyo kajuru

Ripe banana beaten into a batter, deep fried and rolled in sugar. Best straight out of the pan.

Sai

Black tea, taken sweet and taken often. The reason hedhikaa exist, and the social structure of every island afternoon.

Maldives travel FAQ

Do you need a visa for the Maldives?+

No. Every nationality gets a free 30-day visa on arrival, with no application and no fee, provided you hold a passport valid for the stay, an onward ticket and a confirmed booking for somewhere to sleep. The one thing to do in advance is the Traveller Declaration on the immigration service’s IMUGA portal, which has to be submitted within 96 hours of your flight and is free. Sites charging for it are resellers of a government form.

Resort island or local island?+

They are two different holidays. A resort is one property occupying one island: everything is included in the sense that there is nowhere else to go, alcohol is served, and the reef is at the end of the jetty. A local island is an inhabited village with guesthouses, a shop, a mosque and a designated swimming beach, where you eat what the island eats and the day has other people in it. Local islands cost a fraction of the same water. Plenty of trips do a few nights of each.

When is the best time to visit the Maldives?+

February and March, at the settled heart of the northeast monsoon: dry days, flat water and the best underwater visibility of the year. December and January are just as good and priced for the holidays. The southwest monsoon from May brings squalls, wind and the lowest prices, and it also brings the plankton that draws mantas into Baa Atoll, so the wet season is the wildlife season.

Can you drink alcohol in the Maldives?+

On resort islands and liveaboard boats, yes. On inhabited islands, no: alcohol cannot legally be sold or drunk there, and bottles brought in through the airport are held by customs until you leave. Guesthouse islands near a moored floating bar will offer a boat transfer out to it, which is the legal workaround rather than a loophole to be quiet about.

How do you get between the islands?+

Four ways, and the choice sets your budget. Public ferries are slow, cheap and run to a timetable that does not include Fridays on many routes. Private speedboats are the standard resort and guesthouse transfer within a couple of hours of the capital. Domestic flights on the national carrier reach airfields the length of the country. Seaplanes cover the resorts that have no airstrip nearby, cost the most, and fly in daylight only.

Where do you see manta rays and whale sharks?+

Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll is the manta site, a protected bay inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve where the animals gather to feed between May and November, with the strongest odds from July to October. It is snorkelling only: scuba is banned there, because the bubbles break up the feeding. Whale sharks are the other way round, resident year round along the southern rim of Ari Atoll, which is why Dhigurah and its neighbours run daily trips.

Know before you go

The essentials for planning a Maldives trip.

Currency

Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR)

Resorts price in US dollars and settle in them, and cards are taken everywhere a tourist goes. On inhabited islands the rufiyaa is the working currency for the ferry, the shop and the café, and small notes are worth having because change for a large one is not always there. Exporting rufiyaa is pointless: nowhere abroad wants them.

Language

Dhivehi

Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language written in Thaana, a script read right to left that was built out of Arabic and Dhivehi numerals rather than inherited from either. English is the working language of tourism, government and secondary schooling, so you will be understood in both, and a word of Dhivehi is noticed. Shukuriyyaa is thank you.

Power

230V, 50Hz, mainly Type G

The British three-pin Type G socket is the most common, a legacy of the protectorate years, but round-pin Type D turns up on older islands and resorts fit whatever their guests carry. A universal adapter settles it. Power on smaller inhabited islands runs off a generator, so a cut for an hour is not an emergency.

Emergency

119 police, 102 ambulance, 118 fire

The police line is 119 and is answered in English. For anything on the water, 191 reaches the coastguard, which is the number that matters on an archipelago: most serious trouble here is a boat, a current or a diving incident rather than a road. The recompression chambers are few and far between, so dive within your training.

Visa

Free on arrival, every nationality

Thirty days, granted at the counter, with no fee and no application. Bring a passport valid for the stay, an onward ticket and a confirmed booking. The Traveller Declaration is the only paperwork done in advance: submit it on the immigration service’s own IMUGA portal within 96 hours of the flight, for free, and ignore the sites that charge to fill in the same form.

Getting around

Ferries, speedboats, domestic flights and seaplanes

Nothing here is joined by road except the islands of Addu and the causeway between Malé and Hulhumalé, so every leg is a boat or a plane. Public ferries are the cheap network and the slow one, and they do not run every day on every route. Speedboat transfers are the standard hop within reach of the capital. The national carrier flies the domestic airfields, and seaplanes finish the journey to resorts with no airstrip nearby. Book the last leg before you book the flight home, because seaplanes do not fly after dark.

Tipping

Not expected, always welcome

Resorts add a service charge to the bill and it is distributed to staff, so nothing further is required. On a local island, rounding up or leaving something for a boat crew or a dive guide is normal and appreciated rather than assumed.

Alcohol

Resorts and liveaboards only

This is a Muslim country and inhabited islands are dry by law. Alcohol is served on leased resort islands and licensed boats, and nowhere else. Duty-free bottles are taken at the airport and returned on departure, so there is no point packing any.

Dress code

Cover up on inhabited islands

Shoulders and knees covered in public, for everyone. Swimwear is confined to the designated bikini beach that most guesthouse islands now set aside, and a cover-up goes on before you walk back into the village. Resort islands have no such rule, because nobody lives on them.

Water

Desalinated, and worth filtering

There are no rivers and almost no usable groundwater, so drinking water is desalinated or collected rain. Malé and the resorts treat their own supply; on smaller islands bottled is still the norm, which is a plastic problem the country is trying to solve. Many guesthouses now run a filtered refill station, so travel with a bottle and use it.

Sun and reef

Equatorial, and fragile

You are within a degree or two of the equator with water reflecting the light back at you, so the burn arrives faster than the heat suggests. A long-sleeved rash vest does more than sunscreen and does not wash off onto the coral. Stand on nothing, touch nothing, and take the fins off before wading over reef.

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