Maldives on a budget

Exploring the Maldives on a budget – is it really possible? Yes!

I always assumed the Maldives was reserved for honeymooners and the wealthy. However, in recent years, it has become possible to stay on local islands in guesthouses. If you have the means to splurge on a resort, those overwater villas are indeed stunning. But if you’re looking to experience the Maldives without breaking the bank, this guide is for you!

The best time to visit the Maldives is generally during the dry season, which runs from November to April. December is peak time, so everything gets more expensive.

Key information:

• The currency is the Maldivian Rufiyaa, but most things can be paid using $USD. 17rf is around 1€, 15rf 1$. Some hotels and guesthouses prefer to be paid in cash, so make sure you ask in advance. Some card payments will incur extra fees. It’s a good idea to bring some USD with you before traveling. You can withdraw Rufiyaa at the airport without extra charges at Habib Bank. Local islands have ATMs, but a small fee may apply for withdrawals. Remember to carry your Revolut, Monzo, Sterling, or N26 cards.

• Ensure your passport is valid for at least six months upon arrival. The Maldivian entry stamp is adorable! You will need to show your return ticket, as your visa is valid for only 30 days.
• All travellers to Maldives must complete a Traveller Declaration Form (IMUGA) within 96 hours of arrival and departure.
• You can get a sim or esim with data from Ooredoo. They have a stand at the airport, I paid 771rf (45€) for 30Gb.
• The national language of the Maldives is Dhivehi, but most people speak English.
• Check if you need any extra vaccinations. Typhoid and Hepatitis A is usually advised. You can check the requirements here, on the Fit For Travel page.
• The Maldives is a muslim country, so dress modestly and do not expect to drink any alcohol. There are specific bikini beaches in the local islands for tourists.
• Make sure you have a travel health insurance active, for the duration of your stay. If you are scuba diving, make sure the insurance covers hyperbaric chamber treatment. A list of the actual hyperbaric chambers can be found here.
• When on a speedboat, make sure to seat on the back of the boat – trust me, you will get less seasick.
• Bring a reef-safe sunscreen and a strong insect repellent – there are a lot of mosquitoes and Dengue and Zika might be present in the Maldives.
• Try walking without shoes, the Maldivian style. It is liberating!
• You can bring your drone into the Maldives, and you can operate it in the local islands. Be careful with the seaplanes, they are everywhere! You are not allowed to fly your drone within resort islands.
• Bring your GoPro or similar underwater camera. Life underwater is amazing!
• You can always rent snorkeling equipment, and sometimes scuba centers will lend you gear. However, to be safe and save money, it’s a good idea to bring your own snorkeling mask.

As you get outside the airport, you will instantly fall in love with the Maldives… Come on, look at the beauty of the pier at 6 in the morning!

In terms of food, I really enjoyed the Maldivian cuisine. It’s a blend of Sri Lankan and Indian flavors, but without the spiciness. They serve delicious fish curries, tuna steaks, and often snack on dried coconut and various fruits. Rice and noodles are staples, and a must-try dish is Kothu, which consists of chopped roti (bread) mixed with a meat or fish curry of your choice, along with scrambled eggs, onions, and vegetables. An average meal will cost you less than 10€ per person. You can get a main dish for 4/5€.

There are plenty of local islands in the Maldives, but we will focus on the three we visited: Rasdhoo, Dhangethi, and Dhigurah. It is important to understand that you will not find luxuriousness in the local islands. People walk barefoot, life is simple and humble, and you will feel that you do not need a lot to be happy. Also, things take time, as no one is in a rush. I saw a lot of couples traveling with young children, so it makes this a child-friendly destination too.

Rasdhoo, located on Ari Atoll, is a diver’s paradise. It is located 58kms west of Malé, the country’s capital. You can actually walk from one side to the other of the island in 15 minutes, as the size of the Island is approximately 500×600 m. Small and cosy, and to be honest, my favourite island so far.

To reach Rasdhoo, you can get the speedboat from the Airport. It takes roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes. This is the schedule:

Airport – Rasdhoo 
– Saturday to Thursday: 10:30 & 16:00
– Fridays: 09:30 & 16:00

Rasdhoo – Airport 
– Saturday to Thursday: 07:30 & 13:30
– Fridays: 07:30 & 14:30

You can use this link to follow live the Coral boats from and to Rasdhoo. It might seem a bit overwhelming since you won’t always know exactly where the boat will stop, but trust me, you’ll be fine! Use the provided link to get real-time updates. They are mostly on time.

If not included in your hotel/guest house package, the average price for the speedboats is $45-60 USD per way. The accommodation usually arranges the transfers for you. Another, more affordable option is to take the public ferry, though it operates only on certain days and takes several hours. More info about the public ferry can be found here.

There are a lot of things to do in the island, including snorkeling in the house reef, from the bikini beach. Make sure to never go snorkeling without fins, as the current can change super fast. Head for the post visible in the water. You might need to go around the right side if the tide is low. While snorkeling, you can see sharks, turtles, trigger fishes, starfishes… It is so alive under the water! One thing we enjoyed loads was to watch the locals playing football.

At sunset, from 18:00, the fishermen gather at the beginning of the port (if you are coming from the bikini beach side), to sell their daily catches. As they dump the remains of the fish in the water, nurse sharks and stingrays gather around. Please make sure to not touch the animals.

I really recommend you watch the sunset at least once from bikini beach. The sun sets behind the Kuramathi resort island.

It is funny to consider that a night in one of Kuramathi’s water villas costs more than $500 USD. I noticed during a scuba diving trip how closely packed the water villas are, which compromises privacy. We were very happy with our choice of not staying in the resort, since we could enjoy the same views and sea. After all, Rasdhoo and Kuramathi are just 300 meters apart.

We stayed with Family Divers Maldives, a diving operator that offers packages with accommodation and dives, and it was simply the best experience!

Family Divers are a group of Spanish and Maltese friends, and they are super professional. We manage to see so many sea life, including eagle rays, mantas, white and black tip sharks, grey sharks, turtles, batfishes, napoleon fishes, barracudas, triggerfishes, nudibranchs, etc. It is truly an amazing world down there!

I really recommend anyone wanting to try scuba diving to do it with Family Divers. Zoe also teaches free diving if you prefer to dive without a tank. I have never felt safer or had more fun while scuba diving. Our instructor, Lalo, was absolutely amazing!

Some of the most famous scuba diving sites in Rasdhoo include:

Madivaru Corner: one of the most famous dive spots in the Maldives due to its excellent reef, many fish (barracuda, batfish, napoleon, etc.), sharks, and rays. We saw like 15 sharks drifting at the same time!

Manta Point: This is a manta ray cleaning station where you can often spot up to five mantas at once. Snorkeling is possible here, but diving provides a much better experience.

You can find more information about the dive sites here.

Where can you eat in Rasdhoo?

• Shallow Lagoon – great food and fruit juices, they have resident parrots and birds that come up to you. If you have salty skin from the ocean, they will start licking you!

• Lemon Drop – the favourite!

• Alimente – great coffee, cake and beverages
• Café Olé
• Mangiare

One thing I loved about Rasdhoo is that there are beautiful birds everywhere!

To change to another island, unless it is located in the same Atoll, you will need to return to the airport and then get another speedboat – and that’s what we did!

Some friends we met along the way visited Thoddoo, but they said it was not as nice as Rasdhoo. You can catch a public ferry to reach Thoddoo.

We took the 13:30 speedboat from Rasdhoo to the Airport and at the Airport we took the 16:00 boat to Dhangethi. We had plenty of time to top up our cash and use the Habib Bank ATM.

To reach Dhangethi, you can get the Fazas speedboat from the Airport. It takes roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes. This is the schedule:

Airport – Dhangethi
– Saturday to Thursday: 11:00 & 16:30
– Fridays: 10:00 & 15:30

Dhangethi – Airport 
– All week: 07:00 & 14:00

Dhangethi island is located in the South Ari Atoll, 87km from Malé, and the island size is around 925 x 350 m.

We stayed at Sunset Beach View, and it was amazing! It includes breakfast right at the beach, and the staff, especially Mohammed was very friendly and gave us great tips. We paid only 88€ for two nights for two people, including breakfast, what a bargain!

Dhangethi boasts several beautiful beaches for visitors to enjoy.

Bikini beach: This is the most popular beach on Dhangethi, exclusively for tourists to wear swimwear. It features crystal-clear waters and white sand, perfect for swimming, sunbathing, and snorkeling in calm waters.

Sunset beach: Located on the western side of the bikini beach, this quieter beach offers a peaceful retreat. It’s an excellent spot to watch the sunset and enjoy the moon swing.

Some cruises stop at Dhangethi where they do a dinner celebration in the beach, so it can get very crowded in the evening. This occasionally includes local live music!

And now, where to eat:

• The Blue Moon Café
• Compass Beach & Bistro

• Halee’s Seafood
• Monalaz Café – great restaurant at the beach. They feed stingrays and some sharks also come to eat at night – not sure this is a good thing to do but the stingrays were beautiful. We also saw two black tip sharks swimming around.

In Dhangethi we scuba dived with Scuba Divine. Maniu was our instructor and he was really nice and careful with us, despite great currents we felt safe. Turtles everywhere! They also provide snorkeling trips.

From Dhangethi, we got the public ferry to Dhigurah, which took around 30 minutes and costed something like 1€. We went on a dhoni, a typical Maldivian boat. You can also get directly from Malé to Dhigurah via a short domestic flight to Maamigili Airport, followed by a speedboat transfer to the island.

If you are coming from the airport, you can catch the Endheri Express speedboat to the island. It might take anything from 1.5 to 2 hours. The schedule is:

Airport – Dhigurah
– Saturday to Thursday: 11:00-13:00 & 16:30-18:00
– Fridays: 10:00-12:00 & 15:30-17:30

Dhigurah – Airport
– Everyday: 06:30-08:30 & 13:30-15:30

You can follow the Endheri boats here.

Dhigurah is truly a hidden gem in the Maldives. Still untouched by mass tourism, this island has a bikini beach that runs for 3kms. The island itself has 4km length and 300m width. The beach has lots of shade, and at the end of the island you can find toilets, chairs, and sun beds. You can walk down via the beach or walk by the jungle, in the middle of the island, where you will find a path.

We stayed at Atollkey Beach House, but I do not recommend it. Although the rooms are very pretty, it is very expensive for what they offer, and they are located on the opposite side of bikini beach. There are cheaper alternatives on the island, including White Sand, Akiri, Bliss, or Dhigurah Beach Inn.

In Dhigurah, you can embark on snorkeling trips to swim with manta rays and whale sharks. Oceanholic Divers is known for offering excellent excursions and scuba trips, but your hotel or guesthouse can also arrange these trips for you. Be sure to inquire in advance to organize your schedule, as tours are not available every day. When selecting your tour, exercise caution; some tours are exclusive to certain hotels and some bring large groups, which is not sustainable for the marine life.

We did not manage to swim with whale sharks, because of time constraints, hence the tip of planning the excursions beforehand, but we managed to swim for 1 hour with mantas, on our own. It was one of the best experiences of my life!

Let’s not forget the cutest animal you will find in the Maldives: the hermit crab! Hermit crabs are small crabs that inhabit discarded shells to protect their bodies.

Where can you eat in Dhigurah?

• Hermit’s
• Malaveli
• Café Dune
• Some hotels and guest houses offer meals

We had to spend a night in Malé because our flight was too early to travel from the islands to the capital in the morning. We stayed at Beach Breeze and Spa in Hulhumalé, which is adjacent to Malé and where the airport is located. The cost was 80€ for one night, and it was only a 15-minute taxi ride to the airport. Although I didn’t feel particularly safe in Hulhumalé and found things a bit pricier than on the local islands, it was a convenient place to spend our last night in the Maldives, right by the beach.

Although I really wanna go back to Rasdhoo and dive again with the Family Divers, next time I would also like to come back and explore other local islands, such as Gulhi, Omadhoo, Thulusdhoo, Thinadhoo, and Fuvamulah to dive with the tiger sharks. One can only dream…

Let me know in the comment box if you have visited the Maldivian local islands. Please share which islands you have been to and your recommendations!

With love,
Mafalda