Visiting the Maldives on a Budget

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I landed late at night and booked a ferry through 12Go to Thulusdhoo. Don't do this. The second you book a hotel, they'll reach out immediately to arrange your boat for you, and you should always go through them instead. Doing it yourself is chaotic and the communication is bad.

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Resort options

Thulusdhoo is the surf and budget island. I got a place last minute for $25 a night. There was one cockroach, a genuinely massive one, but it was dead when I found it so not the end of the world. Didn't see another one the rest of the stay. The internet was excellent too, which mattered since I was still working remote.

The vibe here is different from Southeast Asia. Not a little different, a lot different. The locals aren't unfriendly, they're just not going to be the kind of instantly warm you get used to in places like Sri Lanka or SE Asia. Islam is central to daily life here. Some restaurants open in four separate time slots throughout the day built around prayer times, which explains a lot once you notice it. You will get stranded on a sandbank if the boat driver needs to pray. More on that later.

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Coke runs this town

Thulusdhoo itself is tiny and has this hippie undercurrent, you'll actually find locals and expats smoking weed, which is deeply illegal in the Maldives, but this island seems to run on its own laid-back logic thanks to the surfers. If you want alcohol, there's a booze boat anchored off the island that moves around during high season. You hop on before sunset once enough people show up to make the trip worth it, and drink at a premium. If you're not drinking, there's an abundance of Coca-Cola. And that's not a throwaway line, this island has the Coke factory that supplies the entire country, and it's the only Coca-Cola plant in the world that makes its product from desalinated seawater. Did it taste different? I didn't do a side by side, but a cold Coke on the beach in 90 degree heat when it's basically your only option besides water hits different regardless.

The booze boat was awesome though. Unsure if they go to other islands pending the year, but were incredible hosts and highly recommend doing it for sunset. I personally crashed a birthday party to make it happen 😂

If you surf, this is your island. The waves lean advanced, and when I was there it was a little past my comfort level with the current and size, but it was still incredible to watch. I also went out for the spinner dolphin trip, which was mildly underwhelming for $70. They take you out around sunset for about 20 minutes before big resort yachts scare the pod off. Do I regret doing it? No. Although you may see them in the distance on your ferry trips anyways.

Getting Around: Speedboats/Ferries Between Islands

After four days chilling in Thulusdhoo I headed to Rasdhoo. Here's the thing about ferries/speedboats in the Maldives: you almost always have to route back through Male before getting to the next island, even if it looks close on a map. Don’t bother with a local ferry unless you’re on a deep backpacker budget. Go speedboat.

Let your hotel handle your boat in and out. They can usually do it same day, no problem, but keep an eye on capacity since boats do fill up. I didn't run into major issues since I was traveling in shoulder season, which is genuinely my favorite time to be anywhere.

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Rasdhoo is home to some of the most famous shark diving in the world. You descend, clip into the reef, and let the current carry you while dozens of reef sharks surf past. I expected maybe one or two sharks. There were at least 40, all in one big school. I'd done zero research going in, I basically just had AI map out the best bang-for-buck route that wasn't a resort, and this was the jackpot.

The island itself is quiet. There are maybe two or three restaurants open at any given time, nothing special, decent enough. Coconuts here run $5 to $6, which is wild considering most of Asia charges about a dollar. A full pasta dish costs about the same. Rasdhoo is basically an island built around dive shops.

I also did a manta ray snorkel out of Rasdhoo, which came bundled with a sandbank chillax session, $100 total for the day. Up around 8am for the mantas, which was awesome, and by 10:30am they'd dropped me on a sandbank with a cooler stocked with about eight bottles of water. Unfortunately still in the jurisdiction where Corona’s weren’t allowed. Told me to WhatsApp him when I was ready to be picked up, just not between 12:30 and 1:30, because it was Friday and that's an important prayer window. No problem, right?

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Don't forget to check the tide! 😂

No problem, that is, until I went snorkeling and came back around 12:15 to find the tide had taken the sandbank. Nearly gone and rising quick. No answer on WhatsApp, obviously, since he was praying (Even though before 12:30). Thankfully I wasn't the only one stranded. Some people had it worse and actually had to swim to another island to get picked up, in shallow water, sure, but try doing that while hauling umbrellas and gear. I managed to hitch a ride with a couple of other people that had a boat arrive just in time, somehow kept all my equipment dry in the process. If you do this excursion, just ask about the tide schedule beforehand, because they are not going to be proactive about warning you.

After a few dives and working remote out of a genuinely nice hotel I snagged last minute, the only one left under $100 a night, I headed to Dhigurah.

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Apparently a "famous palm tree"

The vibe shifted instantly here. Everyone was friendly, it felt like Southeast Asia again. Might be because a lot of the people working there weren't originally from the Maldives, not passing judgment, just an observation. Could've also just been how I was carrying myself by that point.

This is the whale shark island, and it's stunning. Jungle, tree cover, some of the best beaches in the whole trip. I'm still annoyed I never made it down to the sandbank at the far end because the one day I planned to go, it poured.

I spent a couple hours out looking for whale sharks and saw manta rays along the way. They use drones to spot them from above. I was there in shoulder season, so it was maybe 10 boats total trying to find one. Once they spot a whaleshark, they position ahead of where it's heading and you drop in as it passes. It's probably the most environmentally responsible way to do this if you want to see one. Apparently in high season it can be 50 to 100 boats doing the same thing, total chaos, and the whaleshark just dives deep the second it sees that many people above it. If you're going to do this, please know how to swim and please don't kick everyone around you. China, I'm talking to you.

Dhigurah ended up being my favorite island overall. The diving here was next level, absurd volumes of fish, and strong current, strong enough that you're hugging the reef or losing your breath fast. I definitely lost mine and missed the guitar fish, apparently a rare sighting I didn't get to. Did see leaf fish though, which genuinely just look like leaves hanging on the reef. Wild.

Getting there follows the same pattern, speedboat to Male first, then Male to the island. You'll usually stage near the airport, where all the boats are, and if you're waiting there are a few restaurants nearby to kill time. It looks chaotic the first time and becomes pretty routine after a couple of runs.

The hotel I stayed at was super wonderful. They pick you up at the port, breakfast is solid, and I dove with their in-house team with Go Divers. Every day they have different events as well, like the Whale Sharks, Mantas, Turtles, etc.

For my last night, since I had an early flight, I stayed in Hulhumale, right by the airport.

The cab driver here is who actually shifted how I felt about the friendliness of people in the Maldives. A worker hopped into the cab with us partway through, which is apparently just normal there, so don't be alarmed if it happens to you. The two of them went back and forth in the car for a bit, then turned to me and said sorry, we want to include you in the conversation, we don't want you to feel left out.

This was right as the Iran conflict was kicking off. They asked where I was from, and telling people in Sri Lanka I was American had already been getting a real emotional reaction. With these two, they were just curious what I thought. I told them honestly, it's too early to tell, none of us really know anything yet, we're all just being fed whatever algorithm decided to choose for us. They said yes, exactly, we just want your view too, because information from an actual human matters, not just the news.

That was a different energy than Sri Lanka, where people, mostly Buddhist, talked about it like you could just call up the president and get it fixed. This was calmer. What stuck with me wasn't their opinion, it was that they didn't really push one on me. They just wanted to listen.

The more I travel, the more I think that's the whole point. Not agreeing with someone. Just listening, observing, and deciding for yourself what kind of person you're going to be moving forward. Recognizing what you can and can't control, and paying forward whatever you've got, your knowledge, someone else's knowledge, or just something tangible you can hand someone.

What It Actually Cost

Boat rides averaged $30 to $60 each way depending on distance. Dhigurah was the furthest out, so that one ran closer to $60 each way. I think I got a free ride once, either they forgot to charge me or it was bundled into the hotel rate, honestly not sure, I just noticed later that day I hadn't paid. Oh, Also, Green Tax: Typically you pay your hotel a “green tax”. This is a per person tax, so if you’re traveling solo, make sure you have “1 person” on your hotel reservation, otherwise you will be charged twice.

Food:

• Thulusdhoo: $10 to $15 a meal, fancier spots push into the $20s. The pasta is oddly excellent here, probably because a lot of the places are Italian-owned.
• Rasdhoo: A little pricier, $15 to $20 a meal, but there's only like three real options to choose from.
• Dhigurah: About the same range as Rasdhoo. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either. Funny that islands built entirely on the water don't lean harder into seafood-forward menus. Same thing happened to me in the Philippines.

Was It Worth It

Ten/Eleven days, four very different islands, none of them resorts, and I still got the shark dive, the whale sharks, the manta rays, and a genuinely local window into a country that only opened its doors 50 years ago. You give up the infinity pool and the overwater villa. You gain the version of the Maldives that's actually still there when the yachts leave.