Maldives in 10 days: Maafushi, Thulusdhoo and two resort nights

Nine nights on four islands, every move through the airport

The route has four stops and one rule: every crossing starts or ends at Velana International Airport (MLE) on Hulhulé or in Malé next to it. Book Malé for night 1, Maafushi for nights 2–4, Thulusdhoo for nights 5–7 and Grand Park Kodhipparu for nights 8–9, then fly home on day 10. Maafushi lies south of the airport and Thulusdhoo to the north-east, and the speedboats to both run from Malé and the airport, so day 5 is a speedboat back to the airport and a second one out. Malé, the capital, is the island next to the airport to the south-west, joined to it by the Sinamalé Bridge.

Book one hotel per stop. Tourist Inn, on Maaveyo Goalhi in central Malé, sells a Deluxe Double Room with a free return airport transfer at USD 120 a night for two. On Maafushi, Kaani Village & Spa sells its Snorkel Tour + Stay package: three nights for two in a Deluxe Double Room with Pool View for USD 709, with breakfast, the return speedboat from Malé or the airport, a night-fishing trip and an Adventure trip, taxes and service charge included. On Thulusdhoo, Wave Crest Retreat, a few steps from the beach and the Cokes surf break, lists its Superior Double Room from USD 35 per person a night with breakfast. The resort is Grand Park Kodhipparu in North Malé Atoll: its advance-purchase offer, booked 21 days ahead, starts at USD 429 a night for two with breakfast and a guided house-reef snorkel.

Book Grand Park first, because the advance rate needs 21 days. The offer page lists conflicting payment terms: its cancellation policy lists a 50% deposit at booking and the balance “within 7 days of arrival”, without specifying before or after; its guarantee policy lists a 100% deposit seven days before arrival. Check the terms of your selected rate before booking. Cancelling seven days or less before arrival, or not showing up, costs the full stay. Then book Kaani's package, which is non-refundable, Wave Crest and Tourist Inn, and last the boats. Entry is a free visa on arrival for up to 30 days, and each foreign visitor files an individual IMUGA traveller declaration within 96 hours before arrival; the Maldives entry guide has the details.

Start on a Tuesday if you can. The moves then fall on Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday, and Friday, the weekly day of prayer, when some ferry services change or stop, is a beach day on Maafushi.

Days 1–2: a night in Malé, then the speedboat to Maafushi

Day 1 (Tuesday) — land at Velana: Tourist Inn's room includes the transfer from the airport. Get a tourist SIM or eSIM at the airport: Dhiraagu's Traveler Premium is USD 50 (100 GB, 30 days). Tourist Inn stands less than 1 km from Rasfannu Beach and close to the National Museum and Republic Square, so the afternoon is an easy walk. Start at Hukuru Miskiy, the Old Friday Mosque, completed in 1658 under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar from interlocking coral blocks carved with fine patterns; the 17th-century cemetery beside it has carved coral tombstones. Hukuru Miskiy is one of the mosques on UNESCO's tentative list as Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives. The National Museum nearby, opened in 1952 and rehoused in a new building in 2010, shows objects from the pre-Islamic to the Islamic period, royal dress and Maldivian crafts. End at the fish market on the northern waterfront, the oldest in Malé, where Visit Maldives sends visitors for the bustle of fishers, butchers and customers. Have lunch at Faseyha Point on Majeedhee Magu, take hedhikaa and tea at Dawn Café after the fish market (both in the food box below), and eat dinner at Island Choice on Ameer Ahmed Magu, where a chicken thali is MVR 120 and a vegetable thali MVR 95. Sleep in Malé: night 1. Our Malé and Hulhumalé guide has opening hours and the rest of the city.

Malé is a conservative city: cover shoulders and knees in the streets, as on every inhabited island.

Day 2 (Wednesday) — Kaani's speedboat to Maafushi: Kaani's shared speedboat leaves Malé and the airport at 09:15, 11:00, 13:30, 15:00 and 18:00 and takes 35 minutes; outside a package the fare is USD 25 per person each way. Be at Jetty No 6 in Malé, or at counter E12 in Terminal 2 if you go from the airport, 30 minutes before departure. Take the 11:00 and you are on Maafushi for lunch. The island covers only 35 hectares, so everything is a short walk: boats tie up at the harbour on the western shore, where cafés face the quay, sandy lanes run between the houses, guesthouses and two mosques, and the hotels stand at the northern tip around the designated bikini beach, the one place on the island where swimwear is fine. The island council calls the sunset over the water a daily ritual. Sleep on Maafushi: night 2. Our Maafushi guide has more on the island.

Days 3–5: Maafushi's reefs, then back through the airport to Thulusdhoo

Day 3 (Thursday) — a day on the reefs: The package's Adventure trip, a snorkelling trip to Anantara Giri and the Fish Tank, sails only with at least 10 guests. If it runs on your dates, you do not need another trip and save about USD 100 for two. The budget includes Kaani's Full Day Trip as an alternative. It runs from 08:30 to 14:00 for USD 40 per person: snorkelling at Biyadhoo Reef, the Coral Garden and Turtle Reef, dolphin watching and a picnic lunch on a sandbank, with snorkelling gear and underwater photos free. For a boat of your own, Maafushi Dive charges USD 150 for two for its private snorkelling trip with clownfish and turtles, with a captain and guide; each extra person is USD 35 and an extra hour USD 125. Sleep on Maafushi: night 3.

Day 4 (Friday) — a beach day: Spend the day on the bikini beach, then join Kaani's night-fishing trip from 17:00 to 20:00, part of the package; the catch of the night is served at dinner. Sleep on Maafushi: night 4.

Day 5 (Saturday) — Maafushi to Thulusdhoo via the airport: Take Kaani's 10:00 boat from Maafushi, the return leg of the package; it reaches the airport at 10:35, in time for the 12:30 shared speedboat to Thulusdhoo, about 25 km away in a straight line. That crossing takes 20 to 30 minutes and costs USD 25 per person each way, paid in cash on board; seats sell out, so book it with your room. Our transport guide has the full Thulusdhoo timetable. Keep the day for the move. Sleep on Thulusdhoo: night 5.

Days 6–8: Thulusdhoo's beaches and the Cokes break, then the resort

Day 6 (Sunday) — beaches and the surf: Thulusdhoo, in North Malé Atoll, is about 1.7 km from end to end and under 1 km across, so you walk everywhere from the harbour where the speedboats come in. It is a working island of about 2,000 people, with the only Coca-Cola factory in the Maldives, and quieter than Maafushi. Surfers come for Cokes, off the island itself, with Chickens a minute away and Ninjas, Jails, Sultans and Honkeys a short boat ride further. Visit Maldives gives the surf season as mid-February to November, with the best conditions from March to May and from September to the end of November, and calls North Malé Atoll the most popular and accessible surf atoll. Walk round to the Cokes end in the morning to watch the surfers from the beach; Wave Crest sits a few steps from it. The eastern bikini beach is known as Dolphin Beach for the pods often seen in the channel towards Kuda Villingili in the morning and late afternoon. Sleep on Thulusdhoo: night 6. Our local islands guide compares Thulusdhoo with the other guesthouse islands.

Day 7 (Monday) — a sandbank and the surf: Much of the reef close to Thulusdhoo has been bleached or damaged by the busy channels nearby, so the better snorkelling is a short boat ride out. Indulge Maldives, a surf operator on the island, lists a sandbank excursion at USD 49 per person for two participants, which the budget counts, and a boat to the Chickens break at USD 10 per person for surfers. For lessons, Indulge sells a week package: its eight-day beginner course, with five two-hour lessons, a board and seven nights at Reef Edge Hotel, is USD 1,199 per person. Spend the late afternoon on one of the bikini beaches. Sleep on Thulusdhoo: night 7.

Day 8 (Tuesday) — Thulusdhoo to Grand Park Kodhipparu via the airport: Take a morning shared speedboat from Thulusdhoo, at 08:00 or 10:30. At the airport, Grand Park's own shared speedboat takes about 20 minutes to the resort. Only the resort's own speedboat is accepted: the resort accepts no third-party boats, the boat costs USD 140 per adult return, and you give the resort your arrival time 48 hours ahead so it can match the boat to your Thulusdhoo crossing. Grand Park notes that on a shared boat you may wait for other guests to clear the airport; the resort gives the meeting point at the airport. Sleep at Grand Park: night 8.

Days 9–10: the house reef, then the boat to your flight

Day 9 (Wednesday) — Grand Park's house reef: The advance-purchase rate includes a guided house-reef snorkel with the resort's marine biologist; reserve it when you check in. Grand Park describes eagle rays, white-tip reef sharks, parrotfish, turtles and many corals on the reef. The resort's bars and restaurants serve alcohol, and drinks must not leave the resort. Nudity and topless sunbathing are banned everywhere, resorts included. Sleep at Grand Park: night 9.

Day 10 (Thursday) — fly home: Breakfast is included, then the resort boat takes you back to the airport in about 20 minutes. Boats can be cancelled in rough seas, so leave slack before an international flight: a midday or afternoon departure leaves room for a later boat. The Airport Development Fee and departure tax, USD 50 each for foreign passengers in economy, are usually included in the air ticket.

Island rules and the variations

Malé, Maafushi and Thulusdhoo are inhabited islands, and their rules are not the resort's. On inhabited islands no alcohol is sold, shoulders and knees stay covered, and during Ramadan nobody eats, drinks or smokes in public by day; our first-trip guide sets out the rules. Check the Ramadan dates in our festivals and events guide before you book.

Safety. Political protests take place in Malé from time to time: the UK, German and French governments advise keeping away from demonstrations, large crowds and gatherings of political parties or religious groups, and the UK reports gang violence, including knife crime, mainly in Malé and Hulhumalé, so avoid empty roads on foot after dark on night 1. At sea, swim only in well-supervised areas, areas designated safe or where lifeguards are available, never alone, and check that life jackets are on board the small trip boats. Other governments may draw a wider line, so check your own government's advice.

Another surf or dive island. To swap Thulusdhoo for another guesthouse island, our local islands guide compares the boats, rooms and costs on each.

Fewer days. Our 7-day Maldives itinerary keeps Malé, Maafushi and the resort and drops Thulusdhoo.

What ten days cost, all in

About USD 2,240 per person, USD 4,470 for two, for 10 days and 9 nights on the ground. Every room, every meal and drink, the speedboats, two boat trips, a SIM card each, taxes, service charges and a 10% buffer are in.

This budget is for two adults sharing a double at the four hotels above, on ordinary dates outside Christmas and New Year, arriving after breakfast on day 1 and leaving after breakfast on day 10, with prices read on 28 October 2026. Rufiyaa are converted at the Maldives Monetary Authority's reference rate of that day, USD 1 = MVR 15.42. The taxes are the 17% tourism goods and services tax (T-GST), a service charge of at least 10% (by law; most places charge exactly 10%), and the green tax: USD 6 per person per night at guesthouses and hotels with 50 or fewer rooms on an inhabited island, USD 12 at resorts. The budget allows for service and T-GST where a hotel or operator does not say its price already includes them.

Rooms: Tourist Inn is USD 120, about USD 170 with service, T-GST and green tax. Kaani's three-night package is USD 709 with breakfast, the boat, night fishing, an Adventure trip, taxes and service; the budget sets aside USD 36 for green tax of USD 6 per person per night for two if it is excluded from the invoice. Kaani's checkout says green tax is included, while its booking terms collect it at reception; do not add green tax again when the invoice already includes it. Wave Crest's Superior Double at USD 35 per person comes to about USD 100 a night, USD 310 for three. Grand Park's USD 429 rises to about USD 580 a night with service, T-GST and the green tax of USD 12 per person, USD 1,150 for two nights.

Food and drinks: in Malé, a day at Island Choice's prices (continental breakfast MVR 60, chicken thali MVR 120, vegetable thali MVR 95, banana lassi MVR 50, plus 8% GST) is about MVR 650 for two before GST, about USD 42, or USD 45 with GST. On Maafushi, lunch and dinner are about USD 23 per person each (based on Arena Beach's USD 18 half-board and USD 36 full-board supplements, plus service and T-GST), plus about USD 4 a person a day for bottled water and soft drinks before tax, about USD 5 with it: about USD 100 a day for two. The day-3 trip lunch and the night-fishing dinner are not paid twice. On Thulusdhoo, the menu at Twin Palms Surfhouse's café (tuna poke USD 15, veggie poke USD 12, a big water USD 2, coffee with milk USD 3) gives about USD 80 a day for two. At Grand Park, lunch and dinner from the Breeze menu (main dishes mostly USD 20–39, such as chicken tikka pizza at USD 25 and seared tuna at USD 39) average about USD 56 per person a day. Drinks and snacks add about USD 20 a person a day. With service and T-GST on top of both, that is about USD 200 a day for two. Breakfast is in the room rate everywhere except Malé.

Speedboats and trips: Tourist Inn's airport transfer and Kaani's return boat are included. The Thulusdhoo speedboat, four fares of USD 25 paid on board, is USD 100 for two, and Grand Park's boat, USD 140 per adult return, about USD 360 allowing for service and T-GST. Boat trips: Kaani's Full Day Trip, USD 40 per person, is about USD 100 for two, and Indulge's sandbank excursion on Thulusdhoo, USD 49 per person, about USD 126 allowing for service charge and T-GST, as for Kaani's trip; Maafushi Dive's private trip instead of Kaani's would add about USD 90. SIM cards: one Dhiraagu Traveler Premium plan each, about USD 110 for two (USD 50 each plus 8% GST).

Flights: about GBP 600–1,800 per person (about USD 800–2,390) for a London–Malé return in economy, based on the fares airlines displayed for the route in October 2026. With flights, the trip comes to about USD 3,040–4,630 per person, or USD 6,070–9,250 for two.

Museum admission is extra; no entry fee is published on the heritage site.