Maldives in 7 days: Malé, Maafushi and two resort nights

Six nights, three islands, every move through Malé or the airport

The route has three stops and two moves between them, on day 2 and day 5. Book Malé for night 1, Maafushi for nights 2–4 and Grand Park Kodhipparu, a resort in North Malé Atoll, for nights 5–6, and fly home from Velana International Airport (MLE) on day 7. The airport is on Hulhulé island; Malé, the capital, is the island next to it to the south-west, joined by the Sinamalé Bridge. The resort accepts only its own airport speedboat, so the move on day 5 goes back through the airport, and that is why the resort is one close to it.

Tourist Inn, on Maaveyo Goalhi in central Malé, sells a Deluxe Double Room (Free Return Airport Transfer) at USD 120 a night for two adults; book that room type, because the plain Deluxe Double at the same price does not carry the transfer. Check-in is from 12:00. On Maafushi, Kaani Village & Spa is a 20-room guesthouse around a courtyard pool. Its Snorkel Tour + Stay package costs USD 709 for two for three nights in a Deluxe Double Room with Pool View. It covers breakfast, the return speedboat from the airport, a night-fishing trip and an Adventure trip. The price includes taxes and service charge. All Kaani packages are non-refundable.

Grand Park Kodhipparu is a resort island in North Malé Atoll. Its advance-purchase offer starts at USD 429 a night for two with breakfast and a guided house-reef snorkel with the resident marine biologist, for bookings made 21 days ahead; the resort adds a 10% service charge, 17% GST and green tax of USD 12 per person per night. The resort accepts only its own speedboats: the shared transfer is USD 140 per adult return, paid separately after the villa is booked, and it needs your flight details 48 hours before arrival. 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. Book the resort first, then the Maafushi package for the three nights before it, then Malé. Our Maldives transport guide compares the other boats and the seaplanes.

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

Day 1 — land at Velana: Tourist Inn's transfer takes you from the airport to the hotel; if you travel without it, the airport ferry crosses from Hulhulé to Malé from 05:30 to 00:00 every 15 minutes for MVR 15 (about USD 1) per person, bought at the counter near Terminal 2. Collect a SIM at the airport first: Dhiraagu and Ooredoo both have tourist SIMs and eSIMs; Dhiraagu's Traveler Premium is USD 50 (100 GB, 30 days), and our first-trip guide covers money and SIMs. Drop your bags at the hotel; check-in is from 12:00.

Afternoon — old Malé on foot: Walk to Hukuru Miskiy, the Old Friday Mosque, built of interlocking coral blocks with carved decoration and completed in 1658 under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar; see it from outside. The 17th-century cemetery beside it has carved coral tombstones, and Hukuru Miskiy is one of the mosques on UNESCO's tentative list as Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives. Its modern successor, opened in 1984 in the Islamic Centre, is the Masjid al-Sultan Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam, often called the Grand Friday Mosque. Close by, Sultan Park fills the site of the old royal palaces with large trees and flowers, and the National Museum, open from 10:15 to 16:00, keeps artefacts from before and after the arrival of Islam. End on the north waterfront at the fish market, the oldest in Malé, busy with fishers, butchers and customers. Our Malé and Hulhumalé guide covers the rest of the city. Sleep in Malé: night 1.

Malé follows the rules of an inhabited island, set out below. The UK government reports gang-related violence, including knife crime, mainly in Malé and Hulhumalé, and advises against walking on empty roads, particularly after dark; stay on the busy streets in the evening. The UK, German and French governments advise keeping away from demonstrations, large crowds and gatherings of political parties or religious groups. Other governments may draw a wider line, so check your own government's advice too.

Day 2 — Kaani's speedboat to Maafushi: Have breakfast at Island Choice before the 11:00 boat, then board Kaani's shared speedboat at Malé Jetty 6, 30 minutes before departure; if you start from the airport instead, Kaani's meeting point is counter E12 in Terminal 2. It leaves Malé and the airport at 09:15, 11:00, 13:30, 15:00 and 18:00, and takes 35 minutes to Maafushi; the fare is USD 25 per person each way, already in the package. The 11:00 boat puts you on the island for lunch. Maafushi is a small inhabited island: boats and cafés line the harbour on its west shore, and the designated bikini beach is at the northern tip. Offshore lies Sexy Beach, a sandbank whose house reef drops in a wall with overhangs and swim-throughs to a coral garden, where turtles sometimes pass. Sleep on Maafushi: night 2, and our Maafushi guide has more on the island.

Days 3–4: a reef trip and a free day on Maafushi

Day 3 — reefs, turtles and a sandbank: Book Kaani's Full Day Trip (USD 40 per person) for day 3; it runs from 08:30 to 14:00, with snorkelling at Biyadhoo Reef, Coral Garden and Turtle Reef, dolphin watching and a picnic lunch on a sandbank, with snorkelling gear included. The package's Adventure trip sails only with 10 or more guests; if it runs on your dates, take it instead and save about USD 100 for two. To spend more and have the boat to yourselves, Maafushi Dive runs a private snorkelling trip with clownfish and turtles at USD 150 for two people (each extra person USD 35). The UK government advises making sure life jackets are on board small boats like these and swimming only where it is supervised or designated safe, and France advises never swimming alone, even at a resort. Sleep on Maafushi: night 3.

Day 4 — beach and night fishing: This is a free day that also absorbs a cancelled trip. Spend the day on the bikini beach, and at 17:00 go out on the night-fishing trip in Kaani's package, back at 20:00, when your catch is cooked for dinner; Maafushi Dive also lists a private dolphin cruise at USD 150 for two and a picnic lunch on a sandbank at USD 225 for two, not in the budget. If you start the route on a Tuesday, Friday, the weekly day of prayer, falls on this free day. Sleep on Maafushi: night 4.

Certified divers can swap the reef trip for a dive: Maafushi Dive charges USD 50 per diver for a single dive with equipment, boat, divemaster and taxes; card payments add 3%.

Days 5–7: the resort, its house reef and the flight home

Day 5 — back through the airport to the resort: Take Kaani's 10:00 or 12:30 boat from Maafushi to the airport (35 minutes; the other sailings are 08:00, 14:15 and 17:00). At the airport, board Grand Park's shared speedboat, arranged from the flight details you sent 48 hours ahead; it may wait for other guests to clear the airport. Check-in is from 14:00. Sleep at the resort: night 5.

Day 6 — the house reef: Kodhipparu's house reef runs past the overwater villas, which open straight onto the lagoon, the reef or the ocean, and masks and fins are available from the resort's Marine & Dive Center. Join the guided house-reef snorkel with the resort's marine biologist, which is in the advance-purchase rate; book it when you arrive. The resort has no lifeguards, and the UK government warns of strong tidal currents around the islands, so keep to the swimming advice under day 3 on the reef too. Sleep at the resort: night 6.

Day 7 — fly home: Have breakfast, check out by 12:00 and take the resort's boat back to the airport. Boats can be cancelled in rough seas, so leave slack before an international flight; a resort close to the airport and an afternoon or evening flight give you that slack. The Airport Development Fee and departure tax, USD 50 each for foreign passengers in economy, are usually included in the air ticket.

The rules that change between Malé, Maafushi and the resort

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. On this route that means swimwear only on Maafushi's bikini beach, and drinks only at Grand Park, where they must stay on the resort. Friday is the weekly day of prayer, when public ferries change or stop on some routes; Kaani's and the resort's boats are not public ferries.

Other ways to spend the week

Eight days instead of seven. With one more night, give Maafushi four: Kaani Village's four-night Reset & Wander package costs USD 883 for two and adds a candlelight dinner and a full-day tour to breakfast, the return boat and night fishing. Malé night 1 and the two resort nights stay the same, and you fly home on day 8.

A second local island. Another guesthouse island would cost a second return trip through the airport inside six nights, so keep it for a longer trip: our Maldives in 10 days adds three nights on Thulusdhoo between Maafushi and the resort.

What seven days cost, all in

About USD 1,810 per person, USD 3,620 for two, for seven days and six nights on the ground, with every room, meal and drink, the boats, the reef trip, a SIM each, taxes, service charge and a 10% buffer. Allow GBP 600–1,800 per person (about USD 800–2,390) for London return economy flights, based on the fares displayed in October 2026.

This budget is for two adults sharing a double room in the three hotels above, on ordinary dates outside the Christmas and New Year week, arriving in the morning on day 1 and leaving after breakfast on day 7, with prices read on 28 October 2026. Rates in rufiyaa are converted at the Maldives Monetary Authority's reference rate of USD 1 = MVR 15.42 (28 October 2026), and the London fare at its rate of GBP 1 = USD 1.3305. Hotels, guesthouses and resorts add a service charge of at least 10% and the 17% tourism goods and services tax (T-GST), plus green tax of USD 6 per person per night at guesthouses and hotels with 50 or fewer rooms on an inhabited island and USD 12 at a resort; our Maldives trip-cost guide explains each tax.

Rooms: Tourist Inn at USD 120 plus service charge, T-GST and green tax, about USD 166 for the night; Kaani's three-night package at USD 709, with USD 36 set aside for green tax of USD 6 per person per night for two if it is excluded from the invoice; Grand Park at USD 429 a night plus service, T-GST and USD 24 green tax, about USD 576 a night. Food: in Malé, about MVR 650 for two for breakfast, a chicken thali for lunch, a vegetable thali for dinner and drinks or a tea-time snack at Island Choice on Ameer Ahmed Magu, with 8% GST. On Maafushi, allow about USD 18 a person for lunch and the same for dinner, based on Arena Beach's USD 18 half-board and USD 36 full-board supplements, and about USD 4 a person a day for bottled water and soft drinks. With service charge and T-GST that is about USD 51 a person a day, less the sandbank lunch on day 3 and the night-fishing dinner of your catch. At the resort, about USD 24 for lunch and USD 32 for dinner per person, the average of typical Breeze dishes from USD 23 (fish and chips) to USD 39 (seared tuna), and about USD 20 of drinks and snacks, about USD 98 a person a day with service and T-GST; breakfast is in every room rate except Malé's. Boats: Kaani's return boat is in the package, Tourist Inn's transfer is in the room, and Grand Park's boat, USD 140 per adult return, comes to about USD 360 for two allowing for service and T-GST. Trips: Kaani's Full Day Trip, USD 40 per person, comes to about USD 103 for two allowing for service and T-GST. SIMs: one Dhiraagu Traveler Premium SIM each at USD 50, with 8% GST. The airport taxes are left in the flight price, where airlines collect them. 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. Museum admission is extra; no entry fee is published on the heritage site.