Table of contents
Cities / Culture and History / Travel to Kaafu, visa requirements / City tours / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Mid-range / Splurge / Stay safe / Get outKaafu is a region of the Maldives, which covers North Male Atoll, South Male Atoll and the islands of Kaashidhoo and Gaafaru.
Cities
Culture and History
Surrounding both the capital Male and its airport, North and South Male have seen the heaviest amount of tourist development in the country.
Travel to Kaafu - Visa Requirements
Practically all visitors fly into Male Airport, from where all resorts in Kaafu are accessible from Male Airport in an hour by speedboat or 15 minutes by air taxi.
Kaafu city tours
Scuba diving and snorkeling are the main activities.
Kaafu cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels and lodging
All resorts listed here are on private islands.
Mid-range
- Bodu Huraa, South Male(35 min from airport by speedboat), ☎ +960-6644100, [1]. Formerly Veligandu Huraa, reopened in 2006 after a thorough renovation under Italian management. The walkway connecting to the Anantara Resort has been demolished, but you are still free to use their facilities. All bungalows are over water. Poor house reef, but snorkeling tours and diving available.
- Helengeli Island Resort, North Male, ☎ +960-6644615, [2]. Swiss-run 50-room resort at the northernmost tip of North Male Atoll, catering primarily to divers. Renovated in 2004, rooms are basic and have open-air bathrooms. OceanPro dive shop, small pool, one restaurant and bar, very limited recreational activities aside from diving. The house reef and nearby diving are excellent, but fairly exposed to currents.US$160.
- Thulhagiri Island Resort, North Male(25 min by speedboat from airport), ☎ +960-6645930, [3]. checkin: 3 PM; checkout: 12 noon. 55 basic beach bungalows and 17 water bungalows (fully separated, with direct reef access). Good house reef, excellent Sub-Aqua 5* PADI dive centre (~$50/dive), small pool, some watersports but minimal other facilities (no spa). One restaurant, mostly buffet fare, half/full board packages only. Drinks very reasonably priced (wine from $2/glass). All in all, a very good budget choice.Beach bungalows US$200, water bungalows US$350.
Splurge
- Anantara Resort, South Male(25 min from airport by speedboat), ☎ +960-6644100, [4]. Formerly Dhigufinolhu, reopened in 2006 after a thorough renovation. Great spa, several restaurants, poor house reef.US$480.
Stay safe
Get out
Most resorts run shopping and sightseeing excursions to Male.
This page was last edited by Ryan Holliday. Based on work by Jani Patokallio and Nick Roux and Wikitravel user(s) Airin. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license
