What to Do in Male Maldives

In researching the Maldives, the general consensus is the skip Male Maldives if you can.  But I think it’s worth spending a little time in the capital city of Maldives.  We were “forced” to spend some time in Male Maldives since our flight from Dharavandhoo to Male was arriving in the morning and our ferry ride to Omadhoo wasn’t leaving until 4pm so we had about 8 hours in the city. Here is what to do in Male Maldives if you have a day to wait for a ferry, speedboat transfer, or a flight.

Getting from the Airport to the City

To get from the Airport to Male, Maldives, you must first catch a ferry to the city island.  This is super easy – you just catch them a few steps from the airport and it’s a scenic ride.  We had all our luggage so we found a hotel that was willing to store it for the day so we could walk around.

Markets

We spent quite a bit of time in the market areas on the north end of the island.  The fish market was amazing.

The Grand Mosque

The Grand Mosque is the largest and fanciest mosque in the country.  They gladly accept visitors if you take off your shoes. It’s wise to dress modestly here, as well as all over Male.

Only Muslims can visit the older mosque.  It looked cool from the road.

City Beach

A manufactured beach is located on the east side of the ocean.  Despite the ugly city buildings around us, this beach was quite nice.  It was home to a cute lizard. The water temperature was perfect for a quick swim, but practice modesty if you are a female who plans to swim here.

To the Private Ferry Dock

After about 4 hours we had seen all the major sites of Male, Maldives.  We picked up our bags and walked down to the private ferry port on the south side of the island as we had been told the out boat later that day would store our bags if we wanted to walk around more.  A good place to have a late lunch and to use the restroom is the the Merrybrown fast food chicken restaurant across the street from the port.

I’m glad we had some time to see some of the daily life in Male – the capital and largest city of Maldives, but one day is definitely enough.

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Have a late flight in and/or early flight or ferry out? Consider staying in Male, Maldives for a night (Check Rates and Availability)

If you don’t want to hang out if Male and would rather go to a resort from Male, try the Kuramathi Island Resort.

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