Fulidhoo is a small, budget-friendly local island we visited recently in the Maldives, along with Dhigurah island, which we loved for its beaches and sandbar.
Aside from scuba diving, the prime attraction in Fulidhoo is the shark and stingray beach, where you can see nurse sharks, sea turtles, and stingrays in the shallow water and even get your picture taken with them.
Of course, Fulidhoo also has the white sand and clear blue water that’s typical of the Maldives, and there are family-owned hotels for as low as $60 USD per night, so it’s a good option if you’re wanting to get your fix of the tropics without spending a lot of money.
This travel guide will explain how to get to Fulidhoo island, what to do there, where to stay, and everything else you need to know before you go!
How To Get To Fulidhoo Island
There’s no airport in Fulidhoo, so you first have to fly into the capital of the Maldives at Male International Airport (MLE), which is about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from Fulidhoo.
From Male, you can take a speedboat or ferry directly to Fulidhoo.
Swimming with a stingray in Fulidhoo!
• By Public Speedboat
The main way to get to Fulidhoo is by public speedboat, and that’s how we went. There are daily departures in the morning and afternoon from Male airport and the city.
The speedboat journey to Fulidhoo takes a little less than 1.5 hours and costs about $40 USD per person one way. It was very bumpy in our experience, but I’m sure it depends on the weather.
On the bright side, the boats are new and the seats are comfortable. They also have a toilet and plenty of room for storing luggage, and they give you free bottled water during the ride.
The boats from Male to Fulidhoo depart at 10 AM and 4 PM (Fridays 9:30 AM only). And the boats return from Fulidhoo to Male at 7:30 AM and 1:30 PM (Fridays 7 AM only).
However, keep in mind there are multiple speedboat companies operating this route and the timetable seems to change occasionally, so I’d double check the timetable with your hotel before you go.
You can ask your hotel in Fulidhoo to book the speedboat for you, and then pay for it with your room bill when you arrive. That’s what we did, and paying by credit card spared us from having to carry lots of cash everywhere.
Tour boat looking at the stingrays in Fulidhoo
• By Private Speedboat
A private speedboat charter will be a lot more expensive than the public speedboats, but it may be more convenient in cases where you’re traveling in a group of at least 4 or 5, and need a direct connection to Fulidhoo island.
You should be able to arrange this with your hotel in Fulidhoo.
Lots of stingrays at the beach!
• By Public Ferry
You can also take the public ferry from Male to Fulidhoo. This option is a bit slower than the speedboats, but it’s a lot cheaper. The ferry ride to Fulidhoo takes about 4 hours and costs $5 USD for a one way ticket.
This route has departures from Male to Fulidhoo on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 10 AM. It returns from Fulidhoo to Male on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:30 AM.
The ferry times might change occasionally, so you’ll want to confirm the current schedule with your hotel in Fulidhoo. You can’t book tickets in advance though, so it’s a good idea to show up a bit early to make sure you get a seat.
The ferry leaves from the Hulhumale ferry terminal in Male city (map here). It’s important to note this is not the ferry terminal in Hulhumale, it’s the ferry terminal of the same name in Male city. You can reach it with a 10 minute taxi ride from the airport.
Side note: If you’re coming from Maafushi island, you can take the ferry directly to Fulidhoo, that way you don’t need to transit in Male.
Drone view of Fulidhoo from above. It’s a very small island.
How To Get Around The Island
Fulidhoo is a very small island, so you can walk anywhere you need to go.
They actually don’t even have cars on the island, there are just some small electric buggies for carrying luggage back and forth from the pier to the hotels.
The island is only about 700 meters long and 250 meters wide, which means you can walk from any hotel to the beach or pier in 5 minutes, or circle the whole island on foot in less than 30 minutes. This is pretty handy.
Greek-ish street vibes in Fulidhoo town
Shark & Stingray Beach
The main attraction at Fulidhoo is the shark and stingray beach. This is the long beach that covers the southwestern side of the island, and it’s marked on Google Maps as ‘stingray observation point.’
The stingrays come to this beach every day and night looking for the fishermen’s scraps to eat, and usually a nurse shark or sea turtle will show up as well!
Of course there’s no guarantee they will come, but in the 2 days we spent on the island there were almost always stingrays at the beach, and other people have reported the same experience.
We saw more than a dozen rays at a time! It was a fun experience. You can watch them from the shore, or get your picture taken with them in the shallow water. Please don’t touch them, but it’s okay if they touch you.
Shark & stingray beach
Is It Safe?
This was what we were wondering before coming here. Is it safe to be near sharks and stingrays like this? Good question. To be fair, the sharks around Fulidhoo are nurse sharks, which are pretty harmless to humans.
What about the stingrays? Sadly we all remember what happened to Steve Irwin, but I think that situation was a bit of a freak accident. Steve was following the ray in the water to film it, and it apparently saw him as a threat.
Stingrays are gentle animals for the most part, and as long as you’re careful not to step on them, chase them, or make them feel threatened or harassed in some way, they aren’t likely to hurt you. Not to mention, the water here is really shallow.
It’s impossible to say it’s 100% safe of course, but a lot of tourists come to Fulidhoo every day to see the stingrays and take pictures with them, and we’ve never heard of any bad incidents.
