How did I end up spending a week on Fulhadhoo?

I’ll be honest – I used ChatGPT.

I was in Maldives for a visa-run, and I simply asked – “I want to live in a beachfront room for a week. I’m also a triathlete and want to take long runs on empty roads, and do some swim training in crystal clear water. Which Maldives island should I go to?”

It said – FULHADHOO.

So I went there. And it was right!

How To Get To Fulhadhoo

This was the first challenge. When I landed in Hulhumale, I was heading to the Maldives blind. I barely knew anything about the country, but after booking my Fulhadhoo accommodation, I chatted on Whatsapp with the host and they got me up to speed rather quickly.

After a night in Hulhumale, they booked me a speedboat ticket from the airport out to Fulhadhoo. The boats only leave once or twice a day and are often full, so make sure your host has all your details correct and books for you properly.

The boats leave directly from the airport, a short five minutes from the arrivals hall.

On the day I was travelling, a storm had come out to play. I’m talking rain pelting the pavement and wind so strong it was blowing it inside the airport terminal. Even standing five metres inside we were still getting sprayed. Thankfully it calmed down a little by the time I was boarding the boat, but even walking from the shelter to the boat I got soaked.

The boat was full. Not an empty seat. After we’d all sat down, a crew member walked past offering us all plastic bags. I thought, that’s weird. What do we need these for?

About thirty minutes into the boat ride, I figured it out. They’re puke bags.

I know that because people started puking. And they started puking because the ocean was flipping out like a freaking spastic toddler. First was the guy behind me. I didn’t see it, but I heard and smelled it. A staff member came rushing down the aisle and without skipping a beat he took the freshly puked-in bag from him, put it inside another bag, tied it all up and dumped it in a dedicated puke bucket.

Then was a group of guys in the back. I think all three of them must have had a feast before the trip because they really went at it.

As for me – I was *this* close. It took all of my willpower and deep breathing and visualisation techniques I’ve learned from all those silly books I’ve read to keep the chocolate croissant I’d eaten before boarding in my stomach.

But people kept puking, and the guy just kept collecting people’s puke bags, tying them up with a single spill and dumping them in his puke bucket like a champ. He obviously does this a lot, but still, shit was crazy impressive (and gross).

The boat ride was two hours long. It felt like The Never-Ending Story, but somehow I made it unscathed other than a few minutes of dizziness once I got on dry land. I still don’t know how I survived it.

But the good news was – I was finally on Fulhadhoo!

I stayed at Three Hearts Guesthouse. They were there to collect us from the jetty on their little buggy vehicle (like a golf cart) which you’ll find are very common on the islands. It was a short two minute drive and we were home!

Three Hearts is exactly what I was looking for. A place that felt like a home on the beach. Small, private, professionally run, good food, by the beach. It was all of those things. If you’re looking for the best place to stay on Fulhadhoo for something quiet and lowkey, I’d say this is pretty close to it.

Not to mention, the owner Simbe became a good friend and was an exceptional host.

Three Hearts is in the north corner of Fulhadhoo, right next to the road out to the island’s famous sandbank. So it’s not in the centre of the island near the shops and restaurants, but the island is so tiny it only takes two minutes to walk there anyway.

It’s a small guesthouse of 20ish rooms, with a restaurant, lounge and also doubles as a tour provider. It’s very homey and if that’s what you’re after you’ll love it.

I paid around $70/night during low season, and I think it was a great idea to visit during low season too. We had the restaurant, lounge, and most importantly, the washing lines (very important) all to ourselves!

I’m sure the island comes alive during high season, but I prefer things to be quiet and lowkey and it was perfect for me.

So – what is there to do on Fulhadhoo?

I’ll be honest – not much. At least not on land. On my first day, I did the usual “perimeter check” and it only took me 30 minutes to explore coast to coast.

What is there? A handful of hotels and guesthouses (less than ten?) and a handful of restaurants (less than ten?), and I think three general stores which sell things like snacks, drinks and toiletries, plus other random stuff like flip flops and hats.

But let me take you through a day-by-day play-by-play of a week on the island.

Day 1

After we arrived after that apocalyptic boat ride, there was no energy left other than to appreciate we had just cheated death and to enjoy some good food. So we ate at the Three Hearts restaurant.

Fish and chips and fish of the day. The food there is decent, but in my opinion not the best on the island. Which is fine – you owe it to yourself to try every restaurant anyway, which became my mission for the week!

Day 2

Simbe is the owner of Three Hearts and also their star tour guide. He obviously lives in the water and knows the oceans like a GPS in his head. He was very keen to take us out on excursions, obviously because that’s how he makes a living, but also because you can tell he genuinely enjoys it.

For the first day we opted for reef snorkelling. It was an early start (I think 8 a.m.) to beat the sun. We didn’t need to venture far out, maybe a 15 minute boat ride for our first stop.

And yes, the water really is that blue!

Verdict – yes, you’ll see a lot of fish. And the ocean is simply spotless. Just like in the postcards.

If you’re doing excursions, it’s nice to get it done in the morning, so you have the rest of the day to rest, lounge on the beach and explore the island.

For lunch, we tried out what was probably my favourite restaurant on the island – Dune.

We had the Maldivian snapper and the chicken cutlets, both were great. But I think half the reason I enjoyed Dune so much is because it’s indoors and that meant no mosquitoes! The mozzies are killer during the day, and most of the restaurants are open air. But the food is honestly great.

Also re mosquitoes – I asked about malaria, and that doesn’t exist in Fulhadhoo, but dengue does and has hit people on Fulhadhoo before, although only once or twice as far as I was told. So, yes, use your deet and cover up.

Day 3

Simbe was very exicted to take me fishing, because it’s obviously a favourite hobby of his and he had many stories about his catches over the years.

Our goal was to catch a 80kg tuna, so we headed out nice and early to hunt the open seas.

Interestingly he only fishes with reels, as he says it’s easier bringing in the big game fish that way, so we spent two hours circling out in deep waters as the sun was rising.

Simbe hit first and brought in a wahoo that was a good 20kg at least. I was really impressed how quickly he hooked it and brought it in. I was lucky to hook next, landing a nice barracuda. And near the end of the trip I finally snagged a wahoo, about 25kg.

Overall the boat brought in five fish between three of us. Not a bad morning at all!

Of course what good is catching fish if you don’t eat them! So for lunch, we had our catch cooked up three ways – sashimi, fish curry, and grilled fish fillets. The sashimi and curry were delicious. The fillets – just okay..but overall – a hearty lunch that was so big we had leftovers for afternoon tea.

After a huge early morning of fishing and a good afternoon of sleeping and eating, what left to do in the evening except…eat again!

It was my goal to try all the restaurants on the island, so for a late dinner we ventured out for more food.

This time we tried Kaage Hotel, where I finally got to try my first traditional Maldivian dish, the garudhiya.

Garudhiya is a simple fish broth full with fish pieces that you eat with rice and condiments. So you take a spoonful of fish soup and rice, then chew on some carrots or onions or whatever those fried leaves are in the photo, eat some smoked fish and round you go. The athlete in me loves simple carb/protein dishes like this, so I loved it! However, I’m going to wager most people won’t find it very impressive. But I could seriously eat it every day.

Overall Kaage is also a really nice place – good menu, pool and nice layout. I would eat there often if I lived on the island.

Day 4

Day 4 was finally a day to just lounge around and rest.

I made sure to get some kilometres in after all the Sprite and french fries I was drinking. It’s actually a great island to run on, lots of long straight roads and well maintained. The roads are pounded sand as well, which is easy on the legs.

As for the beach, Fulhadhoo has a beautiful sand bank on the north of the island. It stretches for about 100-200 metres into the sea, and a wonderful place to take pictures. However, unless you have an umbrella it’s not a great day to spend a beach day because the sun is HOT and sand banks have no shade.

If you stay closer to the land though it’s a great place with lots of trees to hang out for an afternoon.

Next, time for lunch! This time we walked over to the opposite end of the island to try Zen.

Zen Inn is a guesthouse that also has a small restaurant attached, it’s quite a popular place to stay on the opposite corner of the island which is closer to the centre from Three Hearts. Though to give you a sense of how small the island is, it probably takes 5-7 minutes to walk between them.

Zen’s guesthouse looks beautiful and their rooms open out a few steps from the beach which is nice. The restaurant wasn’t bad either. I had the Maldivian fish, pretty good!

After wandering the island for the day and a good afternoon siesta, it was time to venture out for dinner.

There was only a few restaurants left to try, one of them was the Thai restaurant which is quite popular.

I didn’t really come to to Maldives to eat Thai food, especially since I’ve spent a good amount of time in Thailand, but in the spirit of research I went to check it out.

It’s actually a beautifully decorated restaurant that’s also part of a hotel. I tried the pad thai, the tamarind fish and the sweet roti. Fish was just okay, but the rest was delicious. Pretty good thai food!

Day 5

Last day, and it was time to go find some turtles with Simbe.

Turtles are always wonderful to watch in the wild, and the Maldives turtles were no exception.

He took us about fifteen minutes off shore to one of the deeper areas, and it took us a while to find them. But we did!

To be honest, they were settled pretty deep and if you’re not comfortable free diving (1-2 metres) you wouldn’t have gotten that close to them. But you still would have seen them clearly.

For our last day, we tried one of the more “local” restaurants on the island, and by that I mean the restaurants that the locals tend to eat at. Cool Cafe is right near the football field and also has locals sitting around outside, so we decided to check it out.

I will say you notice the difference instantly, it’s definitely not a hotel restaurant for tourists. Very local laid back vibe, no waitress rushing to your table to tell you specials or take your drinks orders, or even give you a menu. Not that I minded at all, and obviously if you’ve a reader of my blog you know I love these kinds of places!

What to eat? I had been told one of the favourite local dishes in Maldives is kottu and even though one of the staff at our guesthouse explained it to me, I still had no idea what it was – a stir-fry, I think?

How was it? I still can’t decide. I mean it tasted good, but also was kind of weird to eat. I wouldn’t choose it again on the menu, but I’d happily eat it again if someone gave me a plate. Definitely try it, and you be the judge.

The next day the Fulhadhoo adventure was finally over. Back to Male to catch a flight out.

However, the two hours of torture on the boat ride over was still fresh in my mind, so I asked Simbe if he could arrange the sea plane instead.

Obviously, the sea plane is more expensive (boat tickets are $50, plane tickets are $130) but it’s way faster (about 45 minutes versus 2 hours) and obviously way more comfortable. So again, for the purposes of research (haha) I shelled out for the plane.

I’d never caught a seaplane before so it was pretty cool. Basically they take you by speedboat out to a landing pad in the middle of the ocean, a little plane comes picks you up and loads your bags up and on you get. I thought I’d been on small planes before, but this one was extra tiny, and the cockpit, passengers and luggage are pretty much all squished together. You also get a beautiful birds eye tour of the Maldives the whole way back. Worth the extra money? Definitely!

Shops on Fulhadhoo

There are three shops (that I could find). You can top up your sim card there, buy basic groceries and toiletries and get other misc stuff you might need on island, like duct tape or batteries.

There are also a bunch of souvenir shops where you can get some locally made stuff.

However, in low season a few seemed to be closed.

Maldives snacks!

At the local shops and also at Cool Cafe I found some interesting local snack foods. One of my favourite things in any new country is finding what the locals eat! Check them out:

I had to spend some time chatting with the staff to know what everything was, and I know I’ll butcher the names here but the cookie in the top left a local cookie called a madhuroshi, it’s very sweet and hard. But tastes pretty good if you have a sweet tooth.

The chips I think are called kulhi kaajaa and they’re made with flour and tuna (yes tuna, I also had to ask twice to make sure I heard her correctly). What do they taste like? Well, fishy chips, and super spicy! I hate spicy food so couldn’t eat more than one, though the flavour wasn’t bad.

The thin sticks are called murumuru and they sounded so delicious but were also so spicy. So I ended up giving both bags to the cleaning staff at the guesthouse and they were super happy.

There’s a lot more other stuff too that I didn’t take photos of, make sure you go try everything!

Other FAQ about Fulhadhoo

Is Fulhadhoo expensive?

Not really. Everything is priced in USD. A nice room in low season was $70/night, meals are about $10-$15 each and the excursions I took ranged anywhere from $70 pp for a basic snorkelling trip to $180ish for fishing, but everything will just depend on how far you want to go and for how long. Overall it’s pretty affordable, definitely not the kind of place where hotel rooms cost hundreds or thousands per night.

Where should you stay on Fulhadhoo?

Honestly, the island is so small it doesn’t matter location-wise. Even if you stay in the very centre of the island, you’re like 90 seconds walk from the beach. I’m happy to recommend Three Hearts – run by great people and nothing to complain about from me.

Is Fulhadhoo safe?

Very! You won’t have any problems walking around anywhere at night. In fact, I asked Simbe if they even have police on the island, he said there is one policeman. I asked if they’ve ever had a murder. He laughed and said no. I asked if people even have fist fights. He said no. Probably because there are no bars or clubs. It’s extremely safe, your biggest danger at night will be mosquitoes!

What should you wear on Fulhadhoo?

You’re allowed bikinis (there is a beach called “bikini beach” along the sand bank) but once you’re off the beach you need to cover up. It’s a devout Muslim island, just like Maldives is as a country. Most of the local women walk around in burkas. Respect the island customs, many locals live there.

How do you book the boat to Fulhadhoo?

There are only a handful of boats per day. So what will most likely happen is you’ll land at the airport and you’ll need to overnight in Male and wait for the boat the following day. If you’re lucky and your arrival times and boat departure times, you’ll be able to go to the island on the same day. Or if you don’t mind paying more for a private boat, you can go almost whenever you want. In any case, ask your accommodation to book it for you. As far as I could see, boats don’t handle any payments or bookings, it’s all done through the accommodation and you’ll pay your accommodation directly.

How do you book the seaplane to Fulhadhoo?

Same thing – ask your accommodation to make the booking for you.

Is Fulhadhoo busy?

During low season (September) it was not busy at all! Often it felt like I might be the only tourist around. Simbe told me there might only be 30-40 tourists on the island at the time. But in high season that goes up to 300+. So it’s quite a big difference. I’d highly recommend going in low or shoulder season if you can. The weather was still great, and when it did rain it didn’t last all day.

Overall, it felt like I ended up on Fulhadhoo for a week by accident, but what a happy accident!

Lovely people, beautiful island, and and abundance of my three of my favourite things in the world – fresh fish, crystal blue waters and sunshine.

Enjoy Maldives!