I booked my first night in The Maldives in Hulhumale without even knowing it.
When I landed at Malé Airport I had just assumed Malé was Malé. Apparently not!
At the taxi stand outside first thing he asked me was Hulhumale? or Malé? I didn’t know there was a difference. And I looked at the address of my guesthouse which clearly said Hulhumale.
Looking at the map during the drive, I quickly learned that Hulhumale and Malé are two separate islands, Hulhumale to the north, and Malé to the south, both connected to the airport by extended bridges.
Malé is a tiny, densely populated island, which also serves as the country’s commercial centre. Hulhumale is the new younger brother; an artificial island being built to take some pressure off overflowing Malé. So of course, I had to make sure to check them both out!
I landed late in the night, so my first experience of Hulhumale was driving around in the taxi trying to find my guesthouse, which turned out to just be a random apartment. I guessed I had been dropped off at the wrong apartment, as nobody seemed there to meet me, so I walked down to the shops nearby and tried to scrounge some wifi access.
Thankfully that wasn’t too hard and I got in touch with my host, who came to meet me on a scooter and walked me to the place.
I stayed at Coral Stay Rooms. The apartment was simple, a basic one-bedroom that did the job perfectly for one night before my adventure out to the islands!
I was sure to wake up early as I only had a couple of hours before I needed to head back to the airport to catch my boat. Time to explore!
First impressions of the island? Everything feels quite new. Of course, there are old buildings around, but the streets are generally in good condition and the island is well laid out. It also feels safe to wander around at any time (though don’t take my word for it). In fact, the night before, I had taken my flip flops off and left them outside, and the host told me to remember to bring them inside before I sleep. I said, “Oh, because someone might steal it, yeah” and he said “No, nobody will steal it. It’s because the storm might take it away.” And it kind of felt that way, too. Pretty safe, uneventful place.
And he was right – indeed it did rain very heavily that night!
Now, let me give you a glimpse of Hulhumale after my morning strolling the streets.
First thing you’ll notice is it’s quite sleepy. It’s the standard spot for tourists to spend some time before heading out to the islands. I don’t think anybody comes to Maldives to explore Malé, so they have a lot of people come for a night before the boats leave in the morning.
Me the typical tourist dummy didn’t know this – I thought you just land and get on a boat to the island at any time of day, but my host explained to me that the boats only leave once a day. Unless you pay for a private transfer, you’ll need to overnight in Malé or Hulhumale for a night before getting the scheduled boat the next day.
As with most of Maldives, it’s filled with scooters. It’s the popular way for people to get around, which makes sense because the roads are generally narrow and it’s a small place. Hulhumale is only about 5km long, so you could walk across it in an hour.
One thing that stood out is it’s also very clean. Roads are generally well kept and there was no trash anywhere.
As far as I was told, Malé was simply to small to accommodate the growing population, so Hulhumale was built to relieve some of that. So a lot of locals do live here and I’m guessing during high season you’ll also see a ton of overnight tourists here too, which is where a lot of the business probably comes from.
There is definitely no shortage of small restaurants, cafes and coffee shops around, and since I visited in low season they were mostly empty (or just not open at all) but it’s obvious the place must get quite busy in other times of the year, and a good amount of tourists pass through here.
Also you should know the Maldives is a predominantly Muslim country.
This means you need to dress modestly – no short skirts, cover your shoulders and definitely no bikinis or g-strings at the beach.
If you ever forget, the large mosque in the centre of the island is a good reminder!
After all that wandering down alleys, it was time to check out the beach.
I wasn’t expecting crystal clear water or anything spectacular, so the beach was a nice surprise. It might not be as good as the postcard beaches out on the islands, but it was still a beautiful golden sand beach with clear water, right by the roadside.
It would be a perfect place to spend a beach day with a book, a frisbee and a picnic basket.
The beach was completely empty – probably because it was the morning and it was in October.
I made sure to step into the water, which was warm, and take a long stroll down the sand. Again, nothing life-changing, but still a great beach that I’d love to have on my front doorstep if I lived in Hulhumale.
As I continued wandering Hulhumale, one thing that really impressed me was their beautiful central park.
It looks newly built and it’s beautifully put together. I’m sure during the busy season it’s packed full.
As you stroll through you can really see they’ve taken care with the design and craftsmanship, it’s definitely one of the better city parks I’ve visited around the world.
Also in the background you can see high rise buildings going up, a mix of office towers and apartments, so the place is definitely growing. I’m sure it won’t look anything alike in 10 years.
My final quest was to have a local meal in Hulhumale, but unfortunately I only had a couple of hours to explore and ran out of time. I had to be back at the airport to catch my boat around midday. But searching on Google Maps, there was a lot of interesting places to try so you certainly won’t have trouble finding something to eat!
To get back to the airport was easy enough, I used the Avas app which is like the local version of Uber. The ride was around $5.
Final impressions of Hulhumale – not the place you’d want to spend a holiday in Maldives, which is fine because nobody is coming here to do that anyway, but certainly an interesting place to wander around, take some photos, and get a snapshot of an ever-changing part of Malé.
Note: After a visit to Malé ‘mainland’ on my return from the islands, what I can tell you is Hulhumale is much quieter, newer and spacious than Malé. So if you’re choosing whether to stay in Hulhumale or Malé, keep that in mind!
Where To Stay In Hulhumale?
Personally, I think the best place to stay in Hulhumale is right on the beach. The island is small so everything is within walking distance, but beachside is definitely the nicer half.
I’d recommend staying at Hotel Ocean Grand. It’s right on the oceanfront. Also most of the good restaurants are around there, and as I said the beach is lovely and would be great to walk in the mornings. It’s also very affordable and will only cost you about $120/night during low season. That’s certainly where I’ll stay if I return.
If you’re looking for something on a tighter budget, try Palmscape Hotel. Obviously it’s not as nice, but it’s decent and also still right on the beach. You should be able to get a room for about $40 during low season.
Want to see more of Maldives? Stay tuned for my upcoming posts!
