One of the best local islands in the Maldives for independent travelers. Dhigurah Island has many advantages that other islands don’t offer. I’ll tell you where you can swim with whale sharks and more, whether there’s glowing plankton, how to get there, and what makes this paradise special for tourists.

It will be difficult for you to plan your dream trip to Maldives without these websites

cheap tickets direct flights maldives
Flight tickets

package tours maldives island
eSIM internet

maldives top hotels
Hotels

Pros and Cons of Staying on Dhigurah

Let’s start with the cons, as they do exist despite this being a unique and special island even for the Maldives:

  • It’s quite far from Malé, with complicated and expensive transportation. Compared to other local islands that are more popular with independent travelers, this can be a downside.
  • Prices for food, entertainment, and accommodation are a bit higher (about 10-20%) than on budget islands like Maafushi or Guraidhoo. But the experience is incomparable—Dhigurah offers something 43 times better and more exciting.
  • The infrastructure is limited: there’s a good selection of products in souvenir shops, but not much else.
  • Excursions can only be booked “through your guesthouse.” We haven’t encountered such a “mafia” on other islands, but it won’t affect your vacation.
  • The house reef isn’t the most vibrant compared to reefs on islands like Rasdhoo or Ukulhas, for example, but it will still be enjoyable for beginner snorkelers.
  • I never thought I’d say this about the Maldives, but the beach is quite far away 🙂 especially for those used to staying on the first line. Although the beach begins just behind the village where you’ll be staying, it takes about 10 minutes to reach the more secluded parts of the beach, and the entire stretch takes 40 minutes to walk across. These are long distances by Maldivian standards. For comparison, you can walk across the entire capital, Malé, in just 20 minutes.
dhigurah hotels
This is Dhigurah Island. The village where you’ll stay is marked with an arrow, and the beach spans the rest of the island 🙂

But now, let’s look at the pros. And trust me, for active travelers, they far outweigh the cons:

  • A unique island, 300 meters wide at its widest point, and only 50-70 meters wide where the beach and jungle meet, stretching nearly 3.5 km long. The feeling of walking across the entire island from the sunrise beach to the sunset beach, a mere 70 meters wide, and taking only 30 seconds to do so, is hard to put into words.
  • A picturesque bikini beach stretching about 4 km long. You won’t find this anywhere else in the Maldives. On the popular tourist island of Maafushi, the bikini beach is just 150 meters, on Guraidhoo it’s 200 meters, and on Rasdhoo it’s 400 meters. The Dhigurah beach is much longer, and there are plenty of palm trees, so you’re guaranteed some stunning photos.
  • What makes it worth coming here: the chance to meet a whale shark at the outer reef on your own. On an excursion (which here offers the cheapest whale shark trips), you’ll have almost a 100% chance of seeing one.

Dhigurah Island: General Information

Some general details to help you better understand what this island is like:

Interesting fact:

In the local language, Dhivehi, Dhigurah translates as “long island.” I think the reason is obvious. You can read an interesting article about the Maldivian language, which includes essential vocabulary for tourists, and some language quirks. By the way, below you’ll find the ferry schedule to Dhigurah, and you’ll need some of these language skills to navigate it.
dhigurah map maldives
For convenience, here’s a map with Malé (the capital) and Dhigurah Island marked with arrows. The white circles show other popular local islands for tourists. This will help you understand the distances and why so many people go to Maafushi, which is much worse in comparison.
  • Population: Around 600-700 people. This is quite small, making the island peaceful, quiet, and secluded.
  • Distance from Malé airport: 80 km. As you can see from the map above, most popular islands are closer to Malé, making them easier and faster to reach.
  • Dhigurah is located in the southern part of the Ari Atoll, known as Alif Dhaal, or sometimes called South Ari.

Good to know:

The official full name of the island is ADH.Dhigurah. You’ll see this in official references, ferry, and flight schedules. The atoll abbreviation before the island’s name helps avoid confusion, as there are about 1200 islands in the Maldives across 24 atolls, and many have similar names.

Also, Dhigurah Island should be pronounced without H letters. The letter “h” is hardly ever pronounced in Dhivehi.

How to Get to Dhigurah from Malé

This is the trickiest question, although it can be solved very cheaply. Let’s start by saying that you can always contact your hotel where you’ve booked a room, and they’ll happily assist with organizing the transfer, either by plane or private speedboat. But you can also arrange everything on your own.

  • The fastest and most expensive option: airplane + speedboat, costing around $200 per person one way. Here’s what you need to know about this:
    • There’s a small island, Maamigili, just 8 km from Dhigurah. It has a private airport, and there’s a private airline Villa Air. You can find tickets on their official website.: https://villaair.aero/#
    • The state-owned carrier, Maldivian, does not fly to this airport! You can check information about domestic air travel between islands, prices, schedules, and cancellations.
    • Once you arrive at Maamigili, you’ll be transferred by speedboat to Dhigurah in 15 minutes. Transfers are available directly from the airport.

I personally don’t like this option, and it’s not very popular either, as even for two people, it costs $400 one way, and the trip isn’t faster than by speedboat. You’d need to arrive at Malé Airport an hour ahead, then wait for the boat to Dhigurah, making the total trip time about 3-4 hours.

Dhigurah maldives reviews
Here’s a picture of the village on the island, which is actually pretty large with around 10 streets. Pay attention to the port; this is where 100% of tourists arrive.

The fastest and most popular way for tourists to get to Dhigurah from Malé is by speedboat. Here’s what you need to know:

  • The speedboat operates twice (or three times) a day. On Fridays, there might only be a morning boat.
  • It’s important to always buy your tickets in advance! The transport operator for this route is ODiApp, their own app. Links, prices, and the current schedule can be found in this article: transfers in the Maldives by speedboats. You won’t be able to buy tickets on-site, and there are often no available seats.
    • From Malé, daily departures are at 8:45, 14:00 (ODiApp), and 16:00 (12go).
    • From Dhigurah to Malé: at 4:30, 11:45 (ODiApp), and 6:30 (12go).
    • The journey takes about 2 hours on average.
    • Always check the schedule on the resources mentioned above before planning your trip! It can sometimes change.
    • Ticket prices are around $50-80 per person one way.

Interesting fact:

There are different types of speedboats (varying engine power, speed, and fuel consumption). If you buy a ticket for the Erwina boat (the name of a specific boat), it’s more powerful, and the ticket costs about $70, with the trip taking just over an hour and a half. On the other hand, if you choose Fazas03 (another boat), the ticket costs $10 less, but this boat is slower, and the trip takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. Usually, tourists buy tickets based on convenient departure times rather than for a specific boat.
how to get to dhigurah
The Erwina speedboat looks almost the same—4 engines, 325 horsepower each. It’s almost like a plane, not a boat!

And of course, the most romantic and cheapest mode of transport is the public ferry. Be sure to bring some plastic bags and seasickness pills, and it’s better not to eat before or during this incredible journey. Here’s what you need to know about the ferry:

  • The ferry departs from here in Malé: 4.177941818902485, 73.51715702778745
  • Ferries may be canceled due to bad weather or mechanical issues. Information about ferry cancellations can be found on the official MTSS Facebook page at the link. The downside is that the information is published on the day of the cancellation.
  • You can buy tickets on-site. You don’t need to buy them in advance, and there’s no option to do so.
  • Ticket price to Dhigurah is around $4 per person.
  • There is no direct ferry from Malé to Dhigurah! It’s only available with a transfer: I’ll explain the route and provide the schedule, and you can figure out the return journey on your own. If not, feel free to ask, and I’ll help!
    • The route looks like this: from Malé, take ferry No. 305 ADH.MAHIBADHOO – MALE. It departs three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8:30 AM. It arrives at the final stop, ADH.Mahibadhoo (remember, ADH is the name of the atoll), at 12:40 PM.
    • At Mahibadhoo, transfer to ferry No. 304, which runs daily except Fridays, only within this atoll. The schedule for the ferry from Malé is coordinated with this ferry to ensure passengers can transfer. This ferry is the main transport for the locals.
    • Ferry No. 304 departs Mahibadhoo at 13:30, and after one stop, it arrives at Dhigurah at 15:05. Congratulations, you’ve made it for $4, after almost 7 hours of motion and plenty of excitement!
male dhigurah ferry
Here’s the schedule for ferry No. 305. Try reading the Maldivian schedule using this one, as it’ll get more complicated later. Didn’t open the link about the Dhivehi language I provided earlier?
dhigurah ferry schedule
Here’s the schedule for the second ferry, No. 304. Tip: read from right to left.

Important note:

Ferry and speedboat schedules are adjusted twice a year, so always check for updates. This guide includes all the necessary links. If you’re confused, just write to me, and we’ll go through it together :). I’ve traveled on both the ferry and the speedboat. Overall, if you have the time and aren’t in a rush, the ferry is a great option and a good money-saver. The speedboat, by the way, rocks even more, but it gets to the island faster 🙂

How to Get to Dhigurah from Thoddoo, Rasdhoo, and Ukulhas

Yes, such questions do come up. Here are the options:

Option 1: Via Malé
In this case, refer to the previous section of the article.

Option 2: A More Complicated Route
The entire route looks like this:

  • Ferry No. 303:
    • This ferry will take you from Thoddoo to Rasdhoo. It departs at 6:30 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. If you’re already on Rasdhoo or Ukulhas, skip this and move on to the next step.
  • Ferry No. 301:
    • It departs from Rasdhoo at 1:00 PM daily, except Fridays. The route is as follows: Rasdhoo → Ukulhas → Bodufolhudhoo → Mathiveri → Feridhoo → Maalhos → Himandhoo (final destination). You can get off at Feridhoo, Maalhos, or Himandhoo, which are local islands.
  • Ferry No. 310:
    • This ferry departs in the direction we need from Feridhoo, Maalhos, or Himandhoo. Let’s assume you’re on Himandhoo. In that case, you depart at 7:30 AM (daily except Fridays) for Mahibadhoo Island, and you’ll get there in about 1.5 hours. You’ll have 3-4 hours before the next ferry departs, so you can explore Mahibadhoo Island during this time. (Here’s an overview of Mahibadhoo Island.)
  • Ferry No. 304:
    • From Mahibadhoo, this ferry departs at 1:30 PM and will take you to Dhigurah the same day.

So, in fact, you’ll have a stopover for one night or a couple of days on one of the islands—Feridhoo, Maalhos, or Himandhoo. But this way, you avoid Malé and get to see some new islands along the way. Personally, we travel this route and usually stop at Feridhoo. (Here’s a overview of Feridhoo Island.)

For the return journey, the route should be clear too.

Where to Stay and Eat on the Island

This section will be brief because it’s quite simple and clear. The main type of accommodation on the island is guesthouses. There are about 30 of them today. These are guesthouses that offer rooms for rent, each with its own private bathroom. Many of them also have a terrace or a little garden. You won’t find private kitchens here, as such accommodations don’t exist. Breakfast is almost always included in the room price. The standard price during the season is $80-120 per night for a double room. This is more expensive than on the budget island of Maafushi, but that’s the reality.

In Dhigurah, there are a few hotels, and one of the most popular ones, where we stayed and liked it, with excellent breakfasts, is Dhiguveli Maldives.

dhigurah hotel booking
Here’s what most rooms look like in guesthouses in the $80 range. (There may also be one large bed instead of two.)
  • To see the full range of rental properties on Dhigurah, check out Hotellook. It compares prices among a dozen other accommodation booking services and platforms and offers to choose the best one.

There’s no problem with food either. Today, there are about 10 restaurants on Dhigurah, all budget-friendly with reasonable prices. A dinner for two with grilled fish can cost up to $30. If you go for classic Indian or Sri Lankan dishes, which are common here, you can easily spend around $20.

  • Here’s an interesting and useful article about Maldivian cuisine, what tourists should try, whether to leave tips, taxes included in the price of dishes, and much more.

Dhigurah Beach: House Reef, Sharks, Turtles, Mantas, and Glowing Plankton

Let’s dive into the most exciting part of this guide. If you’ve read up on the Maldives and started planning your trip, you might already know that tourists on local islands can only sunbathe and swim in bikinis at designated areas called bikini beaches. These are often fenced off and modest in size.

Important note:

On Dhigurah Island, the bikini beach starts right after the village ends and extends for most of the island. It’s the longest bikini beach in the Maldives! Expect soft white sand, a beautiful ocean, plenty of shade under palm trees, and free umbrellas and sun loungers at the sandbank.
bikini beach dhigurah maldives
Both sides of Dhigurah’s bikini beach are nothing short of magical.

You can choose where to sunbathe—right near the village or farther down the shore. There’s a path along the length of the island through the jungle, leading to the sandbank at the southern tip. During low tide, you can even walk along this sandbank to a nearby resort island (though security won’t let you in).

Dhigurah beach
This is the bikini beach immediately behind the village, located on the inner lagoon side of the atoll.

The entire island is surrounded by an incomparable live coral reef that is very close to the beach on both sides. See the photo below for an explanation.

dhigurah snorkeling
The red line is the outer reef on the east side of the island. The white line is the inner lagoon of the atoll.
  • Red line (outer reef, eastern side): This side faces the open ocean. Stronger currents, wind, and waves make swimming here more challenging, but it’s where the open ocean meets the island. This is your best chance to spot reef sharks (they’re frequent visitors) and occasionally even whale sharks. Dhigurah is one of the few places where whale sharks come so close to shore. Early morning (around 6 AM) is also a good time to see manta rays.
  • White line (lagoon, western side): The lagoon side is calmer, with little to no waves or currents, but there’s still an abundance of fish and even turtles. Sharks also visit the lagoon, though less frequently, and they’re usually smaller juveniles.

For snorkeling on the eastern side (red line), fins and a buoy are recommended due to the currents. If you’re new to snorkeling or want to know what to wear, what marine life to expect, and what to avoid, check out this article: Snorkeling in the Maldives.

Please, do not forget about medical insurance that covers active sports, and snorkeling falls into that category. Insurance won’t prevent injuries, but I assure you it will provide much-needed peace of mind.

My own experience:

My wife and I usually snorkel for 2-3 hours daily. During that time, we often encounter 2-4 sharks, rays, and several turtles. We always snorkel right where the reef ends, and the open ocean begins, as that’s where the marine life is most abundant.
dhigurah whale sharks
All underwater photos in this guide are my own! The picture of a whale shark was taken along the red line—just 100 meters from the beach.

Dhigurah is also one of the few islands where you can see bioluminescent plankton, a rare and magical natural phenomenon. However, it’s less predictable than spotting sharks. This plankton is carried by currents from the northeast, and the brightest displays are usually on the northeastern side of the island. Unfortunately, that area is where the port and breakwaters are located, so visibility is poor there.

In good weather conditions, you can sometimes see plankton along the eastern coast below the port. The best time is usually between 8 PM and midnight. Take a stroll along the beach during this time and hope for some magic!

  • For more details on this phenomenon, including the best seasons and locations to see glowing plankton in the Maldives, check out this article Maldives at Night.

It is important to understand that

the beach is enormous, but the global ocean is highly polluted. Trash often washes ashore and isn’t always cleaned up promptly. During monsoon season, the beach can be particularly dirty.
Dhigurah sandbank
At the very southern tip of the island lies a beautiful sandbank—a perfect spot for sunset photos. The walk from the village takes about 40 minutes along a scenic jungle path. Highly recommended!

Activities and Excursions on Dhigurah

If snorkeling near the beach hasn’t rewarded you with sightings of sharks or turtles, don’t worry—these encounters are almost guaranteed on excursions. Although, honestly, it’s hard not to spot turtles here; they’re present around the house reef all day long. Sharks are less predictable since they aren’t social animals, but the key is simple: the longer you snorkel, the higher your chances.

Mantas, however, are the hardest to encounter. They come close to shore only at dawn. Being deep-sea creatures, they spend most of the day far away and at greater depths.

reef manta rays dhigurah
When mantas appear in the shallow waters at sunrise, it’s truly a rare treat. On one trip, I snorkeled early every morning for four days without success. Consistency and longer sessions are essential for snorkeling. Snorkeling for 15 minutes midday will only show you fish.

Unlike other islands, if you want to book an excursion—whether it’s snorkeling with whale sharks or visiting a resort—you can only book it through your hotel. Dive centers here exclusively partner with specific hotels. You can’t compare prices at different centers and book where it’s cheaper—they simply won’t let you join.

This means you could end up staying at a budget-friendly hotel that offers the priciest excursions, or vice versa.

Based on our experience, Dhiguveli Maldives offers both affordable stays and the cheapest excursions. They partner with the Go Divers dive center.

All dive centers and guesthouses on Dhigurah offer the main activities. Prices vary slightly but start from these minimums:

  • Transparent kayak rental: $25/hour
  • Stand-up paddleboard (SUP) rental: $15/hour
  • Snorkeling on the house reef: $35 for 3 hours (turtles are guaranteed!)
  • Snorkeling with whale sharks: $75
  • Diving: $50 per dive
  • Snorkeling with mantas at sunrise: Starts at $35 for nearby reefs or $65 for trips to deeper waters, 30 minutes away by boat.
  • Fishing: Beginner-friendly fishing trips (grilling your catch later) cost $45. Deep-sea fishing for pros starts at $100.
  • Resort visits: Enjoy unlimited food and drinks for a day at a nearby resort for around $150 per person.
maldives turtles Dhigurah
Here’s a photo of us snorkeling in the lagoon with turtles—they’re everywhere here.

For a general understanding:

The Maldives has only a few places where you can see whale sharks, and Dhigurah is one of them. On other islands, like Thoddoo, similar excursions cost $150 or more because they involve a full day and long-speedboat trips to Dhigurah’s area. From Dhigurah itself, the same excursions are half the price since the best spots are just 20-30 minutes away by boat. And if luck is on your side, you might encounter both mantas and whale sharks for free while snorkeling on the house reef.

Travel tips

Dhigurah is a fantastic choice for everyone—families with kids and active travelers alike. If you’re visiting the Maldives for the first time and need help deciding on an island, consider this:

  • If you don’t swim or aren’t thrilled by the idea of swimming with sharks, turtles, and mantas, there are other local islands that are just as beautiful and easier to reach. Recommended:
    • Thoddoo
    • Rasdhoo
    • Ukulhas
    • These islands are all close to each other, so you could even visit multiple ones during your trip. Each offers nurse sharks, turtles, and mantas, and the glowing plankton often appears brighter and more frequently than on Dhigurah.
  • If you just want to relax on a beach with the iconic Maldivian swing in the water and clear turquoise seas, there’s no need to travel far from Malé. Islands like Guraidhoo will do just fine.

In conclusion, Dhigurah is undoubtedly one of the top 5 local islands in the Maldives. If it were closer to Malé, it might even take the #1 spot. This is the island where, within a week, you’re likely to encounter all the iconic Maldivian marine life that tourists dream of. And with a bit of luck, you might even see rare whale sharks and glowing plankton.

If you enjoyed the article and the content in this guide, you can buy me a coffee ^_^

Resources to help you plan your dream trip to the Maldives

  • Flight tickets and the best deals

  • Tour packages (from budget to luxury): Expedia

  • Hotels and guesthouses on any island:
    • Hotellook compares prices among a dozen other services and platforms and offers to choose the best one.

    • Booking – the most popular service for booking accommodation.

    • Agoda – the main competitor of Booking.

  • 12go is the largest Asian transfer service. It gathers all Maldivian carriers, even the small ones that operate between local islands.

  • Tours and excursions: Viator – a limited selection of excursions, but convenient and reliable.

  • Comprehensive insurance: EKTA

  • eSIM at the same price as in telecom office in Male.