"Maldives Capital" Male Island by trisanna

Male Island Travel Guide: 91 reviews and 237 photos

Male is a bustling city located on a long atoll.Not sure how much is real sand or reclaimation. This is an amazing little place. For a city that you can walk around in 15-20 minutes-you will find that a good amount of people have cars. Motorbikes are very popular here. We decided to sightsee here, since we had a five hour layover. Male is a very nice looking city. There are some beautiful buildings, such as the Grand and Old friday Mosques. The city is nicely landscaped and have a bunch of new fountains.

Unfortunately, as soon as you get off the boat -touts will attach themselves to you like leeches. They are very friendly and persistent and seem to speak atleast three or five languages. Many of them want you to go to their tourist shop. It's hard to get out of their presence and be polite.

Tom Cruise on Maldivian paper

Pros and Cons

Pros:beautiful mosques and buildings
Cons:touts, overpriced goods made somewhere else
In a nutshell:interesting city

Last visit to Male Island: Mar 2005
Intro Updated Apr 15, 2005
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Reviews (9)

fountain by old friday mosque - Male Island

Creating paradise Things to Do (3)

Around the city center there are some nice public parks. Lots of gardens and fountains. more travel advice

Take a dhoni Transportation (1)

From the airport, you can take the local dhoni to the city of Male. The ride takes around 15 mins and the boats keep... more travel advice

Cameras watch out. Local Customs (2)

When walking around the Grand Mosque and other areas nearby-you need to watch out for signs that say no photographs.... more travel advice

Local Maldivian cuisine Restaurants (1)

I have been to a few Muslim countries before. In the middleast and some other countries-men are separate from the women.... more travel advice

Warnings and Dangers (1)
Watch out for the touts

Shopping (1)
Avoid the ones that come with touts

Comments (2)

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Siddha3th Apr 27, 2005 at 2:13 AM

Some really good tips here, Trisanna. Nice photographs as well :) Ciao, Siddharth
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lotharlerch Apr 15, 2005 at 4:28 AM

Where is Female Island?