Your Budget-Friendly Guide to Gulhi, Maldives (2023)

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Gulhi Island is exactly what you imagine the Maldives to be. It’s a tiny speck of sand rimmed with palm trees and white sand beaches. The town/island of 500 people or so, is quaint, colorful, and sand-strewn. All in all it’s entirely contained within 4 “streets” and can be circumnavigated in about 10 minutes at a brisk walk. How can one teeny-tiny island have so much to offer budget travelers?? It’s a question I’ll never have the answer to. 

It’s a marvel that the island isn’t more popular. I think Gulhi is often overshadowed by nearby Maafushi Island. But truthfully, the islands aren’t even comparable. Maafushi is busy and the bikini beach is tiny. It’s also backed by this massive resort called Arena Beach Hotel. Skip Maafushi village. Stay in Gulhi instead. 

Your Complete Guide to Gulhi, Maldives 

This blog post will tell you everything you’ll ever need to know to plan the perfect Maldives getaway on Gulhi Island.

Best time to visit Gulhi

High season is December through March.

We visited in February and it was spectacular. The Maldives are fine year round. You just might get a little more rain if you visit from July-October.

Important Things to Know About the Gulhi 

• There is no ATM on Gulhi. Make sure to get cash in Male before you transport from Male to Gulhi.
• Both USD and Maldivian currency is widely accepted on the island. 
• Breakfast is almost always included in your hotel stay and consists of chicken sausage, eggs, toast, fruit, and coffee. Pork is basically non-existent in the Maldives outside of resorts. (Muslim-country remember)
• Shops are open whenever they feel like it. Since the islands are so small set hours are uncommon. 

Read More: My Full Independent Island Hopping Maldives Itinerary.

How to Get to Gulhi (Guide to Gulhi Transport)

I will always recommend the Gulhi public ferry. It connects Male to Gulhi and Maafushi to Gulhi. There is also a speedboat that leaves from Male to Gulhi every day but it’s almost easier and WAY cheaper to just take the local route.

Male to Gulhi Speedboat Price: $30 per person.

Male to Gulhi Local Ferry Price: $1.30 per person.

Getting from Male to Gulhi (Gulhi Ferry)

Every single day except Fridays there is one public ferry from Male to Guraidhoo at 3PM. This ferry stops at Gulhi and Maafushi along the way to its final destination. It costs 22 MVR or $1.30 per person and takes about 1 hour to reach Gulhi. 

Read More: For full info on getting around the Maldives on a budget check out my full local ferry guide blog post. 

Where to stay in Gulhi 

As a budget traveler, you know what to do. You’ll check out booking.com (lowest prices for Maldives) and Airbnb (also very affordable) to find the cheapest options for your dates. 

For us, that was Sandy Heaven. 

I highly recommend this place not just because the rooms were spacious and had full sliding glass door leading to a private patio— but because the staff was attentive and kind. They arranged our excursions for the cheapest prices and their guides were INCREDIBLE. I would consider joining their tours even if you don’t end up staying with them. 

The cheapest options on Gulhi will likely run you about $50 per night. Book a few months in advance if you can to snag the rooms. 

Paying for your room on Gulhi: This is the standard on the island in our experience. It is an extra 5% to pay with credit card at Sandy Heaven. You pay the cheapest price in cash but only with USD. This is because Booking.com won’t allow them to pay in Rufiyaa. You also cannot pay in advance through booking.com or with the credit card that you have on file. Our total was going to be $310 in USD cash, $325 if paid by card, or $343 if we paid in Maldivian Rufiyaa. 

On Gulhi it seems best to have local currency to pay for food, ferries, and souveniers — USD for everything else. 

Read More: Looking for cheap places to stay. Here are my 11 favorite cheap hotels in the Maldives.

Best Things to Do on Gulhi

As I already mentioned, this is a tiny island. It won’t take you long to locate the “bikini beach” aka Gulhi Beach. This beach is one of the best of the inhabited islands and deserves a whole day. But there are some other really cool things you can do on the island without spending money on excursions as well. 

1. Watch the Bioluminescent Plankton wash up on the shore. 

Head to bikini beach or Gulhi Beach around 7 PM and you’ll see blue flowing fairy dust light up the waterline. It’s incredible. We saw bioluminescent plankton in Cambodia but I liked this experience more. It’s brightest on darker nights without the full moon. 

This is actually only visible during certain times of the year. Usually December-February. 

2. Watch the sharks and rays come up to feed. 

On the pier, there is a rocky area with benches and a large cutting table where fishermen hit their day’s catch and toss the remains into the sea. Every evening around sunset several large nurse sharks and wide-flapping sting rays beach themselves on the rocks and eat the discards. It was a very cool way to see the Maldivian Nurse Sharks that are quite common in the area. 

There are lots of sharks in the Maldives. You’ll even see some reef sharks near the bikini beach. Most are harmless. It’s the deep water sharks like Tiger and Hammerhead you have to worry about. 

Best Excursions in Gulhi 

While the above attractions are very cool and totally free, the best things to see in Gulhi are actually accessible only by excursion. Our favorites are…

Full Day Snorkel Tour $70 PP 

This included nurse sharks + sting rays, a visit to a sand bar for lunch, a walk through Guraidhoo, and 3 other incredible snorkel sites. 

For all the best excursion details read my full list of the best activities to do in the Maldives. 

Full Day Whale Shark + Manta Snorkel $100 per person 

This one is only recommended if you are NOT planning on visiting Fulidhoo or Dhigurah during your stay. The journey to the Whale Sharks from these islands is shorter, maybe a little cheaper, and includes more snorkeling. 

Padi Certification or Scuba Dive

There are also PADI Certification courses for $490, $90 dives, and a variety of other tours offered on the island.

Here’s a photo of the offerings from Sandy Heaven. Prices and options were the same all over the island. 

Note: If they don’t have other people to join your tour you have to pay for a private — which is wildly expensive. This is why it’s best to go with the most popular tours OR make some friends on the island and coordinate. You shouldn’t have any problems with the ones I mentioned above. 

Promotion: Sandy Heaven was offering a $200 per person promotion where you get dinner on the beach, a resort day, AND a full-day snorkel tour. If you want to do the resort pass (which is $200 by itself) then this is a great deal! 

Best Places to Eat in Gulhi (Guide to Gulhi Eats)

There are only a few places to eat in Gulhi which means you might eat at all of them during your stay on the island. 

Hotel Fulhoi

This is known as the best restaurant on the island. It’s on pretty much every guide to Gulhi on the internet. So, it gets real busy after dark. It’s also the most expensive. But great for a date night splurge. I recommend the tuna steak! The pizza here is not the best but it’s large enough to share. 

Dhilakani Cafe

This is the most budget-friendly on the island. This cafe is great for lunch and always packed with locals. The kottu and fried rice is always served in such huge portions it’s easy to share. 

La Vista Cafe + Bistro

This is the middle-of-the-road restaurant when it comes to price. It also has great views of the beach below. I recommend the Kottu. 

Gulhi is one of two inhabited islands we recommend that all visitors to the Maldives visit. My guide to Gulhi is always up to date! If you find something that isn’t correct shoot me a message so I can update the post with the latest information. Be sure to check out our guide to Omadhoo before you go. 

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