Travel and Tourism

Travel and Tourism in Maldives

Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Maldives.

Practical Information

Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.

Travel Alert Status: Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
Time Difference: UTC+5 (10 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Currency: rufiyaa (MVR)
Climate: tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)
Ethnic Groups: South Indians, Sinhalese, Arabs
National Holiday: Independence Day, 26 July (1965)
Geographic Coordinates: 3 15 N, 73 00 E
Location: Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India
Airports: 5

Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.

Medical Facilities and Health Information: There is no 911 equivalent for medical emergencies in Maldives; 119 is for the police only, and the Coast Guard responds to 191 calls for maritime emergencies. A patient would have to call an individual hospital for ambulance services. The quality of medical care in such instances may be uncertain, as most ambulances are ill-equipped. Maldives has limited medical facilities. There are two hospitals in Malé: the government-owned Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) and the privately-owned Abduarahman Don Kaleyfan Hospital (ADK). IGMH does not accept insurance plans, though ADK accepts some. The hospitals perform limited general and orthopedic surgery, but Maldives has no trauma units and a small number of ICU beds. Persons needing treatments not offered in Maldives require evacuation to the nearest adequate medical facility, such as in Singapore. Five recompression chambers are available in Maldives. The largest and longest operating recompression chamber is on Bandos Island (15 minutes by speedboat from Malé). The others are located on Cinnamon Alidhoo Resort, Villingili Resort in Addu, Kuramathi Resort, and Kandholhudhoo Islands.
Accessibility: While in Maldives, individuals with disabilities may find accessibility and accommodation very different from what you find in the United States. Most public places do not yet have access for the disabled.