Fushifaru is small. Sixty-three villas on an island at the north-eastern edge of Lhaviyani Atoll, 35 minutes by seaplane from Velana. One all-day restaurant, a grill, a teppanyaki counter and two bars.
If you want eight dining venues and a nightclub, this is the wrong island. If you want to walk from your villa to one of the best dive channels in the country, it is the right one.
What this actually costs
We quote Fushifaru on half board: breakfast and dinner. Lunch, drinks and the destination dining experiences are charged as you go. Seaplane transfers are priced separately and move with the season, so ask us rather than assume.
- Choose the view before the size. Sunset beach villas outnumber sunrise ones five to one, so the west-facing side books out first. Sunrise villas look east across Maakandu and the open Indian Ocean. Sunset villas look west over Etherevari, the calm lagoon.
- The water villas sit on Kanduolhi, the channel itself. That is the point of this island, and it is why we push divers over the water and most other couples onto the sand.
- Two proper bedrooms, not a sofa bed. The Beach Duplex at 240 m² and the Premium Beach Duplex at 250 m² are the only two-bedroom villas on the island, and there are three of them in total. Families should book early.
Every villa carries a king bed, an indoor daybed, a garden bathroom with a bath, indoor and outdoor showers, a veranda and sun loungers, plus island-wide wifi and a personal Resident Host. Dinner on a sandbank, on the Handhu platform, in your own pool or on a quiet stretch of beach is arranged and charged on the island.
Who this isn’t for
Anyone who wants variety in restaurants, a spread of bars, or a resort large enough to disappear into. Korakali is the all-day room with a different theme each evening, Raakani grills seafood and meat on the beach, there is a teppanyaki counter, and Fanihandhi and Thundi are the two bars. That is the island.
Anyone who needs a speedboat transfer, because the only route in is a seaplane. And anyone booking all-inclusive, which is not how we sell this island.
Before you book
- Seaplanes fly in daylight only. Land at Velana after 15:00 and the seaplane will have gone, which means a night in Malé at your own cost before you reach the island. Plan your flights around it, not the other way round.
- The Marine Protected Area is the reason to come. Fushifaru Kan'du holds three dive sites, among them Fushifaru Thila and a cleaning station where manta rays queue to be worked over by wrasse. The thila is a serious dive rather than a gentle drift.
- The house reef is strong enough to snorkel straight from the beach, which is rarer in the Maldives than the brochures suggest.
- Four to seven nights is the right length here. Shorter and the seaplane eats the trip.
Tell us your dates, how many of you there are and if anyone dives, and we will come back with two villa categories on half board, the seaplane costed as its own line, and an honest read on which side of the island is still open for your dates. Message our Maldives specialists on WhatsApp or send us an enquiry. We reply within 24 hours.