26 natural atolls 1,192 coral islands, about 200 inhabited Visa on arrival Free 30 days, all nationalities Green tax $12/night resorts · $6/night small guesthouses Best diving visibility Dry season, roughly Dec–Apr One island, one resort The concept that shaped Maldives tourism Guesthouses on local islands Legal since 2009 — a genuine budget route 26 natural atolls 1,192 coral islands, about 200 inhabited Visa on arrival Free 30 days, all nationalities Green tax $12/night resorts · $6/night small guesthouses Best diving visibility Dry season, roughly Dec–Apr One island, one resort The concept that shaped Maldives tourism Guesthouses on local islands Legal since 2009 — a genuine budget route
Totally Maldives
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About us

About us

Totally Maldives is an independent travel guide, built the same way our sister project Totally Bali approached Bali: start small, file everything honestly by department and atoll, and grow it in public, week by week, rather than launching with a fully finished 1,000-page site on day one.

Why start small on purpose

A travel site that launches "finished" usually means thin, rushed pages across every topic. We'd rather launch with a smaller number of properly researched pages, then add more — new atolls, new resorts, new guides — every week, so the depth of any given page keeps pace with the site's overall size.

How we approach accuracy

Where a fact is likely to change — tax rates, visa rules, specific prices — we say when we last checked it and point you toward the primary source (immigration authorities, MIRA, official tourism boards) rather than asking you to take our word for it indefinitely. See our news & updates section for the pages we're actively keeping current.

No paid placement

Resort and guesthouse entries are written the same way regardless of whether that property advertises with us or not — see our resorts directory for how that's applied in practice.

Questions, corrections, or want a place added to the directory? See our contact page.