HURAA TRAVEL GUIDE: WHAT TO DO AND USEFUL INFO

The huraa island It is located in the North Male Atoll (inside the Kaafu Atoll), about 20 km north of Male. Its population is around 1,000 inhabitants, although little by little it is growing thanks to the impulse of tourism. There are quite a few resorts around Huraa, so it is a good place for all these Maldivian workers to establish their residences. If you are thinking of spending a few days here, we leave you our Huraa travel guide, with useful information on what to do, how are its beaches, where to stay, how to get there and more recommendations.

But first, let us tell you something ... If you look for the island of Huraa on Google Maps (satellite), you will see that it has a rounded shape, and that almost half of the island is covered with sand. This phenomenon not only occurs in Huraa, but we have seen it in other islands such as Thulusdhoo or Himmafushi. Why is it? Neither more nor less than they are expanding the island with tons and tons of sand. The way they have to gain ground to the sea is to build a barrier of huge stones and fill the hole with lots of sand (they take advantage when the tide is low to do these jobs).

The problem with this is that the image of Huraa that you could see in photos and videos from a long time ago has nothing to do with the current situation, nor with the future. Right now (end of 2019) the tourist beach is located on the other side of the sand esplanade (about 200 meters). Surely in a while everything is fantastic, but as the beach is right now, Huraa is not a good alternative.

There are three options:

• Public ferry: 1h30min, 22 MVR (€ 1.2).
• Shared speed boat: 30 minutes and 150 MVR (or $ 10).
• Private boat: 30 minutes and about $ 150

We give you many more details in our article on how to get to Huraa from Male.

As we just told you, the beach in Huraa is not having its best moments. That in terms of Maldives, because the beach of Huraa would give many turns to many of the beaches of any corner of the world. In this 2019 they are in the process of expanding the island and for now they have improvised a beach with a few palm trees, an umbrella and a handful of half-broken sunbeds, in the call beach bikini.

It is located in the northeast part of the island, just in front of the Club Med Kani resort. Being between two nearby islands, the stream coming from the right arrives with quite strong. There are no waves (these break in the barrier that is about 500 meters), but the current is quite noticeable, especially if you go snorkeling in the central part of this corridor. We do not feel dangerous, but a little annoying.

To enter there is quite a dead coral, some booties They would not hurt at all, and once inside it does not cover, you could even walk to the resort cabins. But be careful, because the beach changes a lot with the tides. There is a swing in the water and we could see a difference of 1 meter between low tide and high tide.

The north end of this beach is owned by the resort Pearl Sands of Maldives and access is limited to guests only. Although I went snorkeling and explored its beach a bit, and it is not much better than the bikini beach. If you want to use your beach and its facilities, it's $ 10 per person.

To make snorkel, Huraa beach is not the best in Maldives, of course! In the first meters the water is a bit cloudy, although once you cross this part, if it has enough visibility. But corals and fish are not abundant. Yes we could see quite a variety of them, but it is not even similar to the coral snorkeling points of the excursions. There is a posidonia area, facing the first part of the resort's private beach, where we saw more fish.

Accommodations in Huraa are usually on the other side of the island (approximately 1 km). To reach Some hotels leave bicycles or even take you in a golf cart, as happened to us. Then we tell you more about accommodation in Huraa.

Pearl Sands of Maldives Beach

Although Huraa is surrounded by resorts, options for tighter budgets can also be found on the island. We stay in the hotel Kamborani, and the truth is that we recommend it. The accommodation itself is quite new, and the rooms are cool (if you stay on the one with a terrace and sea views, better!). It has a very complete breakfast and they also take you and bring you to the beach in a golf cart. They leave you snorkel masks, beach towel and umbrella for free.

Other backpacking options on the island are the Beach Heaven Maldives, the The Sunrise Huraa or the Maldives Seashine.

If you want to treat yourself, resorts What is around Huraa are: Pearl Sands of Maldives (on the same island), the Four Seasons Resort Kuda Huraa, the Club Med Kani Resort, the Cinnamon Dhonveli or the Adaaran Prestige Ocean Villas.

→ Here you can see all the accommodations in Huraa

There aren't too many options, which doesn't mean you're going to starve. Spread throughout the island are some coffees Where they serve local food. But there are also restaurants focused on tourism, with more extensive menus. Our favorites are these:

• The harbor. It is the most expensive of all the restaurants on the island, but the food is excellent and the presentation is very careful. The premises, facing the port, have air conditioning and also an outdoor terrace. Try the grilled fish with cuscus (110MVR) and the Harbor Sizzling Special (135MVR). Coffee is real coffee 😉
• Blue terrace. Another restaurant that seems quite new, with a spectacular terrace over the sea. It is best to come at sunset and have a mojito (you know, without alcohol) or any of its dishes, the menu is very extensive! They have a good selection of Maldivian snacks for 3MVR each.
• Chop House (Cafe 'Five). It is a somewhat more local restaurant than the other two, but with good food. It has tables inside and on the terrace above. In theory he specializes in lamb chops (90MVR), but when we went he didn't have: S So we opted for some mie goreng (38MVR) ...
• Sunset restaurant. When we went (at 3 in the afternoon) it was closed and we couldn't try it, but the menu seemed quite extensive and cheap prices. The place is quite simple, but what matters is the food.

The prices will have to add 10% of the service and 6% of fees.

Huraa is not Maafushi, from where the best excursions are made in Maldives, however there are some that you can do. These are the most popular excursions in Huraa:

- Snorkeling in nearby reefs. There are simple tours that take you somewhere with corals near the island, where you can be between 1 and 2 hours. The price per person is $ 15-25.

- Snorkeling + lunch in sandbank. It is the most complete tour from Huraa: first there is a snorkeling stop and then you reach a sandbank (which should be quite far away), where you eat and spend some time. The tour in total is 6 hours. The price is about $ 50 per person.

- Snorkeling with turtles and maybe sharks. They take you to a point where it is common to see turtles and, hopefully, also small sharks. The tour is about 2 hours and the price of about $ 25-30. There is the version of swim between blankets also (something more expensive).

- Day at a resort. Spend the day at one of the surrounding resorts, with food and drinks included and unlimited, around $ 125. There is also a pass to go alone at night and get purple at dinner (about $ 60).

- In Huraa there is no ATM No banks, but the most important accommodations and restaurants give you the option to pay by credit card.

- There is Wifi in hotels, and specifically ours worked quite well.

- If after Huraa you have to go to Diffushi, the best option is to take the local ferry (line 308), which travels from Male to Dhiffushi and stops at Huraa at 4pm. From here it is about 1 hour and a half. If the day you want to go is Friday or falls at a local party, be aware that there are NO shared speed boats that do this tour and you will have to negotiate a private boat. In that case, talk to both the accommodation you have in Diffushi and Huraa and compare prices. We recommend you try to find other tourists to see if anyone does the same tour on the same day and you can share expenses. The cheapest option we found was for $ 80 (they offered it to us from Dhiffushi accommodation: Bibee Maldives).

Here you have an interactive map with all the important places on the island of Huraa:

These are all recommendations and tips for a trip to Huraa, one of the local islands of Maldives where to spend a few days. We hope I can help you plan your way there!

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